Alan Bauer Photography & Nature Blog

Red-breasted Sapsuckers---drilling and waiting for dinner

2011-04-25T10:42:00.000-07:00

Woodpeckers have always been the most interesting species of bird to me. Ever since growing up on a large Oregon family farm in the Willamette Valley I remember the excitement in seeing them in the forest around our lake, or seeing Pileated woodpeckers in our apple orchard. Locally here in the Snoqualmie Valley we are blessed with no fewer than five species of woodpeckers in the surrounding open mixed forests. One which leads a more quiet life happens to be nearly my favorite---the red-breasted sapsucker.
These beautiful birds have red heads and breasts and can be confused for no other species of woodpecker in our region (the red-headed woodpecker is an eastern US species). They also have virtually no noticeable differences in appearance between the male and female (very unlike the common hairy and downy woodpeckers that are common around here). Dense mixed and conifer forests typical of western Washington are a favorite home for them---sounds a lot like our surrounds here indeed! They get their name “sapsucker” from the foraging behavior which they follow. This consists of drilling orderly horizontal rows of holes into tree trunks and then returning to those holes later to feed on the running sap and the insects attracted to it. Very different than most woodpeckers, they forage in healthy trees and it is actually possible to kill a young tree if they drill too many sap-holes around its trunk. This, however, is quite uncommon and shouldn’t be something to worry about. Most if not all western red cedar trees that you see in a healthy forest will have thousands of these holes ringing the trees! You won’t find them dying anytime too soon from it either. Even a small flowering cherry tree in our immediate yard has become a favorite drilling/foraging zone for a resident bird on our property. This tree sap is the main food of red-breasted sapsuckers. They also eat some insects and fruit. They will enjoy more insects during the nesting season and they primarily will feed insects to their young.

These busy birds are very resident neighbors and don’t move around much nor migrate. They are common in the lowlands of Western Washington even in winter. However, if the weather turns cold enough for sap to freeze, they may move out to the outer coast to find food.
Lastly, they are considered a “keystone” species. This is significant because it means that many other species use the sap wells they drill. So the next time you hear a polite hidden “tapping” sound going on and on in a cedar tree nearby take the time to look more closely. You might find one happily showing you that your home is a healthy part of the ecosystem as well!

Northern Alligator Lizard: We have lizards in Western Washington? You’re kidding, right?

2011-04-19T12:32:00.000-07:00

I so clearly remember the afternoon about 20 years ago, working in my yard. I was rummaging around some old rotting logs that were mixed in under a thick growth of salal when suddenly something quickly moved and stopped. I immediately of course assume “oh, yet another garter snake”. But then I looked more closely: what WAS this thing!? I was thinking “salamander” but no, it sure wasn’t that either. After getting photographs developed (yes, this was WAY back in ancient times of only shooting with film!) I finally figured out that we have lizards around our neck of the woods! Yes, the Northern Alligator Lizard is a remarkable reptile that is fairly common but usually hidden from view.
The Northern Alligator Lizard ranges up to 13 inches in length. However all of the specimens I’ve witnessed over the past 20 years have been in the 7-8 inch range. This alligator lizard species prefers our cool shady forests. They range from the southern portions of British Columbia down through the Pacific Northwest. One thing that makes the Northern species stand out from others is that they give birth to live young. The Southern Alligator Lizard and most others lay eggs. Northern Alligator Lizards are found in cooler and wetter environments than most any other species of lizard. They are often found in forest clearings or edges, under logs and other surface debris. They can also be found in talus slopes that are associated with forests. And what an amazing banquet of foods they eat. They feed on a wide range of little critters such as insects, ticks, spiders, millipedes, and snails. Thus I’m a very huge fan of these amazing creatures if they eat ticks---one of the few things on this earth that I completely detest!
Able to reproduce each year, they have anywhere from one to eight young. I was surprised to learn that they have a life expectancy of up to eight years. You may not have ever seen them before, but it isn’t likely due to your not paying attention. They make extensive use of cover such as rocks, logs, and shrubs. But they don’t go far either. Most individuals are site faithful, remaining in the same area (within a 100 foot radius) for three consecutive years. I was greatly humored over one last fact about them which was news to me: lizards with shorter tails have slower sprint speeds. I’m still trying to find out more detailed information to know WHY this is the case, but it was fascinating nonetheless.
So get outside this summer and kick some rocks and logs around a bit. Snoop around in some dark corners of your property if you border forested areas. You just might be able to startle yourselves and see these hidden creatures of our unknown world! But if you so choose to please handle them very carefully, if at all. Alligator lizards have a tail that easily breaks off and they also have strong enough jaws to give a serious bite!

Flashback Photo of the Day: 03/14/2005 at Saguaro National Park, Arizona

2011-03-08T11:16:00.000-08:00

Flashback Photo of the Day: 03/14/2005 - I've been sad with the thought that my parents didn't make it to Arizona this winter. So it is a pleasure reflecting back to my very first Arizona visit to see them six years ago and sharing sunset with them in Saguaro National Park. What a sunset we had on Signal Hill overlooking the forest of Saguaro across the valley.

It is hard to imagine that after this spectacular

early evening calm sunset, we drove back north to the Phoenix area in a huge sand/dust storm on I-10 that reduced visibility at night down to maybe 100' at most! I can see how terrible things can happen driving in those conditions. (all photos from the western unit of Saguaro National Park, Arizona)

Man's best friend and Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T13:29:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day is special for most people, and for me it takes on even a more special meaning. That is, I am so happy to yet again have Valentine’s Day to also give special time to my wonderful birthday-pooch-border-collie-I’m-smartest-in-the-household wonder pup (b. Feb 14, 2002!!) and let her know how much she has meant to my life the past nine years. I took her on a short special birthday hike yesterday, wet and sloppy, and a big thank you to her for making this dog-loving guy feel so special too! Happy Birthday! (last photo: May 2002 and the little fur ball of energy and love!)

A "Different" Kind of Robin - the Varied Thrush

2011-02-01T21:54:00.000-08:00

There is a special call from nature in winter in the lowland hills around the Snoqualmie Valley that is one of the top five favorite sounds of nature to me. I love the Pacific tree-frogs calling in spring; I love the sound of Pileated woodpeckers. But the winter arrival call of the Varied Thrush is just so special, I can’t ignore it!
The Varied Thrush can best be described as being close to looking like the size of an American Robin. However it is smaller and much more striking in appearance. They display a lovely bright orange wing bar, an amazing orange throat area, black bar along the head by the eyes, and a bright orange under-part belly. The female birds are still brilliant but the orange is more subdued. A breeder of the Pacific Northwest and areas northward toward Alaska, it really is a mystery bird to many, one that lives out its life in the dark deep coniferous forests. But winter in the Cascades brings it to the lowland forest fringes and here we find it in our own yard like many forested foothill communities!
What makes it so easy to locate sightings of them in winter here is that they are ground foragers primarily, so if you feed birds in your yard or on your property, they are very likely to find the area on the ground around feeding stations as winter territory to claim. The males do tend to dominate many other bird feeder species and claim small territories around feeding areas, so if you have multiple thrushes around it can be quite a show! Along with the seeds they find, they also feed heavily on any types of ground insects that can be found. Summertime in the mountains they are up high in the trees nesting and it can be far more difficult to spot them. Oh, but for that special voice they have, it is a dead give-away of their presence! It can best be described as a strong single note/pitch of a “whistle” call – almost to me sounding like a referee at a basketball game, starting weak and getting strong quickly! This is what makes these birds one of my favorite winter creatures to have as a natural neighbor, and I encourage you to find a voice call recording on the internet to enjoy if you don’t know what I mean (http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/200/_/Varied_Thrush.aspx is one of many). Ahh…can you hear it? I hope you see these around the fringes of the Valley, and that you keep me posted on what you are seeing (or hearing) out there!

Flashback Photo of the Day: 01/22/2008 - Crossing the road to nowhere?

2011-01-28T17:08:00.000-08:00

Flashback Photo of the Day: 01/22/2008 – After I had been photographing the amazing ice jam details in the Yakima River for almost 45 minutes in the -2* temperatures I headed back along the river/road area to where I had left my truck parked off the road. It was crossing the road here to get back into the truck that the view right on up the road in the Yakima Canyon seemed so surreal to me. I kept on walking, got in the truck, and then realized I had another photo I wanted. This was the image I shot…after letting a passing farm truck of hay pass by first of course! But traffic is light in the canyon on cold January mornings.

2011-01-25T10:49:00.000-08:00

Flashback Photo of the Day: 01/22/2008 - Returning early morning from a previous night's presentation in Yakima I headed back to Ellensburg like usual via Canyon Road through the Yakima Canyon. Extremely cold weather the previous week had left miles of massive ice jams on the scenic Yakima River offering me photographic opportunities never seen before in this, my favorite canyon drive in Washington State! (second photo: remaining ice after the warm-up broke up the river - this ice was pushed up high on river banks )

Remembering my most dramatic sunrise

2011-01-18T15:32:00.000-08:00

Flashback Photo of the Day: 12/30/2003 – Another winter highlight and likely still the most dramatic sunrise I’ve ever photographed. I have my early-rising daughter to thank for even having a chance to see this across Case Inlet in the South Puget Sound, a sunrise shadow of Mount Rainier being cast UNDER the clouds which were on fire at the moment. The crater flat top of The Mountain is even visible in the shadow being cast!

The shadowing effect lasted about three minutes total, which was simply a stellar day in my life to remember and I'm so fortunate I was able to photograph it to not forget how dramatic it really was!

First photo of the year

2011-01-01T22:42:00.000-08:00

So today I woke up and after not having as much photography in 2010 behind me, looked to use his camera at least once on today, the first day of 2011. Result of my first photograph taken in 2011 this morning....a lovely native Douglas Squirrel enjoying some seeds in early sun to warm up in after an 18° night. A great way to start off a year seeing a creature appear so happy in the territory we share!

Brown Pelicans delight on the Oregon Coast

2010-11-01T08:34:00.000-07:00

I've long enjoyed seeing the large numbers of Brown Pelicans that call the area on the North Oregon Coast/South Washington Coast home in the summer/early fall. Watching them from areas south of the Columbia River has always been just so fun - they are such fascinating birds! A recent trip down to the areas between Newport and Astoria led me to use the crummy weather I was presented to change my photograph direction away from sunsets and lighthouses and look for pelicans worthy to photograph (or anything else that could cheer me up in the dreary weather!).

One nice place I found was the huge haystack right off Yaquina Head from the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Early in the morning they were large numbers resting there. Finally by 8:00am the gated road was open and I was out there - imagine being the ONLY person at the Yaquina Lighthouse for 45 minutes! That was me, and on a Saturday morning to boot.

But the best location I stumbled upon was further north a bit at Devil's Punchbowl State Park. Sure the punchbowl is fun, but just taking the short path 100 yards to the south and you are greeted with a beautiful cliff band/haystack right there very close to your vantage point. Lo-and-behold, there were 15-20 Brown Pelicans hanging out here as well! This was a great location to photograph and offered nice opportunities to capture them flying as well when they came in for a landing on the rock. Upon getting back to the truck I had to tell the cold looking elderly couple who were at the punchbowl to please be sure to go see the pelicans. They came back while I was putting my gear away and were so excited they almost hugged me in thanks for passing on "my tip". How fun is that!?

Return of the Bald Eagles

2010-10-17T07:47:00.000-07:00

The holiday season has once again almost returned, bringing with it our annual season of joy, sharing, and hopeful happiness (What? Is it really November already!?). But while we all are busy with our holiday preparations, another visitor once again silently prepares to return to our neighborhood. This wintering natural neighbor is none other than our spectacular Bald Eagle as they typically make their annual winter visit from November through early March (some yearlong residents do live and nest locally as well, but many are only winter visitors).

