Yellowstone Celebration (Part 1)

This 100 year anniversary of the National Parks I chose to visit the first ever National Park in the world, Yellowstone.  President Ulysses S. Grant's legacy "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people."  I really enjoyed my visit!  Yellowstone spans Montana, Wyoming, and a little bit of it in Idaho.

The beautiful Yellowstone wolves were exterminated, the last wolf killed in 1926.  Visionary Aldo Leopold recommended wolf reintroduction for Yellowstone in 1944, recognizing that a vital piece in the ecology was missing and the impacts were changing the ecology of the area.  It was a long political struggle, but finally wolves were reintroduced in 1995.  I can't imagine the Park without them.

To learn all about Wolves returning to Yellowstone, I highly recommend a book by Douglas W. Smith and Gary Ferguson called Decade of the Wolf
There was so much to my adventure, I'm going to tell the story in a mini-series on the blog.  Are you planning time away from it all?  Think about a wonderful trip to one of our precious National Parks.

A wolf's life is beautiful and tough.  Survival takes a strong heart and a fierce mind.  Male wolves are heavier, and run slower so the lighter and faster females lead the hunting.  The females strike first and catch the prey, then the heavier, slower males com in for the kill.  Life is relatively short, and often ends brutally.

Ground squirrel from under the rock

And then on the alert, perhaps concerned about a bird of prey.

Bald Eagle

Trumpeter swan in the light snowfall.  

Elk in velvet, as they say, as his antlers are growing.  The material gets blood flow to the antlers to help their growth.  Later it falls off, or is rubbed off.  You might say this elk is on the way to a large rack.

We did see a couple of elk butting heads and getting in a little "discussion", but nothing serious at this spring time of year when everyone is taking care of their young.  More serious confrontations would occur in the fall during rutting, the mating season.

Elk grazing in the delicious grasses.  Grazers eat grasses.  Browsers eat grasses and shrubs, like sage.  This elk was on the edge of a small herd.  But, at this time of year when you see an elk that's truly alone, she's probably getting ready to birth and that's why she's gone off on her own.  A new mother will then stay on her own with her calf for bonding, doing her best to hide all traces and scent so the vulnerable baby is safe from predators.

Sand Hill Cranes in Yellowstone. Often their feathers get stained by the sulphur rich Park 

Sand Hill Crane

Grizzly Bears.  Grizzlies and Brown Bears are two names for the same bear.  The Lewis and Clark expedition referred to "a brown bear with a grizzled appearance" and the name stuck.  Long ago in the past history, Brown Bears originated in Eastern Siberia.  Black Bears are the only native bear of North America.  Pictures of Black Bears and much more to come in the further adventures of my Yellowstone Celebration.

The cub you see here with the mother bear is from last year, but still a young bear.

At the time we saw these bears I was so excited I forgot that I was chilled numb to the fingertips and had just watched a tremendous snow storm sweep across the valley.  We watched it from the far distance come toward us, then hit us.  It was a complete white out of the whole mountain range, laying like a heavy white curtain drawn across.  Then suddenly, it was gone - moved on down the valley.

Urban Hiking

Pressed for time, but aching for a hike between rainstorms, brought me to Indian Trail in Burien.  A Beautiful beach hike.  Loving these waves.  It's a little over a mile long, so 2 miles round trip.  There stand lots of homes just above the beach, but at low tide you can walk right on the beach.  The homeowners I met on my little trek were very friendly and enjoyed talking about their lovely piece of paradise.

The Indian Trail is actually up on the ridge above the beach, and also commands stunning views.  So two miles round trip on the beach + 2 more round trip on the Trail.  It's been named the Indian trail as far back as recorded.  It's thought it was a path that Native Americans followed as a shoreline route around the point.  Artifacts have been unearthed and collected in spots along it.

The views are west over Puget Sound, the Olympic Mountain range, the shipping channels, and Vashon Island.

The beach is definitely off the beaten path, at Three Tree Point which is a secluded waterfront right on the Sound.  There's so many trees along the hill, I'm not sure which are the original Three.  I was told that tree preservation is a high priority of the present day residents.  This beach is a triangle shaped spit that juts into the east side of Puget Sound, about halfway between Seattle and Tacoma.
What great seashells and colored rocks you'll find as you walk along this sandy way.

I was fortunate to be treated to sighting of a loon.  He was very busy examining the waters beneath him and often diving for a minute or so at a time, searching for lunch.  Loons are highly adapted for the water, with solid, heavy bones and legs placed well back on their bodies for diving.  They require long tretches of open water for takeoff.  Most bird have hollow bones.  He's wearing his winter brown wardrobe of feathers right now.  Later in the year he'll change into intricate dark green, almost black.
Residents I talked with on the beach told me amazing stories of seals and sea lions who lay out on the floating decks and feed freely on the fish.  Also the many eagles that swoop down from the tall fir trees to grab fish.  And very exciting tales of orcas.  They warned that next time I need to come early in the morning to see the most wildlife.  Today at noon, other than this loon I saw very tame crows, and heard lots of songbirds singing sweetly.

Besides the wildlife, I discovered that this is also a location favored by scuba divers.  Then as I walked along I found two divers enjoying their day, just as I did on my urban hike.

