A Natural Setting

Early Winters Creek, 3/7/09, 1 mile

On a recent trip to Winthrop with our friends Dave & Heather to photograph the balloonfest, we arranged a trip with a local naturalist along the Early Winters Creek near Mazama.

He showed us several types of plant life that sometimes goes un-noticed in the summer and is usually covered during the winter. Marten tracks could be seen hopping through the snow. We also followed some coyote tracks to a fresh (within the day) kill site.

He also gave us a nice lecture on the arrogance of man in trying to "correct" nature - the creek had been straightened out long ago with the thought that is would ease flooding. What was neglected was that the turns, eddies, and dams are needed for a healthy stream and healthy stream-life. To correct the correction new dams and log jams were built. More work than really needed to be done. If only we could learn to live with the cycles of nature, maybe we wouldn't need to "correct" nature at all.

Running around with a well-educated naturalist can be truly eye-opening.

Washington's Yosemite

Methow Valley Exploration 10/10/08-10/13/08

Normally, Michael and I take our vacation the week prior to Columbus Day. We load up the car and set out to explore the western US and Canada, but not this year. Instead we took a week to finish off the Wonderland Trail. So when my travel bug hit just as the calendar rolled from Sept to Oct we set off to explore a portion of Washington we had only driven through and always wanted to see more of - The Methow Valley.

Friends had been telling me for years the wonders of the Methow and I believed them. I just never got a chance to hike or ski or camp in this marvelous place. Michael was so excited to get going that the car was packed by the time I got home Friday night and we decided to drive all night until we reached Winthrop. Luckily, Pearrygin State Park was still open and we set up camp in the moonlight along the banks of the lake. Although we didn't get to sleep until well after 1am, I was up at sunrise to catch the 1st glimmer of the day on the lake.

For the rest of the 3 day weekend, we drove along forest roads to scenic viewpoints and trails to be noted at a later date. We drove through stands of burned out trees from the 30-mile fire and stopped by the memorial honoring the fire fighters who tragically died fighting the blaze. We watched as hunters drove past looking for deer and then deer walk across the road as they passed. Above all, we admired the land of the Methow and Chewuch rivers.

Perpetual Motion

Plan A fell through for the weekend, as did plan B, plan C and a few subsequent plans after that. But our adventurous spirits would not be squelched, so we packed up the puppies and drove north. Our 1st roadtrip right after we 1st met was along the cascades loop. Head north on I-5 to highway 20, turn east up over the mountains through the North Cascades National Park, when you reach the eastside head south on highway 97 until you get to Wenatchee where you turn west and head back over the mountains through Stevens Pass. We left late so weren't able to stop too often - our agenda was to continue on until we made it home again.

The snow is still melting from the high country - in fact snow still lingered along the highway at Rainy and Washington Passes obscuring the meadows that in a few weeks would be alive with flowers and critters. The run-off cascaded down the hills at every turn. Large vertigo inducing falls across the valleys to the small trickles running through the rocks at road side. They blurred by us as we sped along the highway. I wanted to get out and photograph every one I saw, but we had so many miles to go.

We finally stopped in Winthrop for dinner. Sitting on the deck of the restaurant, I sat mesmerized at the cottonwood tree on the river bank. The wind blowing down the river flipped and flickered the leaves of the cottonwood in an hypnotic dance.

All too soon, we were back on the road. With necessary breaks and dinner, we made it home 12 hours after leaving. Too bad we couldn't stop for real sight-seeing.