Local winter populations of eagles do not compare to those present at river areas to the north, such as the Skagit, Sauk, and Stillaguamish Rivers. However, we do have many local hotspots, which often provide excellent viewing opportunities. In the heart of Fall City you can often spot these huge birds in the towering cottonwood trees near the confluence of the Raging and Snoqualmie Rivers. I’ve seen as many as four at once just across the river from town! They fish the Raging River often and I’m always keeping an eye open along the Preston-Fall City Road at each bend in the river. If you fail to see any in these locations, roam up to Borst Lake along Mill Pond Road out of Snoqualmie, or take the West Snoqualmie Valley Road to Carnation. Areas north of Carnation near Sikes Lake and along the river near Carnation Farm Road all offer excellent opportunities to see these magnificent birds!

The lives of Bald Eagles are fascinating, and one of the most amazing things about them to me is their nesting practice. Bald Eagles build the largest nests in the world that are made by a single pair of birds. Some nests weigh over a thousand pounds and the largest nests have been known to be up to 12 feet deep! They lay on average only two eggs in the nest and only 10% of all newborns will survive until adulthood. Adulthood is reached at age five when they finally develop the spectacular white heads we all recognize so quickly. What is so interesting to me is that their nests, once established, are used perennially by mating pairs of birds, and have been known to be used for up to 35 years!

Each eagle sighting I have becomes a memory that lingers with me for a long time. Whether it is a pair of them circling over the Snoqualmie River or a single bird perched in a large cottonwood tree, it keeps a smile in my mind for days. So keep your eyes open wherever you go around the valley this winter. You never know when you might spot our flying national symbol!

Eeeek! Peeeep! Just who is that screaming from the mountain rocks?

2010-09-24T18:04:00.001-07:00

They are elusive to see some of the time, but equally as up close and curious to be checking you out the next. One moment they are silent, the next they utter an amazing “Eeeek!” type of panic call and dash away to hide! These curious little fury creatures don’t live here in the lowlands. But anyone who has ventured up into the Cascades where high elevation open rocky slopes dot the landscape knows what I mean. The pika is a fascinating little mammal and survives in one of the harshest environments around us!
The pika is a small, industrious mammal that lives in our mountain regions, typically inhabiting the boulder-covered hillsides and rock-piles (aka talus) near timberline. Talus might seem like an inhospitable environment to us as we find it difficult and dangerous to traverse. But pikas can use the talus to escape predators and nasty weather. Under the surface is a labyrinth of pika-sized caves and passages. Still air trapped between the rocks, combined with a layer of snow over the surface, can insulate pikas from sub-zero temperatures and wind chill! Pikas lack the large hind legs that allow hares and rabbits to outrun some predators. But in talus, they can outmaneuver most predators!

They also are called "rock rabbits" by some. The 8-inch long, 7-ounce pika spends the summer busily cutting, gathering and drying leaves and grasses. It eats a variety of green plants like grasses, sedges, thistles, and fireweed. Some it will eat on the spot while some of it will be carried away and stored in a pile or "haystack." A pika haystack can contain as much as a bushel of plants! The pika will often move the pile to protect it from rain or to find a better drying spot. After the vegetation dries the pika will move it to its den deep in the rocks. The dried plants are then stored for use as a food source during the long high-altitude winters. They do not hibernate even in these harsh long snowy periods and thus have these food stores they worked all summer long to build to survive off of! When their food source starts to run low they will also supplement their needs by foraging on whatever is available under the snow, such as bark and lichen. A relative of the rabbit and hare, the pika is the size and shape of a guinea pig with a stocky, grayish-brown body. It has short legs, round ears, a tiny virtually invisible tail, and sharp curved claws. It is very alert and has excellent hearing and vision which helps protect it from predators like coyotes, weasels, martens and hawks. They emit a sharp, high-pitched whistle to alert other nearby pikas when predators are detected. Therefore they may well see the approach of a human as a similar threat and sound the alarms!
Females usually bear one or two litters, with two to four young in each. When the young are born, they have no hair and are blind. But within a short time they grow rapidly and are able to open their eyes. Amazing as it may sound, the babies will leave their mother after four weeks and are adult size in about three months. Pikas usually live for about four to seven years, which I find fascinating for such a small creature in the wild! So give them you attention the next time you see or hear one---they live in an amazing world of their own!

Full moon rises over the waters last month

2010-09-09T09:51:00.000-07:00

With a late-August start to school quickly approaching we had a chance for one last getaway before our daily routines would suddenly be altered. Lucky for us it was full moon time for the month of August and seeing clear sky with full moon rising across Case Inlet was a great send-off to summer break.

It is a rare treat when we get both clear sky and smooth water to enjoy this.

Now it's time to prepare for a hopeful repeat of 5-6 years ago in November and again in February when sunrise happens directly behind Mount Rainier.

I've only seen that once - why is it always cloudy in November and February when we get out there? Oh, never mind :)

A vacation tour with five birds in the fishing world

2010-08-26T17:23:00.001-07:00

What an "interesting" year 2010 has been and after much lengthy silence I am finally getting my schedule and activities sort of "back to normal". Far too many serious family health issues to handle in one year, not to mention in just the past few months since spring!

Kicking off August was really nice as I enjoyed an annual trip to a family cabin on a lake in far Northeast Washington near the Idaho border, up north of Spokane. Eight full days with family and two dogs was just what I needed. Fishing was great as well, even if I lost the 2010 Annual Fishing Derby between the Bauer Pa vs. Bauer Son 8-3.

At least I caught the longest trout! But we weren’t the only creatures fishing the lake. Indeed, I enjoyed watching and photographing five bird species who were working the lake constantly just like all summers!

The occasional Great Blue Heron shouldn’t surprise anyone. Double-crested Cormorants were a bit of a new one on the lake for me, even after 22 years of visiting it every summer. A pair of Belted Kingfishers were eagerly working the waters of the bay every morning. But the stars of the show annually are the Ospreys nesting on the lake as well as numerous families of Red-necked Grebes! It is a challenge to photograph the ospreys but they are so active you just have to wait for a fly-over or be lucky to have a dead snag on your property they use to perch and hunt from.

The grebes, well they are busy out in the water 24 hours a day. So this year again I kayaked out into the lake as approaching them from the water is very easy on them and allowed me many chances to photograph their behaviors with the ½ grown young! It was very enjoyable…one youth was so vocal all of the time while the adult near it seemed to care less! And guess what…every one of these five bird species humiliated us Bauer Boys in our fishing abilities! It was stunning to be in a kayak and watch what it looked like seeing a red-necked grebe swimming underwater. That was a new sight for me and one I’ll not forget soon!

An annual trek to get my wildflower craving satisfied with Tweedy’s lewisia

2010-06-14T16:10:00.000-07:00

Each year it is the same thing over and over. Come spring I get all antsy about starting to head out with viewing wildflowers as the main objective. What a great way to see nature putting on a show as well as offering unlimited photographic opportunities! Once I’ve had my share of shrub steppe region visits (aka. “Washington’s desert”) my attention focuses immediately to the dry east slopes of the Cascades. The open pine-fir mix forests where warm sun, rocky well-drained soils exist are prime habitat for some of the most stunning and rare wildflowers in Washington and it is here where I annually roam special areas to enjoy my most favorite Washington wildflower: Tweedy’s lewisia!

The flowers are up to 3-inches across and are a beautiful salmon to yellowish-pink in color. I think it is by far the most showy lewisia, as well as most beautiful wildflower in the Pacific Northwest! A close relative flower, known as Bitterroot, is much more widespread and easier to locate. (Bitterroot too is a spectacular wildflower – it is smaller and more pink in color, so don’t miss looking for it as well!) Tweedy’s lewisia blooms from May to July depending on what elevation you can find it at, and it does have a very limited geographic range where it is typically found. It is essentially limited to the Wenatchee Mountains, Chelan and Kittitas Counties, and a few areas in the Methow Valley.

While I’m sure it is present in other similar areas, I have my own “guaranteed success” trails where I repeatedly return to in June to have my annual craving to see them satisfied. Lower elevation locations such as the Chiwaukum Creek Trail and Tumwater Botanical Area region, both west of Leavenworth, are on the list for earlier bloom times since they are barely at 2000’ elevation. The photos seen here were taken on June 12th of this year but most years they will be in bloom in late-May here. A contrast to this location is hiking the Tronson Ridge Trail on the northeast side of US-97 near Blewett Pass. Here hiking along a stunning ridge at 5000’ you can readily find clumps of Tweedy’s lewisia typically a few weeks later than lower elevations. What fun! If you ever wish to get more information about finding these locations I’m happy to share exact details with you. I hope you have a chance to get out and see some of nature’s wildflower performances this summer, even if it is just while sitting in a car in a parking lot at Mount Rainier or along a mountain stream!

Dip, Dip, Dip! American Dippers know how to jig!

2010-06-02T08:52:00.000-07:00

You might enjoy the beauty of moss covered boulders, the towering forest canopy, or the sound of the babbling water when you stroll along a refreshing creek or river nearby. Stop, look, and listen. Isn’t it beautiful sight and sound? But suddenly you see movement of a small gray flying object and hear peeping noises zoom up the creek to break your train of thought. The movement stops on a rock, and then the show can begin. You’re ready to watch the unique antics of an American dipper!

The American dippers also are often called “water ouzels” by many people. These smallish songbirds (yes, they do have a very pretty call!) are about seven inches long and have a very short tail. They are an even gray colored bird and their names come from the behavior seen when they are closely approached or maybe disturbed by another creature. This “dipping” is the act of them quickly bending their legs so that their entire body quickly moves up and down. But I feel that the best part of their show comes when they are feeding. They are very well adapted to dive underwater---and good thing since their main source of food is aquatic insects! They aren’t like ducks as they don’t have webbed feet. However they can swim across water by paddling their feet and they can propel under the water with a “swimming-style” of motion of their wings. The really cool thing in their biology is how they have nasal flaps which keep water from entering their noses. I wish I could do that! Once their heads are underwater they simply go about their business of eating the buffet of insect larvae (mayflies, stoneflies, etc…) that await them. While they have predators such as sharp-shinned hawks and weasels, their nests are much protected from them. Nest locations are normally within the spray of the water and often are hidden back in behind a small waterfall or large rapid. It is a thrill seeing one dart into a waterfall and not come back out! They often re-use the same nest year to year and they are very territorial. It has been seen where a dipper will defend over half mile of stream.

While it is easy to think of these creatures as mountain dwellers in the vast network of creeks and rivers of the Cascades, they actually are happy in lowland areas as well. I’ve seen them at the confluence of the three forks of the Snoqualmie River above the falls. It is typical to locate them in places such as Tokul Creek and the Raging River. I’ve even seen them in an area surrounded by development as they thrive along Coal Creek below Coal Creek Falls in Cougar Mountain Regional Park. Healthy streams are necessary for them to survive. Without them, the insects they depend on will not flourish. So enjoy your opportunities to locate this special bird species---they will give you a free show and also let you know the healthy state of the water is worth cheering for as well!

A flowery day along Ingalls Creek

2010-05-25T10:28:00.000-07:00

I used to make an annual May trip to hike the Ingalls Creek Trail. I remember the wildflowers to be one of the best shows I could find in the Cascades early in the year. As the long wilderness valley climbs from 2000' toward 4000' it allows you to see flowers of all seasons. When balsamroot and lupines are blooming in late May at the lower elevations, you reach far into the valley and find Glacier Lilies, Western Trillium, and many other early blooming species where spring is just waking up. And all of this along the thundering roar of Ingalls Creek which drains massive mountain ranges on both the north and south sides. Birds fill the trees along the valley bottom, but you can't hear them - the creek is too loud! But pausing and watching for a moment reveals all of the grosbeaks, tanagers, chickadees, and the list goes on. But the real show is at your feet.