Happy Grandsgiving Hiking Grand Ridge Park

A sunny, November Saturday in western Washington is a great reason for a day hike. This time we were off to Grand Ridge Park.  It's a 14 mile roundtrip in the Issaquah Highlands.  It's a convenient wonderland for hikers, and also a favorite of local mountain bikers.

We're treated to a walk through western redcedar trees, sword ferns, nettles, and more in this beautiful forest. Today was a sunny, but frosty 43 degrees, so the best option was to keep moving along the trail.

Grand Ridge Park is the result of an amazing agreement between Port Blakely, Issaquah Highlands developer, and King County.  For every one acre of developed land, four acres of park land is set aside. It's funny to start out alongside the many Issaquah houses, but you soon lose sight of those, leave them all behind, and are engulfed in forest.  Those Issaquah Highlanders are so lucky to be forest neighbors.

Here's the first of many babbling brooks we passed, or crossed over.  Not too much water this time of year.  It'll be interesting to re-visit in spring to see how the snow melt affects it.  This Park is certainly a year round trail.

It was so nice to have company on my Grand Ridge, post-Thanksgiving hike.  I'd never hiked with a Kitty Kat before.

Our Kitty Kat decided that we were a train chugging along this trail and she was the conductor at the front.  Looking at this picture from near the caboose, I think she may have been right that we did look that way.

Near Seattle, scenes of the sun in November are always picture worthy.

And here the trail passes through a beautiful tree doorway.

I've heard it said that moss grows on the north side, but there's lots of mossy growth on these trees.  Actually all moss needs in order to grow is moisture, and lots of shade (and no sun days) slows down the loss of moisture.  The north side of the tree may have a little more moss in the northern hemisphere because the direction the sun shines, but moss definitely grows on all sides in the Pacific Northwest.

Can you see the face and arms of moss tree man?

And here's a mossy glen.

One of the several, helpful wooden bridges built by the Washington Trails Association.  Many thanks to the volunteers who work so hard to build these bridges and make our hike much easier.

Happy ferns and other young plants growing on a decaying log, as the forest rejuvenates

You can see what a thick forest this grand park is.  I made it almost the whole 14 miles round trip, but not quite. I made it to the overlook of Canyon Creek.  With the short winter daylight and a leisurely start, I was conservative about turning back to be sure I ended the hike in the daylight.  That's one of the advantages of this great hike, you can turn back anytime and still feel well satisfied, and tired!

There are animal sightings including bears, cougars, owls and chipmunks, and more.  This day all I saw was our hiking Kitty Kat.

This was a wonderful day.  Highly recommend this hike, especially for it's convenience.  You will be sharing this well maintained trail with some mountain bikers, so just be cautious to move aside as needed.  The bikers we met were very conscientious about announcing their presence.  I look forward to enjoying this winding trail many times in the future.

Chasing Waterfalls

In search of waterfalls!  Out on the Boulder River Trail in the Cascades with a true blue friend who cheerily volunteered to share the very rainy Pacific Northwest with me on my quest for waterfalls on a precious day off from work.  Just look at this beautiful, fast flowing river that we were treated to walk beside on a gorgeous forested trail.  Up and down, we gained about 700 feet elevation on the moderately easy trail.  The peak, 1,550.  And most exciting were the lows where we were so close to the river.  Of course, with all the fall rains now there are little streams that cross the trail here and there as they seek out Boulder River as an outlet.

My friend Barb insisted these are diamonds sparkling in the trees instead of raindrops. She may be right, or these may be early Christmas trees with strings of lights.

The trail teases us with a pretty, staircase waterfall.  Well, the trail is 8.6 miles round trip and we've hardly begun so we know there are more and bigger waterfalls ahead. You can see the raindrops falling too

Now this is what I call a waterfall! It's actually named Boulder Falls 

And look what's just ahead!  Once we saw this around the corner, we quickened our pace with excitement

Here it is in all it's glory, giant waterfall. Notice the dripping moss and bright yellow monkey flower between the two braids of water.  This is a stunning, double, unnamed waterfall.  What would you name it?

The tremendous, thunderous power of water

The river water is very silty this time of year.  This hike is just off the Mountain Loop Highway, and just past the highway where people suffered the sad Oso slide.  It was heartwarming to see all the planting that is happening in the slide area, and also all the trees planted commemorating those who died

Here you can see the trail we followed, and the trampled, wet leaves

Just by the side of the trail, yes winter is on the way

A glimpse through a framing glen at the rushing waters of a stream headed toward Boulder River.  We enjoyed a wonderful hike along this trail.  It's truly an all season, all weather outing with different delights on display at different times of the year.  I'll certainly be back, and hopefully on a drier day.  Thanks to my true blue friend for sharing this fall hike with me.

When You're Short On Time

Don't forget that when you're short on time, you can still enjoy the great outdoors.  There are lots of wonderful, urban trails for hiking or biking and you are often likely to see exciting glimpses of wildlife.  This curious bunny was with his friends along the Burke-Gilman trail near Marymoor Park

My camera caught this bunny on the verge of a hop

And one more makes 3 bunnies in the field

You'll also see regal fowl, or at least they seem to pose as if they're outdoor royalty

Really, you never know what surprise is around the bend of an urban trail