(above: Glacier lily; flowering Kinnickinick; Hooker fairy-bells; Fern-leaf desert parsley; False Solomon seal)

For whatever reason, I had not hiked this trail for likely 12-13 years after having hiked it annually for at least five years in a row. A recent return visit, hiking 5+ miles up the valley, has me now knowing I'll never let that happen again! What a show...flowering serviceberry and chokecherry bushes/trees, deerbrush ready to blow out its fragrant flowers, lupines, red and yellow paintbrush (yellow ones I sure don't see very often around here), arrowleaf balsamroot, prairie-star flower, hooker's fairy bells, calypso orchids, larkspur, western trillium, glacier lilies, false solomon seal, vanilla leaf, three species of desert parsley including lovely areas of fern-leaf desert parsley, yellow violets, and more...all blooming at once! It was a fiesta of color and fragrance. Oh, and a brief hailshower, some rain, and one lovely female common merganser flying up the creek, all made for a wonderful day with a friend.

(above: Ballhead waterleaf; Ingalls Creek at creek-side and a fun rock art by previous bored hikers :) )

It has been a long cold spring, but even nature will push through and let spring and summer get here eventually!

Presentation in Bellevue today @ 2:00PM

2010-05-22T08:33:00.000-07:00

It's a dark and stormy March morning and....oh, wait, it's almost June? Sigh - spring has been a stinker here in the Pacific Northwest! It's 45* and wet outside, so why don't you come on down to the Bellevue Main Library branch of the King County Library System at 2:00PM this afternoon and join me for an enjoyable hour of stories and adventure sharing hiking the many trails covered in the Day Hiking guidebooks series I'm a part of! At least you can be thinking about hitting the trails that way if you don't like today's weather for hiking in!

Boring Beetles aren't so boring: The Banded Alder Borer

2010-05-07T08:10:00.000-07:00

Beetles aren't necessarily the most exciting critter to many people. In fact they can give some people the absolute creeps! But some play a positive role in nature and are downright beautiful. Mention the phrase "borer beetles" and usually the reaction isn’t going to be a positive one. Most species of this “long-horned borer” beetle family can cause extensive damage to nature as they bore into live wood. Some of you may recall hearing about the dangerous imported Asian Long-horned Beetle, which devastated mature trees in several Eastern US cities during 1999 and 2000. This caused thousands of trees to be destroyed in Chicago and New York in particular! Harmful boring beetles will attack forest trees including maple, poplar, and alder. They kill the trees by boring large holes through the heartwood of the tree. This in turn causes serious damage to the live tree. Most of these long-horned beetle species which are harmful to trees have the long antennae and long bodies which are characteristic of this family. However, we are fortunate to have a native beetle to our area in this family which actually is beneficial to nature! Introducing: the Banded Alder Borer.
The Banded Alder Borer is very striking as it is 1-1.5 inches long with large black and white striped ("banded") antennae and black and white markings on the body. The antennae are longer than the body! It feeds on alder, ash and other hardwood trees. However, it feeds on the dead or decaying wood of these trees. This in turn is helping with the promotion of the decay of the dead wood in the ecosystem. They lay their eggs on the surface of the tree bark. As the larvae develop they then tunnel inward and later prepare pupal chambers which will be home until the beetle is "born" to life.
Typically you will only see single individuals of them during the summer. Occasionally, however, they are strangely attracted in groups to fresh paint on the sides of buildings during warm/hot weather! Speculation is that a volatile chemical in paint can mimic a certain attracting scent ("pheromone") which draws the beetles to each other. Some painters have returned from a lunch break only to find a number of them unfortunately dead in their open cans of paint. The Banded Alder Borer is the only known beetle that seems to display this potential attraction to freshly painted areas.
Don't expect to come across these lovely beetles very often as they actually are quite uncommon to see. But if you should be lucky enough to see one take a moment to get close and watch it. They do not bite and are not a pest in any way---there is no need for taking any actions to control them!

There's moss in that there forest...and waterfalls...and good friends

2010-05-03T21:02:00.000-07:00

What a joy it was recently the past few days to escape for a much needed mental break from stressful recent times and not only get outdoors, but have it turn out to be a new trail for me which was one of the best new additions for me in some time, all while shared with great friends. Karen Sykes, Bob, and myself headed SE down SR-410 from Enumclaw into the White River Valley and thoroughly enjoyed hours of hiking up the Palisades Trail. Moss covering every rock, maple tree branch, even cliffs covered with moss alongside of waterfalls. Huge old growth trees, calypso orchids growing out of the forest floor moss, western trilliums, yellow violets, spooky views from atop the palisade cliffs,

even getting into a dusting of snow still on the ground once above 4000' elevation.

This area is such prime early season hiking as it never has as much snow as the areas in the Central Cascades, and the southern exposure always melts the snowpack off sooner. Karen, Bob, and myself shared hours of stories and ideas all while we strolled the 9 miles of hiking we did and dozens of photos we took. What a great day! A sure thing bet this trail is in the next edition of the Day Hiking books as well as other projects I'm working on.

Thanks for a great day in the mountains, Karen & Bob!

Let's talk hiking and photography this Saturday!

2010-05-03T09:22:00.000-07:00

A quick note that the lovely new (well, it was new 10 years ago or so but still is a beautiful building) library in Sammamish will host me this coming Saturday afternoon, May 8 @ 2:00pm to present a talk and show sharing my adventures and stories working on the Day Hiking book series, published by The Mountaineers Books. Get a great start to your Mother's Day weekend and get excited for a great 2010 hiking summer ahead! See you there I hope.

Artist Reception at Marianwood Art Gallery tomorrow

2010-04-20T10:33:00.000-07:00

Hello friends-Just a quick note to invite anyone who might be interested in coming by to see the “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” photography exhibition being shown at the Marrianwood Art Gallery up on the Sammamish Plateau. The show runs until May 31st but tomorrow night happens to be the artists reception to have a little bit of fun. I’ll also have a table set up with extra unframed matted prints, some cards, and even my guidebook series of books for people to browse over if they are bored. Ha.
This is a continuation of the artEAST winter gallery show that was in Issaquah for the month of February at the UpFront Gallery – I haven’t even seen the gallery yet so I’ll be curious how it is set up there actually. For an interesting side note….turns out the quartet music that is lined up for this is a quartet made up of four members of the Evergreen Philharmonic Orchestra in Issaquah, of which the viola player will be my own daughter. We didn’t even realize that until just a week or two ago – funny! Pretty cool….
Thanks for your time and maybe I’ll see a few of you there tomorrow evening!

What a beak...the Evening Grosbeak

2010-04-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

Here we have a rather uncommon bird that many of you may not have experienced yet. But one thing is almost for certain: if you see one, you will see many more! Moving around often in large flocks, the evening grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus) can fill your surrounding trees with a loud chorus and also drain your large birdfeeders of sunflower seeds in a hurry.
About 140 years ago, English-speaking settlers in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains came across a beautiful big-beaked bird that appeared mysteriously from somewhere in the distant west. They named it evening grosbeak in the mistaken belief that it came out of the woods to sing only after sundown. The species today has expanded its range---prior to 1890, they were unknown east of the Great Lakes, whereas today they continue to expand their breeding range throughout the East. Thus not until recent times (historically speaking) have they even been known to exist to white settlers. The modern day abundance of sunflower seeds at feeding stations is one of the keys to its range expansion as the seeds available have extended the chances of them being able to survive the winters in areas their native wintering seeds (primarily seeds from the cones of spruce, balsam fir, and pine trees) never existed!

The evening grosbeak is considered a very common bird…if you are lucky enough to have them around. However, they are very spotty in their distribution and while one area might be overwhelmed with dozens of them the next areas will not have a single specimen. They are an erratic migrant in winter as the occurrence of their flocks is unpredictable. They are large, gregarious, nomadic finches that travel in raucous flocks. During the winter, evening grosbeaks are irregularly common, sometimes appearing in large flocks at feeders where they can devour huge amounts of sunflower seeds. I can’t describe the amazing sense you experience when getting the opportunity to stand outside and listen to a flock of 30 or 40 of them all chirping! The chorus of chatter they create is absolutely lovely!
A fascinating feature about this bird is of course its beak. The evening grosbeak's bill is bone color during winter, but it undergoes a dramatic change in pigmentation in early spring. Its new color matches precisely the green of fresh deciduous buds and leaves and also the new needles that will tip the spruce boughs around the site where the bird's nest will be built a few weeks thereafter. The evening grosbeak conceals its body in the trees and in order to see lifts only its head and bill, which looks like a young green spruce or balsam cone. This is a terrific example of protection through appropriate coloration!

Certainly no farmer will wish to take away from them the weed seeds they devour. A grosbeak getting all its daily energy from budworm larvae would eat 1000 a day. These birds crowd into budworm infested areas to breed and raise young, then move elsewhere when the infestation declines. Because of its appetite for this destructive pest, the evening grosbeak is one of our most beneficial birds! So while they are not as common as our summer visitors, the black-headed grosbeaks, they certainly are a joy to experience if you are so lucky to have them at your feeders during their times passing here in the area!

Peaceful wanderings in the Pack Forest

2010-04-01T09:43:00.000-07:00

A very wet past 72 hours got me antsy to go hike more new areas for future projects and get a good fix of waterfall hunting in the meantime. The Pack Forest lands south of Eatonville offer a wonderful opportunity for peaceful lonely roaming and there are many trails and roads to choose from. With the dark "dripping" clouds hanging on tight to the foothills my friend and I decided to leave places like Hugo Peak for a second visit in coming weeks, thus we opted to roam northward and enjoy the waterfalls along a stunning gorge where the Little Mashel River flows toward Eatonville where it joins the Mashel River.

What a stellar day of moss and water! The heavy rains of the previous 3 days had the river flowing at a very strong level causing numerous other smaller waterfalls to be cascading over the cliffs than you might normally see, I would have to assume. The overcast light, fresh green moss and leaves coming out, all made for a very lush peaceful setting. And very muddy to slop around in - I think we almost filled our boots with mud on a few occasions as we hiked down toward Lower Mashel Falls!

Return visit will have to happen to fully appreciate roaming the highlands up around Hugo Peak and the Trail of Giants. Western Trillium was starting to bloom in force, Red-flowering Current was blooming near the river, and water was the enjoyment for the day to go along with wonderful company of a good friend. Thanks Michael.

Fuller Mountain - a mossy kind of trail overlooked by most

2010-03-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday dawned as a day due to be bright, sunny, and lacking rain. Like many days of this past winter! So having a chance to fit in a day on the trail to get to a needed area for future projects I loaded my gear, cameras, and border collie to enjoy a quick 3+ hour hike up Fuller Mountain in the Snoqualmie Forest lands of Hancock Timber NE of the Snoqualmie Valley.

We crossed Ten Creek just fine on the footlog that still stands after all these years. Funny now how my dog runs across it and even I have to take it easy - silly dog! She is the smartest Bauer family member and she knows it. The trail isn't as "faint" as I remember it to be, but still in 2 rocky scree crossings the trail is basically "lost" and you just have to be smart about knowing where it would come out on the other side - not a lot of places to look to find it if you are "lost" as the trail is on a steep mountainside! The mossy viewpoint at the summit area (not the actual summit but with in 5' elevation of being the top) was a great lunch, and then my wonder dog hiker buddy and me headed back out. Much to do - lunch, yard, kids, and Little League!

A great day....

Skookum Flat Trail hiking - a great day on the trail with my dog

2010-03-16T05:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday brought nearly 70* temperatures to some western lowland locations and even at 2000' elevation SE of Enumclaw, the warm winds saw me hiking a stellar day in nearly 60* weather. A good portion of the day was spent along the Skookum Flats Trail that runs along the White River, and what a great day to enjoy being out sharing fresh air with my border collie!

Green mossy carpets covering the damp forest floor and actual sandy beaches down along the White River.

The river is so low this winter it was like a summer stroll to the river! Even my wonder mutt seemed to take notice of the massive groves of huge old growth trees.

Mixing in a very steep side scramble up to the base of Skookum Falls where it comes down hundreds of feet where Skookum Creek dumps off of the plateau above, and we had yet another memorable day together in the outdoors. She was content to relax while I drove around locating a few other trailheads that I need to return to this spring, and she never complained about my driving all day!

Thanks for the great day yesterday pooch - we'll get out again next week!

Western Trillium - official start of spring

2010-03-10T13:31:00.000-08:00

White flower sighting alert! I just enjoyed spotting my first Western Trillium emerging from the forest debris on our property. Let the show begin! A lot of things will be coming sooner this spring than any other in most of your memories. We all know how soon the winter snow pack in the Cascades will be gone, no matter how much snow might fall when weather patterns change in early spring. Ticks and mosquitoes are already out with abundance at many locations in the state. But one thing that excites many of us is the “official” start to spring when the wildflowers of the lowlands begin their annual show. This year trees flowered many weeks early, desert wildflowers of the Columbia Basin were beginning to bloom by mid-March, and any day now one of the most beautiful wildflowers of our neighborhood should start to wake up: the western trillium!

While other wildflowers bloom earlier (such as skunk cabbage and palmate coltsfoot) the western trillium (Trillium ovatum) is close behind. It also is common to see it going by the name “western wake-robin” since it is one of the earlier species to bloom. I know many people who feel that spring really is here once they see their first one blooming along a local trail or on their property! We are very fortunate to have numerous places on our property where they grow much to our enjoyment. However, if you are not this lucky there are many close-by locations you are sure to see them now. Walk the Snoqualmie Valley Trail and they will be emerging along the moist hillsides and streams that you find in the semi-shaded regions. Most trails within the Tiger Mountain State Forest as well as the easy stroll to Twin Falls out east of North Bend all offer prime viewing. Likewise, they often are seen in large quantities on most semi-shaded moist slope along any hiking trail in the lower elevations of the Cascades. Very often you will see them growing along with ferns, salal, and yellow violets (which bloom at essentially the same time). You can certainly see where this flower got its name from by taking a closer look at the plant. Most of the structure of the trillium, such as leaves, pedals, flower parts, etc…) are exactly three in number. If not, they are in multiples of three. What a perfectly designed native flower! The flower grows from the top of a very sturdy stalk which rises out of the ground from the rhizome, which is the “storage root” of the plant.

I highly recommend if you already have a location within your garden which is landscaped as a native garden to consider adding the western trillium to the mix! It is available in fall as rhizomes from a number of native plant growers in the Pacific Northwest. But whether you have them in your yard or not be sure to try and sneak a peek at this triumphant signaling of “The Official Start of Spring”!

Have a smile-filled day

2010-03-09T06:01:00.001-08:00

Everyone knows I love the outdoors. I love hiking, I like just feeling good about the world, and there is always a lot of good around us to celebrate what is right in this world. It is a very cold morning right now outside as the clear sky starts to get light in the east this early. With our mild El Nino winter, it is hard to imagine that being down in the mid-20s right now is the most cold night we've had in 2010 so far! Now that is a mild winter! The bright clear morning however...now that is a celebration to kick off another great day. Celebrate what is right in the world around you, and you can start with a smile!
(photo: "Smiling" log along the Greg Ball Trail hiking up toward Wallace Lake)

Chorus of Spring - Pacific Tree Frogs

2010-03-05T19:15:00.000-08:00

While we have had some great late winter weather lately spring still isn't quite here. But March is a magical month of life in nature. Plants begin to grow and our daylight hours are filled with the songs of birds. Another choir of spring also starts to warm up, but this one is at night! Ah, one of my favorite parts of spring. The longer evening hours of warmth lead to that first night where darkness brings on a riot of singing from our hidden but noisy neighbors: the Pacific Tree Frogs!
The Pacific Tree Frog (Hyla regilla) can be found almost anywhere in our region. Woodlands, meadows, pastures, shrubs, small trees, flower gardens, and smack in the middle of your lawn! They often are found even in urban areas quite far from the nearest body of water! Their toes have sticky pads which allow them to climb about on plants with great agility. However they do tend to stay much closer to ground level than most tree frog species, preferring to remain within two feet of the ground most of the time. I have always been fascinated with the care these little creatures use in selecting areas to lay their eggs. The eggs are laid in early March to May in temporary ponds. Why? These temporary ponds are key because their predators such as brown salamanders and bullfrogs do not live or lay their eggs here! These other species require permanent water for their livelihood! By choosing temporary ponds (which will dry up by summer) instead of deep permanent ponds, Pacific Tree Frogs reduce the number of predators that may eat the tadpoles!

So just why do frogs sing? There are actually a wide variety of reasons! Sometimes, frogs sing when they are trying to attract a mate ("Hey there! Come and find ME!"). Sometimes, they sing to mark their territory ("Excuse me, this is MY lily pad!"). Other times, frogs sing because they know the weather is going to change or they even squeak when they are frightened or hurt! But at this time of year what stands out the most is the males call for attracting females. The male frogs are territorial and protect their part of the pond from other males by repeating their two-toned call at night. This call can be heard from as far as a mile or more away and attracts females who hop along to find where the males are hanging out. This loud call is so famous and "perfect" in a sense that even Hollywood has taken notice. The distinctive call of the Pacific Tree Frog is widely used in films for a "tropical" background! Once the eggs have been laid in the temporary pond (attached to a branch or clump of grass) the parents hop back to open forests and other places, leaving the young to fend for themselves. Thus begins the remarkable transformation of an egg to a tadpole and eventually to the young froglet which first grows back legs, then front legs, and then loses the trail to become a froglet. This happens by autumn and young frogs are mature at about one year of age. At that point their main predators are raccoons, herons, mink, bullfrogs, snakes, and other animals.
As March passes along and we get our first warm evenings that last well past dinnertime start keeping an ear open for this spring choir to kick into full swing! While it can be very difficult to spot these little fellows (they cease calling if they feel threatened) you can always sit back and enjoy knowing they are present nearby. Having Pacific Tree Frogs (or any species of frog for that matter) nearby is one of the strongest indications that we have a healthy ecosystem! These little amphibians are one of the first indicators of when an ecosystem is starting to struggle under pressure and we need to keep them happy if the rest of the natural cycle around us is to remain healthy and happy too!

Fall City artists now featured at Eastshore Gallery

2010-03-03T09:23:00.001-08:00

Beginning this past Sunday, February 28th, and ongoing until April 11th, the Eastshore Gallery in Bellevue is hosting "Spring in Fall City!", a dynamic variety of beautiful art work from Snoqualmie Valley local artists. Many of these stellar works are by good friends of mine who I have had the honor of getting to know through the Fall City Arts organization and I thank everyone for helping make this show happen over the course of the past year! Art work ranging from glass work, painting, drawing, jewelry, sculpture, all is featured...and yes, so is my photography. Head to the website detailing who is showing their masterpieces at the gallery HERE, and let me know what you think!

Back in the saddle....or, where has the month gone?

2010-02-28T11:54:00.000-08:00

Can someone please tell me where the month of February just disappeared to? Well, to say the least it sort of vaporized away with too many home projects going on as well as 25% of it being a week with school out. So that meant wonderful times away including an annual trip to Arizona and the Seattle Mariners spring training with my son! More great memories and exciting days involving baseball...private time talking with Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu, baseball signing with him, autographs of numerous other players, and a day out in Scottsdale at the camp of the San Francisco Giants including the luck of a Tim Lincecum signing, his favorite pitcher in the big leagues. Hiking in the desert out by Apache Junction and into the Superstitious Mountains rounded out a great time!

Now to get back to reality and a great month of March, the coming of spring which seems to have already long ago started here in the Pacific Northwest, and many great days spent hiking and photographing, and numerous enjoyable evenings doing presentation talks around the state. Stay tuned!
(photos: walking and talking with Manager Don Wakamatsu; baseball signing in the cart with Mariners manager Wakamatsu; baseball signing with Mariners starting pitcher Ryan Rolan-Smith; baseball signing with Mariners pitching closer David Aardsma)

"Hit Me with your Best Shot!" exhibition opens this Friday!

2010-02-02T21:57:00.000-08:00

A new gallery showing is opening at the UpFront Gallery on Front Street in downtown Issaquah in February. I'm honored to have had two prints selected for this juried gallery exhibition and the opening reception is Friday night, February 5th from 6:00-8:00pm! I hope some of you can come by to see the diverse imagery in this show "Hit Me with your Best Shot!" and for more information you can go to http://www.arteast.org/ - if you can't make it Friday, the show runs until February 27th. Enjoy!

Muck in the desert

2010-01-30T09:42:00.000-08:00

Whew, between massive home projects that have kicked off around here the past 1.5 weeks that need monitoring as well as having a few presentations on the schedule (which both went VERY well!) I've been quiet of late. And I also haven't had much chance to use the cameras even though the weather has been stellar, warm, and El Nino wonderfully dry! But I did take some time to at least stretch my legs a bit on my Yakima trip this week, enjoying some long needed fresh air hiking in one of my favorite areas of the Best Desert Hikes-Washington book, the L.T. Murray Wildlife Area between Ellensburg and Yakima. I've hiked up Umtanum Creek Canyon well over a dozen times, and roamed upward toward Umtanum Ridge almost as many. But it keeps sucking me back into stopping there by the suspension bridge crossing over the Yakima River...and it worked again this trip.

It was very overcast - typical for the inversion type of conditions in January in the Columbia Basin. But what really struck me were the ground conditions. Yuck!!!!!! When the desert soils are making the transition from frozen ground to thawed soil, the muck you have to walk in makes it very hard to actually enjoy hiking around. I've typically avoided hiking much in areas like this in late February for this reason, instead waiting for March and seeing nature wake up. But January is a great hiking time out there! Not this time - the warm El Nino conditions of the past week had temperatures even in the cold pockets like this nearing 40* for much of the week (it was 46* when I pulled in to Yakima that evening!). I still went for a two hour roam, but between the muck in the sky vs. the muck at my feet, let's just say this won't be the most photographic or memorable stop I've ever had here! But I did realize it's only two months until things really come to life, and I'll be all over the Columbia Basin ready to enjoy it!

More Trumpeter Swans

2010-01-19T20:57:00.000-08:00

Well I finally had a chance to look over a few more of my three hours photographing Trumpeter Swans in the northern Snoqualmie Valley back last month when it was only 14* and sunny outside. A great day, even with numb cold toes!

The light was wonderful to show off these, one of the most beautiful birds on earth. I said thank you to them as I left.

Can we adapt to changes as well as nature?

2010-01-13T08:39:00.000-08:00

So, can we humans adapt to changes around us as well as nature usually shows us grand shows of how well it is done? Well, I certainly hope so but I'm constantly amazed at examples where we see a dramatic effect to the environment around some creature of our natural world and boom, they know ways to deal with it. Most of us are all aware of the tremendous cold weather that push into 2/3 of the country. I mean, it was 18* last Saturday morning in New Orleans. Yes! And many temperatures in the 20's in the northern half of Florida, where stores ran out of space heaters. But speaking of Florida, that is where my story is taking us today. Manatees are a spectacular mammal of the warm waters and show strong signs of becoming very ill if water temperatures drop below 68*. The story HERE from the Tampa Bay newspaper covers what has happened this week very well. The Manatees are suddenly gathering in a natural spring area where biologists are speechless at the sight, never having see so many of them in the area as this. Why? The warm springs that feed this special place discussed keeps the water at a constant 72*, and with the cold weather the waters have cooled too much in the normal wintering waters for them! I simply love reading and learning about the adaptation of nature. I would bet that the Manatees didn't go into a few decades of arguing over the change (in climate, or "insert your modifying factor here" type of change to an environment), spend billions of dollars arguing over it, and then another decade or two discussing what the solution would be for the problem. I'm guessing they figured it out a lot quicker than that! Every bad doom and gloom problem...there is a bright answer.

Just like every dark gloomy part of a rainbow...has a spectacular bright sunny part to it!

Coming to the next artEAST gallery exhibition soon

2010-01-09T12:11:00.000-08:00

I'm very honored ad pleased to share that I have heard news that at least two of my images have been accepted in the upcoming Art East Gallery "Hit Us with Your Best Shot" Photography Exhibition which will run starting in early February at the gallery! Maybe I'll have a chance to submit more work to add to the line-up but for now I'm just enjoying knowing I'll have the work ahead of me preparing my prints for the early February hanging.

More details for when the opening event occurs will follow once I know more later this month!

Presentation in Everett, WA for the Everett Mountaineers tomorrow

2010-01-05T22:13:00.000-08:00

Quickly wanted to remind everyone that I will be in Everett, WA tomorrow night to give a talk to the Everett Mountaineers. This presenting at the Everett Mountaineers monthly branch meeting (tomorrow night, 7:00PM) will have me giving a talk rich with photography and goofy stories on my experiences doing Day Hiking-Central Cascades. Check out the Everett Mountaineers website HERE for full details, and if you can't make it maybe I'll see you at the Everett Public Library on April 25th or March 7th for my other upcoming talks in your neighborhood. Hope to see you there!

Rainbows and Happy New Years - reflecting on the past, excited about the future!

2009-12-31T10:05:00.001-08:00

I bring an end to 2009 here with a simple rainbow from this past week. Sure, I was happy to see this set up for me and get the small rainbow "piece" that made a brief appearance also reflecting in Case Inlet in my special part of Puget Sound.

But the rainbow always makes me stand there and think a bit, and what better time to do that than today - Happy New Year everyone! Maybe a rainbow can allow you a moment of peace to reflect on things of the past, even make what could be viewed a sour note in your past year into something positive. Maybe it will bring a refreshing positive and eager outlook on the upcoming year - it sure does to me! In either case, I hope everyone realizes you can appreciate the past year, you can make the next year positive. You are in control of your state of mind so smile and take the initiative to make happen what you want to fit in to your time in 2010! Happy New Year!

Year ending with a bright light

2009-12-28T20:37:00.001-08:00

It's been a bit quiet from my end as I figure out where to start out catching up from a busy wonderful fun time over Christmas. But a part of that catching up was enjoying some down time at the special place we call our get-away at our cabin. I've always enjoyed being there in winter more than summer for some reason...it is so peaceful, quiet, lacking urgency to play as hard outdoors with kayaks (although we DID kayak in Case Inlet this time anyhow!), and just enjoy being inside reading and playing games. Yes, I did get creamed at playing Nerf hoops, not to mention every other game I was challenged to over the days there. But...the weather in December has been so dry and so many clear days and that brings me to my "bright light". We get sunrise light there...and this time of year the sun rises far to the south and even south of Mount Rainier in our view. I was ready - and how fun it is not having to get up so early for the sunrise light this time of year - I slept in until 7:00am! For a COMPLETE HOUR the light in the SE was changing and climaxed with the sun cresting the horizon south of Mount Rainier. Oh, and Rainier was sporting a pile-up of lenticular clouds this morning of shooting as well. It was below freezing, it was cold, and my border collie was out there with me. My son even came out in his PJ's outside the door and took his own photos while I was out on the beach shooting. I saw him sneak out up behind me, he can't hide from me!

It was a great way to have nature tell me "here's to the end of a great year, Merry Christmas Mr. Bauer, and onward to 2010!". Indeed!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T16:08:00.000-08:00

On this special day of the year, I wish all of my friends, family, and those hidden strangers who might care to appreciate what little things I can do, a very Merry Christmas!

"In the First Light"

In the first light of a new day,

No one knew he had arrived.

Things continued as they had been,

While a new-born softly cried.

But the heavens, wrapped in wonder,

Knew the meaning of His birth.

In the weakness of a baby,

They knew God had come to earth.

Hear the angels as they're singing -- Hallelujah!

Calendar time again...with a different twist in my world

2009-12-22T21:49:00.000-08:00

It would be expected that I create an annual 13-month calendar each year since I take a few images every year. But while most would in my shoes make this a calendar of nature images...maybe birds or mammals in my case...or landscape photos is very common among most people I know who spend time in the outdoors with camera gear. Me? I use it as an opportunity to create a special memory every year, one I will cherish forever, and share it as gifts to my family and many friends. Well, it isn't a gift from "me" but instead has the tag "From: Mittens" as it is the annual gift from my wonder pooch and border collie best friend Mittens!

Yes, it has become well known now after the past four years that this is going to be a project that I put a lot of work and thought into. Many special moments spent with my best friend and even my family doesn't mind that it isn't a calendar of THEM. My border collie never complains about my driving, many 10,000's of miles later, and is always there with unconditional joy even if I'm just having a bad day. It is a way to showcase many of my special days with her in the past year, many of the special images I've captured that will forever be in our memories of this special wonder dog in our lives!

So Mittens, this entry is for you! Thanks for making the 2010 calendar just as exciting to create as the first one years ago! And thank you for making time together that much more special. Now, can you stop asking me for a Nilla Wafer while I'm typing this in!!? :)

(photos: various images from the past couple of annual calendars...)

Happy Winter Solstice - bring on the light!

2009-12-21T09:33:00.000-08:00

Moments ago it happened - did you feel it? Does it feel different right now to you? It's winter and with the winter solstice now behind us by not even one hour yet, just feel the excitement in the air as the heavens are about to start releasing more light into our world here at 47*N of the equator! What? Oh....sure, it's about as dark as night and pouring outside at the moment. Heck, even my Christmas lights sensor just kicked on the driveway lights! But before you have too much time to grump over the rains, one day soon it'll seem like "wow, it's light and after 5:00pm?". Toss in some good El Nino weak warm dry weather and boom: we'll have desert wildflowers like this one shown to get after and belly around like a desert rat to photograph. Enjoy the anticipation, I know I will!!

(photo: belly shot from under the flowers on Whiskey Dick Mountain - Quilomene Wildlife Area near Vantage, WA)

You can buy your winter/spring Desert Hikes preparations again

2009-12-19T10:47:00.001-08:00

Hey, it might be dark 16 hours a day now but winter cold hiking and spring wildflower hiking in the deserts of Central/Eastern Washington are just around the corner! Don't believe me? Today is only 12-seconds shorter than yesterday, and tomorrow? Tomorrow will give us only 8-seconds fewer of daylight!
I'm pleased to see that the outlets for Best Desert Hikes-Washington are back in stock again after the past month or two of unavailability due to the running out of the first printing of this title. The second printing is hot off the presses and I got my first box of them yesterday from Mountaineers Books to fulfill an order I put in back in October!
Hope to see you stomping the sage lands with me the next 5-6 months!

Nice PR for Day Hiking-South Cascades this week

2009-12-14T08:49:00.000-08:00

Well, it is nice to be a part of someones "Christmas list" and even more of an honor to be part of a list of great ideas for "gifts for the outdoors type" that shows up in a media outlet such as the Portland Oregonian. Therefore I'm quite happy to see my book "Day Hiking-South Cascades" included in a list of recommended hiking guidebooks by Oregonian travel writer Terry Richard this past weekend. Care to read over the full column, head HERE and enjoy the long list!

Trumpeter Swans - what are they trumpeting about?

2009-12-13T13:33:00.000-08:00

I have hundreds of images of Trumpeter Swans from this week when I spent over three hours photographing a field covered with well over 500 of them just south of Monroe. It might take me awhile to edit over more of them! But this one struck me with a great sense of humor - just what are these rascals honking over here? What does it seem to look like they are saying if they were yakking out loud in our human voices? Have an idea - pass it along to me and help caption this photo!

A steamy morning at Snoqualmie Falls

2009-12-11T09:38:00.000-08:00

Literally, I mean "steamy" outdoors, not indoors! Snoqualmie Falls is a delight when we get cold weather and what better way to enjoy it than wait out four straight days of temperatures not even coming close to getting above 32* out here and watch the ice build up around the falls. Yesterday morning I finally had to give in to the urge to revisit this frequent stop - the continuing clear sky would offer nice "warm" light back lighting the falls area after sunrise, and it was cranking on day three of morning temperatures in the single digits! This is where the steam comes from - even the cold water of the Snoqualmie River was steaming each morning this week, a sight we don't get around here. It has looked more like winter pre-freezing of rivers in Eastern Washington or North Dakota!

I pulled in to enjoy over 45 minutes of standing in what were 6* temperatures watching the show, of which I was completely alone 44 minutes of it I think. The light from the sunrise was better at adding truly dramatic feelings in my viewfinder that I had thought it could - instead of dealing with spray from the falls like so often happens when the river is quite high, I was dealing with steam! The water was steaming up a storm and that was simply one of the most cool things I've ever seen! I'd like to find the calculations that are involved comparing air temperature vs. water temperature vs. relative humidity to find out what effects what the most. By the time I left the falls at 9:30am the steam effect was far reduced from what I was seeing much of the time. Air temperature then was 13* (and not skyrocketing very quickly!). What a fascinating start to my day. Up next? Massive herds of Trumpeter Swans in the north end of the Valley where I spent 2.5 hours freezing my feet numb standing at an edge of a field with 500-700 swans right in front of me! Stay tuned - this will be a good show-and-tell coming up from me! :)

It looks like summer outside!

2009-12-09T09:46:00.000-08:00

Ahhh, the sun, all week! This is as good as summer! Well, it's as nice as summer...just a bit more cold! Fresh on the heals of setting my all-time cold temperature just last December 2008 (4.1* on December 21, 2008) we've rolled into December 2009 trying hard to reach that level. Yesterday early on it was 7.0* so I had hopes going into last night. With absolutely no breeze and heading into a night already cold from a high temperature of only 28.1* here yesterday, radiational cooling conditions were perfect! Upon checking data this morning until temperatures started heading back up toward double digits again, we came close! It looks like we have to settle on 5.8* as our overnight low. Not too shabby and even the old plastic thermometer in the orchard was sitting right on the low side of 6* after I returned from taking kidlets to school. Maybe we'll hit 32* by Friday at this rate for a high!
Anyhow, all this excitement is best enjoyed with the thought that hey, I never have to remove my shoes when I come in the house and I don't need to wipe mud and debris off of my border collie when we come in either!

Thanks for making the Holiday Market a success!

2009-12-07T09:56:00.000-08:00

What a great day it was Saturday and I appreciate each and every one of you who came by the annual Holiday Market and took the time to come stop by my table and display! The enthusiasm from everyone who came was addicting and I was honored to have many surprise visitors come by as well - it was wonderful! Many note cards, many books and prints later, I packed up and left feeling so lucky to have this opportunity to share and be a part of the community around me. Thank you everyone, both those local as well as those who came from outside of the Valley to enjoy the day.

Feeling blessed and appreciative of what is around me

2009-12-04T09:16:00.001-08:00

Life can be busy. No, life normally IS busy! But even the busy parts of every day are lined with special things that make me feel incredibly blessed. Like this morning...it is easy to get caught up in the rush to deal with getting kids to school every day. However I feel very blessed, greatly appreciating that I get such happy rural travels to enjoy when simply driving to school each morning. I'm living in a great world in a wonderful small part of it. What a blessing!

(photo: steam on Borst Lake on a very cold morning under a clear crisp sky just before sunrise)

Come browse, shop, or just visit at the annual Holiday Market!

2009-12-03T19:22:00.000-08:00

Are you confused what to get a loved one this Holiday season? Strapped tight for money and don't want to get sucked in to the ease of over-spending on the Internet? Have a love and appreciation of hand made goods and wonderful creations by local area artists? Then please accept my reminder to come to the beautiful Snoqualmie Valley this coming Saturday, December 5th between 10:00am-3:00pm to the 10th annual Holiday Market held at in The Commons at Chief Kanim Middle School just outside of Fall City! What? Too far from where you live? Make it into a lovely half-day trip of relaxation and stop by a wonderful annual holiday fair, then add on great other destinations for a fantastic family or romantic early Christmas cheer! I'll have many new products available at my table and as always, a happy smile to greet you and just chat about almost anything! Hope to see you there.

Another late afternoon swan visitation

2009-11-29T19:33:00.000-08:00

Ah, visitation with the annual Trumpeter Swans - but in these cases, I'm the visitor to their wintering grounds. I was taking a brief moment before darkness would cover the Valley to see if increased numbers of these great white flyers were dotting the otherwise pale farm scape of the season. I pulled off a small area north of Carnation on one of my many little roads when I thought I saw two Ring-necked Pheasants across the way in the corn stubble of a summer corn/silage field. Sure enough, to lovely pheasants walking along. Too far off to photograph, but I still gave them a thumbs-up in their efforts to keep from sight of a very close by WDFW land area open for hunting season. Then I heard the sounds of what I would envision as poorly playing middle school trumpet players in the sky above me!

Sure enough, a group of five Trumpeter Swans were coming in to the same field I happened to be scanning for other birds. They circled the field three times, as if to first be waiting for the all clear from the control tower of an airport. By pass #3 I was set up with my gear and photographed them coming in to land. Then more came, two passing by a stunning color of light in the bright western sky as clouds broke before sunset! They all gathered in the field, and the last landing group seemed to be wanting to pick a fight upon landing. But chaos settled down to civil honking and jabbering, and all were happily eating soon together.

I sense this field might be an evening "roost" for the group as it was late in the day. But I intend on continuing to look and learn more about their behaviors at this field! THIS is why I love nature and wildlife photography so much - the ongoing challenges for learning, for understanding the biology behind my subjects is far more exciting that understanding the technology behind taking the photographs. Bring on more challenges from nature, I'm ready!

Great music with wind and pipes

2009-11-25T12:49:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not talking about bag pipes or flutes or any other wind-blown instrument. I'm back to talking about lovely pipe organs again! I quickly wanted to let everyone know, and I know there are some among you out there who know nature isn't the only thing worth photographing and appreciating(!!), that the CD release of the week-long 2008 OHS Convention in Seattle is out. This wonderful 4-CD set has every performance from every venue that was part of this week-long event, which took place in July 2008 around the Puget Sound region. The 36-page booklet that comes with it has an enormous amount of information for the musically inclined appreciation of historical pipe organs around the region. And I've got to put in a plug that it has a lot of very grand photography, since each image inside of each venue is from my image library shot for this convention! I hope you'll visit the Organ Historical Society and check it out and consider supporting this spectacular organization and what they do around the world. See the CD on their website, then please take time to browse around to learn about OHS while out there too!

Bring on the tugboats

2009-11-22T21:26:00.000-08:00

As a child I sure had a fascination with tugboats. Sure, I had a fascination about trains and stuff too! But I remember how thrilled I was to count the tugboats I'd see on the Columbia River when we would do a family trip up the Columbia River Gorge to The Dallas to see relatives over the holidays sometimes. I thought they were so cool and still do! I've had a few chances to photograph them over the past few years in Puget Sound when out on a ferry or other boat. Now my childhood fascination can be enjoyed yet again after seeing one of my images of a lovely tug passing by the front of the Space Needle in Seattle being used in the just released 2010 Tugboats calendar. It was a pleasure to work with Capt. Tom McCall in New York who put this together and I'm excited to get my copies soon! You can see it as well as purchase it here at Tugboatbay.com - enjoy!

(photo: tugboat on Puget Sound passing in front of the Space Needle and the Seattle waterfront)

What to do when the to-do list is too overdone? Go for a hike on the Snoqulamie Valley Trail!

2009-11-18T13:34:00.000-08:00

So, I'm swamped with things that I need to get done. Between having been preparing for a trip, been on the trip, returned to 2+ weeks of sickness in the family, and being stressed and tired from everything listed, I have seen every part of my photography as well as personal life fall behind schedule! People still waiting to see images from me, broken things needing attention, people needing to be taken here and there. I simply don't know where to start, so today I dove right in and did something that would help me the most: I called my border collie to go for a ride, and we went for a short hike!

The calm air before the incoming storm, yellow leaves from the cottonwoods and a few maples littered the ground, and we had a few good miles to ourselves both on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail and on side-trails off it that head up into the Hancock Tree Farm (aka Snoqualmie Tree Farm, aka old Weyerhaeuser Lands). I returned refreshed, relaxed, and ready to actually start making a few of the 1001 phone calls to clients, presentation arrangements, making appointments for doctors and dentist visits, and other joys of normal life. The dog? She returned smiling as she fell asleep for a nap...until I started the tractor to work, when she had to thus work then again too!

It's the Holiday Fair time of year

2009-11-17T08:02:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again, time to prepare for some upcoming holiday season art/craft fairs! And time to have fully updated my inventory for the season on my note card sales racks in retail locations. It is fun to see how quickly attention is drawn to the new note cards when I show up changing 1/2 of the stock I had on hand! Makes me realize maybe some people do really pay attention to what I'm doing out there....

Back to creating more prints and goods before December kicks in - man, I'm making a mess around this place! Hope to see you in a couple of weeks in the Snoqualmie Valley - more soon, or just get the info on the "Upcoming Events" tab on the right of this blog!

(photo: messy pile of matted up prints, ready to be reviewed and updated with even more local history, local scenes, and new material from around the Pacific Northwest)

Veteran's Day, 2009 remembered

2009-11-11T12:43:00.000-08:00

What more could a person say today than to just look at our American flag and take a moment to think. Think about what people before us have done to protect what America is. Think about all of those men and women who today are sacrificing their time, their energies, and even sadly, their lives, to make our country the most special on earth. We are blessed with freedom and many wonderful choices in life and we owe everyone who has served this great nation supportive thoughts every day.

I hope you take a moment to do that and let someone know you appreciate what they have done and are doing for your country.

(photos: farmer's decorated barn in the Kittitas Valley, WA ; wind-swept American flag during snowstorm along the Fall City riverfront)

Some lazy beach time on Maui

2009-11-10T15:12:00.000-08:00

While away recently for a week stay on Maui, I didn't let myself sit around too much. I hung around a lot for a family wedding related things and then when not doing that I was certainly not about to spend my time just sitting still on the beach! I had many things I wanted to see, and in upcoming posts here will enjoy sharing the specific areas on Maui that I really enjoyed in my limited time, very limited amount of planning time to figure out when and where to go!

But, I did kick around by the resort and beach in my evening time a lot which was a lot of fun, watching the masses of people enjoy that time of day for themselves as well. Time to start finally looking at photos taken on a few of my day-trips around on the island!

Need your Desert Hiking fix? Book new printing is on the way!

2009-11-06T20:52:00.001-08:00

I have seen the supplies of "Best Desert Hikes-Washington" slowly dwindle to virtually non-existent the past couple of months as the first printing of the title has run as dry as a summer in the Columbia Basin! Happily I'm pleased to let you know that a second printing of the book is just coming to completion and will be available before the holidays! I just sent a crisp copy of the cover photo to the publisher today to make sure they were ready to go. So if you are bummed about the rough weather of late in Washington, the snow about ready to start piling up in the Cascades this weekend, and wish you had a good solution to still enjoy getting outdoors? Want to have grand wildlife viewing opportunities all winter and next spring? Pick up a copy of the book soon before Christmas if you don't already have a copy or three! If you already have the book then contact me and arrange to spend a day out in the Washington desert hiking or photographing wildlife this winter! That's where I'll be....

Tomorrow's KCLS presentation @ Des Moines Library - cancelled

2009-11-03T19:38:00.000-08:00

Just got word and need to pass along...tomorrow night's last of the series of talks I've been slated to do via King County Library System this fall, slated for November 4th @ 7:00pm at the Des Moines regional library, is now cancelled. Much discussion has passed this week with them since my household has become home to the H1N1 flu virus apparently, and with things happening there as well, we all figured it best to hold off on things.

Good news is we'll be rescheduling this event for after the holidays when people are bored and want to start getting into the outdoors but it's still dark and raining! So look for updated information about when it is to be sometime in January-February. Thanks.

Snow Geese in the Snoqualmie Valley

2009-11-03T18:35:00.001-08:00

I have numerous times talked about the growing annual winter population of Trumpeter Swans in the Snoqualmie Valley. It's a great thing seeing the large 200+ size group of them up near Monroe by mid-winter. It's more exciting seeing them grow in numbers further south up the valley, areas near Carnation and just out of Fall City last winter! Yesterday while coming home I did a short side-trip to check on a few fields to see where the corn fields were (ie. which will attract the swans by next month). Lo and behold I had a first sighting for my Snoqualmie Valley records - a group of 14 Snow Geese! I've seen them flying over, and of course I've seen 10,000's of them up in the Skagit Valley. But this was a great new sighting for me - maybe the Snoqualmie Valley will become home to more of them too eventually just like the Trumpeter Swans?

It will be fun adding them to my annual monitoring species for the valley now too!

Up next: see you in Bothell

2009-10-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

On the heels of getting back to work upon returning from my trip, I'll be presenting the third of my series of talks at various King County Libraries tomorrow night, October 29th. I hope to see a few of you there at the Bothell Regional Library tomorrow evening! Please come up to introduce yourselves to me if you are a new friend so I have a chance to meet you.

Next up to attract interested people in the South Puget Sound region? Des Moines KCLS Library next Wednesday evening, November 4th! You can always see my current schedule of upcoming presentations and shows on the "upcoming events" panel on the right side of this blog :)

(photo: American Three-toed Woodpecker on a burned snag on Crow Hill in the Entiat Mountains, while working on Day Hiking-Central Cascades!)

Aloha, well that was fun

2009-10-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

Aloha from my office space needing to be heated and I sitting here no longer wearing shorts and sandals! The silence from me for more than the past week is due to having been away at a family wedding...in Hawaii of all places :) In short, I'll have some fun stories to share of enjoyable days out and about on Maui over the course of my next few entries here! I'll save you from the wedding details - I'm sure my brother-in-law's wedding isn't the type of thing you care much about seeing here!! Now it's time for me to regroup my brain, get caught up this week around here, and then start sharing some of the things I had the pleasure to enjoy on my first ever trip to the middle of the Pacific Ocean. In the mean time, you can pretend you are relaxing on that sailboat in this photo as you sail between Maui and Molokai.... (photo: one of many sunsets from the western most area of Maui at Ka'anapali)

More fun at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

2009-10-15T19:36:00.000-07:00

Each of my past three trips to do presentations in Portland I have used as a means to stop in at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, west of the Battle Ground area in the community of (surprise) Ridgefield, Washington. Yesterday as I headed south to get ready for my evening presentation to The Mazamas club in Portland yet again I took the detour off the freeway. Each time there, things start off with "well, looks like I'm not seeing much here. Oh well....". Each time there, how wrong I am and end up spending a long time there photographing different birds and other things than any previous visit!

This trip I thought it would be pouring, but rains stopped just south of Kelso and I proceeded in to the refuge. The wind was blowing very hard and I figured that was the reason I'd see virtually nothing. The first marsh I went by where I photographed my first ever seen Great Egret last year? Not even a duck in the howling winds and almost white-caps! I kept going and then about 1/2 way around the long loop, things changed dramatically. I was pleased to photograph a Western Painted Turtle enjoying a sun break on a log, even sitting there with a freshly fallen yellow leaf on its back - fun! Right after that the fun really began as I notice far off through the trees in a field a flock of 75-80 Sandhill Cranes feeding and coming in for landings. What a joy it was to watch them for the next 30 minutes as they fuel up for their journey south! Once I was out in the open ponds and prairie lands I was entertained for well more than an hour with numerous female Northern Harriers seemingly having a soaring party in the warm winds. Sometimes they would be gliding...and not moving as they just paused in mid-air against the wind. Very enjoyable!

And of course, the throngs of Great Blue Herons

are assured here every visit and each time I have returned with very different heron photos than previous visits. I'm already eager to stop in again at yet another month of the year - I'm 3-for-3 with different months, different experiences!

So how did I get tied to infectious diseases?

2009-10-12T21:41:00.000-07:00

One of the things that will always amuse me as a photographer is how many different ways my photographs can end up being used. In particular it is so much fun to see just how many unique clients might find value in my work - even if the image doesn't seem to have anything in common with the subject! Case in point is another photo usage that will happening in December 2009 for the 25th Annual Infectious Disease Conference. Last year my Christmas time image of the Space Needle was used as part of the program cover for this annual conference held by Providence Hospital-Everett Medical Center. While I'd love to have the ability to get a microscope and start photographing the cool looking blob of germs that I'm tied to, I'll enjoy another photo use like last year as part of their conference in 2009 coming up. And maybe someday I'll learn about micro-photography at the REALLY tiny level!
(photo: cover of the 2008 conference program)

A free flowing Rogue River

2009-10-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked a milestone for Southern Oregon's Rogue River as the Savage Rapids Dam was compromised after 88 years of holding back water to divert it for irrigation. The last part of a temporary earthen dam was removed and for the first time since 1921 this portion of the Rogue River flowed freely. It certainly is a new age of things in some areas where inefficient dams are being removed - just as will the Elwah Dam come down in 2012 here in Western Washington. Let's hope the Howard Hanson Dam holding back the Green River won't come down on it's own however!

Rogue River news:
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/10/today_the_rogue_river_runs_fre.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010036075_dam10.html

Glowing gold of alpine larch trees

2009-10-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

This time of year an annual march to the high country by avid hikers is going at a frantic pace. Larch tree lovers are roaming for a fix of the golden glow of fall larch trees everywhere and the current nice weather has them really in a fit over where to go this coming weekend! Sad to say, most alpine larch trees are turning color later than the typical first week or two of October this year and what I have seen shows that we are a good week away from the prime showing of these magical golden autumn trees. But with the weather forecast turning wet and gray next week I went on with a personal wish to enjoy the hike to Ingalls Lake yesterday and was a little bit surprised and lucky! I expected mostly green needle larch trees but found that a few areas are quite nice if you look hard enough.

A great day to enjoy not only good company of a friend, golden larch trees trying to encourage the masses of other larch trees to hurry up and give up the green color, but also seeing well over 50 wild turkeys driving to/from the trailhead, three coyotes, and then two mountain goats in Headlight Basin before Ingalls Lake! See? If Alan leaves his big lens at home to save weight, the wildlife will come!

What's red with a top on it?

2009-10-06T08:02:00.000-07:00

A mountain with a fire lookout of course! Especially a mountain property named Red Top Mountain! This week I took a short hike to this southern peak along Teanaway Ridge. What a great location and easy to get to if you can drive to the upper trailhead location at 5000'. Raptors were migrating and soaring southward, views were grand, and especially the view from the outhouse below the lookout tower! I then roamed north along Teanway Ridge some to the agate beds area.

Fall is sure in the air!

Will "The Kid" return?

2009-10-04T09:29:00.001-07:00

A great day at the ballpark! Months ago I got tickets to be at Safeco Field for the last game of the season. It is such an excellent event to be there as the season winds down as the players take their time leaving the stadium. But this year was extra special as it "might" have been the last day of Ken Griffey Jr.'s hall-of-fame career, and what a day it was! Standing ovations for every at-bat, a last at-bat base hit for him, massive ovations for him, massive ovations as Felix Hernandez pitched his last effort to prove himself worthy of Cy Young Award consideration with a 19-5 record and 2.49 ERA, and then the after-game party.

The players proceeded to circle the stadium thanking the fans for a great year, tossing everything from batting gloves to helmets to even socks up to the fans. Then players hoisted Griffey and Ichiro up and carried them off the field like riding a chariot. It was special seeing a good 15,000 fans still in the fun of things some 30 minutes after the last pitch of the game was tossed.

Best thing yet? Only a little over four months until Spring Training 2010 baby!!

Bring on October

2009-10-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

Welcome to October! Ah, finally, the month long having been on my radar screen as "the month I'll be very busy!" is here! October brings with it annual things of nature that I appreciate and never tire of photographing. Stellar golden larch trees in the high country await my hopeful visits in the coming two weeks, and maybe another crimson red ridge roam through huckleberry meadows. Throw in birthdays happening, other family events, and it's already a full slate! What is bringing October into the "busy and even more fun" stage is a long list of program presentations that I have scheduled to start off my fall-spring busy time doing presentations. I'm eager to get started in particular with a new set of programs which is being sponsored by King County Library System in coordination with the PBS special on National Parks by Ken Burns. KCTS Channel 9 here near Seattle is teamed with many areas such as the KCLS to promote this time frame with subjects tied to the parks, and I'm honored to have my work with the Day Hiking series I've worked on with The Mountaineers Books the past 5 years be utilized by being asked to present!

I'm only one week away from the first of many presentations, the first being next Thursday 10/8 (see my events calendar on this blog, or view the photos part of this posting). Guess I had better start thinking about creating this presentation that I'll be using all month!

America's Best Idea...our National Parks

2009-09-27T20:53:00.000-07:00

A lot has been said in the preceding weeks about the expected greatness of Ken Burns PBS special on the National Parks. Well, this week it starts! I hope many of you find the time to maybe enjoy this six-part series on the history of our National Park Service. I certainly am looking forward to not only the historical coverage behind the human nature in us that led to what we have today, but also the great photography!

I'll start sharing soon with you the exact details

for each of the program presentations that I will be doing throughout October in coordination between PBS/KCTS and the King County Library System - check back soon for more information!

More of the same - great peak tagging in the South-Central Cascades!

2009-09-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

Back at it again with Dennis! Just a few days after our last trip we headed back to the exact same region SE of Greenwater to explore not two, but this time three peaks up the FR 70 territory! Three great hikes, one stellar fall hiking day in the warm sun while the lowlands were socked in under the marine layer of fog/clouds that we could see all day. Raptors soared past us on the summit of Colquhoun Peak at this former lookout site.

We enjoyed hitting the PCT a mile high at 5220’ Windy Gap and zip south, around, and then up Pyramid Peak where the spectacular rocky summit area surprised and delighted us.

Then we cruised more forest service roads to a ridge we eyeballed early in the morning from Colquhoun which we declared needed roaming. Soon we found ourselves in alpine delight with late afternoon light as we strolled and grunted along Sawmill Ridge! Is there anything wrong with a nap at 4:00pm? I should say not, and to that, what another great day it was in the South-Central Cascades!

George, Noble, and Kelly

2009-09-23T09:08:00.000-07:00

I think after the weather we had on Monday hiking in the area NE of Mount Rainier, I'm thinking we will have a wonderful fall of weather before El Nino kicks in for a great winter of hiking! The day couldn't have been any more perfect - sunny and "hot" but not overly warm and a nice breeze. No bugs either now that they have had a few bad bouts of weather to fight.

I headed back out with good friend Dennis as we explored two areas off of FR 70 just south of Greenwater east of SR 410. First up was a backdoor way in to the Noble Knob area yielding the most amazing huckleberry feasting I’ve ever seen! Then we hiked around George Lake, up and over Noble Knob to complete a loop back. Still having a good part of the afternoon left we headed across the valley to zip up to check on the progress with the Kelly Butte lookout restoration. Another grand 3.5 mile hike with fall colors, light winds, and views galore!

I think it’s time to head out again tomorrow – likely more under appreciated peaks in this same FR 70 area. Not only has this all been a lot of fun, but it is all great new data and photographs for me to use in upcoming future new editions of the Day Hiking books.

A Griffey kind of a day

2009-09-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

It was the day after the clearing storm moved eastward away from our region…. OK, so I can’t quite write like Snoopy when he started so many of his “It was a dark stormy night…” stories over the past 40 years! But it WAS the day after a dumping of rain and the sky had cleared and tickets were in hand to go to the Seattle Mariners vs. New York Yankees MLB game at Safeco Field with my son! We were eager to go since we had yet to see Ken Griffey Jr. play this year – the other games our DH was Mike Sweeney since we were facing a left-handed pitcher. Not today!

And what a day it was for Griffey, easily being his best game of the entire season. He starts off with a double to hit in Jose Lopez for RBI #1 on the day, then next inning slams the door shut on the Yankees with a three-run home run. Oh, tossing in one other hit that almost was another HR and a walk, he had a pleasant 2-for-3 day with 4 RBI’s – and two Bauer Boys thoroughly enjoying their cameras from our nice seats taking photos!

What a special way to spend a day with my son, the big time baseball player and stat nut himself. We’ll be back in 2 weeks for the season finale just in case it is Griffey’s last game before waiting in line for the Hall of Fame!

Might it be autumn yet?

2009-09-17T21:44:00.000-07:00

Maybe by looking at the plant life in the mountains you won't quite yet think fall is in full swing. Sure, there are some colors starting to show as vine maples are red in a few places, huckleberries are barely starting to turn crimson but for the highest elevations where vivid red is already happening. But the wildlife is not waiting for some weatherman to indicate to them things are changing – they are busy doing their thing! Wait at most any ridge along the Cascade Crest east slopes and you’ll see numerous raptors soaring over them in their migration southward (turkey vultures, many hawk species, etc…). And as the photo shows, hiking virtually any trail will show signs of the Douglas Squirrel busy dropping the huge fir cones to the ground to then later scurry down to get the seeds out of. A hike into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness to Melakwa Lake yesterday brought me to this lovely cone, and while looking at it two other cones came crashing down from high in the trees above me – bombs away and watch out!

What do you call a trail with a view of Mount Rainier?

2009-09-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

Rainier View I suppose? Well this "original" name is indeed the official trail name of the trail leading S/SW from high up at Corral Pass. I headed up the crazily steep and rough FR 7174 the six miles to Corral Pass as I have always wanted to get up close to Castle Mountain, what is beyond the "Rainier View" part of this trail where everyone who might hike here mainly goes. A beautiful Sunday and only 2-3 other small groups were seen while the parking area just 0.1 mile back down the road for Noble Knob? Packed! That makes sense as that area is also popular with the mountain bike groups. Why not on this glorious smooth easy trail? Well, that's because you enter the Norse Peak Wilderness in just 1/4 mile from the trailhead. This area also offers a great one-way hike opportunity to hike down the Greenwater Trail to Hidden Lake, Echo Lake, and out past the Greenwater Lakes area. Today however I enjoyed going about 1.2 miles beyond the viewing area people lunch at and got up on Castle Mountain as far as I was comfortable to scramble. Well now, the "view" from here was 250% more spectacular than down lower even! I particularly enjoyed the view east at Ravens Roost and that area of the Little Naches River region. You could see the Stuart Range and the other Central Cascades like Mount Daniel just fine as well.

Boy, it looked like a looonnnggg ways down to the White River below me :) A great new hike for the next editions of the Day Hiking books coming eventually!

Bear Creek Mountain

2009-09-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

No bears, no elk, but bugeling elk all around the drainages! Yesterday a good friend Dennis and myself headed far south to US 12, White Pass, and east to Rimrock Lake. Then the real adventure began as we left US 12, headed up the Tieton Road, then FR 1200, then steeeeep driving up FR 1205, then FR 1204, THEN the excitement of just a plain old fashion terrible dirt road, unlike the rocky gravel ones normally in the forest, that was rutted and with hiding big rocks. Fun those last three miles of FR 1204 were to the end, some long 13 miles from US 12, to the wonderful 6000’ trailhead for Bear Creek Mountain. A trailhead nestled in alpine meadowland from the start! It was entertaining to come to such a remote place on a weekday and find the area near the trailhead pretty well filled up with campers and tents. I’m sure many have their place now for the upcoming high-buck hunt that begins this coming week (ie. High hunt is in areas >5000’ only, and generally lasts 9/15-9/25 each September). For now most were bow hunting and I always enjoy seeing these folks. They are so nice to talk to and I enjoy seeing the tools they carry around – and their camo outfits are fun too! We spoke to maybe a half dozen or more of them during the course of the day. They are true lovers of the outdoors – one gentleman we found just laying at the edge of the first large meadow you hike through at 12:30pm and he had been relaxing since 5:00am listening to nature around him!

We hiked into the Goat Rocks Wilderness boundary in just ¼ mile then continued on the trail skirting along the base of the north ridge leading out from the summit area. After 2.6 miles went up the wonderful alpine setting of volcanic rock, heather, and ash in one steep mile and 1000’ elevation gain and found ourselves on top of 7337’ Bear Creek Mountain in short order. What a view! You look smack into the heart of the Goat Rocks area with Gilbert, Old Snowy, Devils Horn just across the valley to the west! Straight down was the North Fork Tieton River valley and its lush meadows at Tieton Meadows. Mount Rainier to the NW, Mount Adams to the SW, and eastward you could enjoy the line of Russell Ridge, then toward Bethel Ridge, then Clemen Mountain, and extending all the way into the Columbia Basin.

A difficult decision of the day was having to simply leave the summit! But we did have a long drive back out again, so off we went. Thanks for a perfect day in the high country Dennis.

(photos: hiking down from the summit area; meadow approaching Bear Creek Mountain; Mount Adams from reaching the ridgeline; view toward Goat Rocks and Gilbert/Old Snowy/Devils Horn; summit USGS benchmark; Dennis enjoying summit views at Mount Rainier during lunch)

The highs and lows of a river

2009-09-09T13:02:00.000-07:00

Some of you might recall all of the photography that I did during the record flood events of this past January 2009. The Snoqualmie River crested nearly foot higher than it ever had been recorded before, SR 202 was washed out and homes destroyed just east of Fall City, schools were closed for three days, and for some local residence in the Valley the impact is still being felt today.
Thankfully I went down to similar locations where I normally photograph the river flowing through Fall City the week before Labor Day Weekend to capture some of the river before heavy rains over the weekend brought river levels up a bit. The late summer river is the lowest I've ever seen it! The extremely dry weather we have had since May combined with snowpack that melted out fast during the July heat means not much left is coming down the creeks and rivers of the Snoqualmie Basin (and all other river basins in the region). The result is a river you can wade across in many areas, huge logs left high and dry on gravel bars. It was pretty neat! The large log in the river by town floated away sometime over the holiday weekend.

It is fun to compare the river between these two events: flood vs. dry summer. All happening in the same year too!

Mud on the pumpkins

2009-09-07T07:44:00.001-07:00

Well now, I suppose you could think the past 4 days of weather here in Western Washington means summer is over! Not only have we had days with high temperatures getting up to only 56* and nights in the mid-40's, we also managed to crank out 1.88" of rainfall. And that is without the 0.26" and 0.29" we had on days surrounding that period! But then nice weather returns, just like it is coming. And more summer heat into the 80's likely by the end of the week. I love this time of year and am eager for my favorite hiking season and my favorite photography season. Bring it on! Now....let's pray for that Indian Summer and El Nino to kick in so we have mild weather for outings all winter....

Racoon stampede...or how to enjoy baby animals

2009-09-04T08:16:00.000-07:00

It was a calm morning today and I hardly was awake enough to pay attention to what was happening outside. Lucky for me a family member was paying attention and while eating his breakfast yelled out, "Something is crawling down that tree!". Sure enough, not only was he right, but right x 3! A raccoon family had just scrambled up into a cedar tree, two adults and one adorable 2009 baby. While we watched them go up a bit and then come right back down it was fun to watch the antics of them either trying to find a nice area on our property to "roost" in a tree for the day or keep checking if I actually had any food in a local bird feeder.

After enjoying watching them a few minutes I went outside to photograph them and that is when the young one was showing it wasn't quite as agile in tree climbing quickly as its parents. The two adults were at the bottom of the tree while the little one wanted to go down but was clearly worried about my being nearby. After seeing this, I headed back inside...no photos are worth risking putting undo pressure on a species, and simple raccoons are no different. By the time I was back in and looking out the window where the others were watching, the baby showed it knew how to do thing - zoom, down the tree and off the family went together! A great start to a great day.

Foiled by fire

2009-09-01T13:52:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was a day I had myself all primed to stomp many miles in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. I had Spectacle Lake in my eyesight, a long hike north of Snoqualmie Pass on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) or a slightly shorter 19-20 mile hike from the east side via Pete Lake to reach the PCT. Dog gone it if I arrived at the trailhead to find a sign that the PCT had a three mile stretch or so that was closed effectively 3 days before my outing due to a forest fire flare up!
Sigh...a month long smoldering fire in the Lemah Meadows are of the PCT west of Pete Lake had suddenly blown up a bit on 8/27 and they closed the area down. Good thing just as well, as it was so smokey in that area as I approached it I wouldn't have had any fun sucking up all that smoke not to mention the potential dangers!

So I cut my day short...I only hiked 16.25 miles :) I enjoyed a long stroll on the PCT northward and after reaching the famed Kendall Katwalk area, continued on to Ridge, Gravel Lakes, and a bit further, enjoying views down upon Alaska Lake and then calling Alaska Mountain my turn-around point. An EarthCorp group was stationed at Ridge Lake doing a camp and trail work party there - bravo to them! I saw numerous groups of backpackers heading in or out, many fathers with sons enjoying a trek. And I noted a few gloomy faced PCT through hikers realizing they had quite a detour ahead of them to get around the short section of closed PCT ahead. The detour out by Park Lakes, down Mineral Creek, back up a road to Cooper Lake, then up toward Pete Lake, over Watpus Pass, down to Watpus Lake, and rejoin the PCT there? Not what they were looking forward to! I feel sorry for them after 2000+ miles to have this detour when there could be a chance rains this weekend really slow down the fire season. We'll see!

The Whistling Pigs of Summer

2009-08-26T07:34:00.000-07:00

There are some fun critters that live around us that lead what appear to be pretty good lives. Chipmunks seem to just have fun scurrying about all day zipping in and out of the rocks. Otters never seem to have to take life seriously! But how can you beat the life of marmots? They roam around during the day ever so slowly eating the lush vegetation. When they tire of that, it's time to nap on a sunny rock. Then they eat some more and to finish off autumn they head underground for a seven month snooze far underneath the snow!
The Pacific Northwest is filled with prime habitat supporting large marmot populations. In fact the best areas for viewing marmots are in Washington State! The Paradise and Sunrise areas in Mount Rainier National Park are typically thick with Hoary Marmot activity. Their close cousin the Olympic Marmot can easily be viewed around Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. Yet a third species of marmot, the Yellow-bellied Marmot, lives throughout Eastern Washington! I have seen many of them at Palouse Falls State Park as well as the hills between Ellensburg and Cle Elum. It is worth noting that the Yellow-bellied Marmot is a host for the tick that carries Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

Many people think that all marmots live in colonies, but this is only typically true if there is a large food source available for all of them. More often they need to disperse over a larger range and thus live more isolated with their mate. In this case the increased range means the male will not be able to guard more than one female and feed himself at the same time. They feed on the lush green vegetation of the alpine meadows (or shrub steppe in the case of the Yellow-bellied Marmot) extensively. They will often perform an entertaining form of "playful" wrestling when one feels another is moving in on their own personal stash of food! They won't hurt one another however, as a simple call from one will end the match.
All marmots have many vocalizations. A common call is the alarm call which is given anytime anything comes near a burrow. This typically would be a natural predator such as a coyote, fox, eagle, or even people in areas where marmots are not accustomed to seeing them. The alarm call is a high-pitched shrill whistle. Marmots who hear them respond by immediately looking around and returning to their burrows if they are not already at one!
I fondly remember my first encounter with a marmot in Moraine Park on the north side of Mount Rainier National Park. Visibility wasn’t more than 100 feet in the thick fog. As I hiked up through the avalanche lily filled meadows of the area a sudden loud shrill broke the peaceful silence. There through the fog I spotted a lone huge marmot standing tall and showing me why they have the nickname “Whistler”. At the same time I then saw at least five other marmots scurrying rapidly to hide under the rocks!

I’m always eager to roam high alpine meadows this summer to watch the antics of these wonderful creatures…the “Whistling Pigs of Summer”!

A relaxing break from a busy summer

2009-08-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

Wow. That's how I felt this morning. Wow! I've been having a load of fun the past month. A week long trip to the Inland NW for a family vacation. It was great! And I returned home exhausted! It's a lot of work to play so hard and swim, fish, run, fish, play. I love it! Then I got to drive another 600 miles and visit with my own parents this past week. But this morning...the frantic running around must have caught up with me. I'm out in the south Puget Sound and relaxing for a few days. Real relaxation...and it felt SO good this morning! I went for a walk on the beach with my dog while sipping a fresh cup of coffee.

And then a few magical nice moments to photograph, which seems to happen to me every visit out here. That is what a magical place does for the soul...it brings life to a halt and good things come out in front of you. I hope you all have a special activity or place that does this for you as well!
(photos: sunrise on the shoreline waters of Puget Sound; an immature Bald Eagle circling over the photographer at sunrise)

Letting the dog do border collie work

2009-08-20T22:54:00.000-07:00

While it was almost impossible to get photos showing how much pleasure my dog had, it was sure a pleasure for me to watch as our border collie-mix pooch realized there were cows nearby! This week visiting my parents she found the delight of attracting the cows behind their property to the fence line, then proceeding to work them as well as any untrained herding dog could!

I think I should go buy 4 cows and a herd of ducks for her..... :)

More from the heron world - visiting a Green Heron

2009-08-16T13:44:00.001-07:00

I have always been amazed at the life of the great blue heron. In fact, I almost seem to take it for granted as I see them virtually every time I head out in the valley. However I finally chanced upon seeing a new member of the heron family that is much more difficult to locate, but they still are out there. At last, I saw my first Green Heron locally recently, and what a lovely sight it was! Always thinking “heron” means “big bird” can be confusing here, as these are the smallest of the heron family (well, Least Bitterns are a member of the heron family as well and slightly smaller normally). They are usually only 16-20” in length.
The Green Heron lives in typical swamp land, marshes, river banks, and other similar areas of the valley where you might see the normal reeds/marsh grasses/cattails of an environment. It is a quite solitary bird, normally feeding alone or possibly in a pair with its mate. It normally is very difficult to locate and notice as it will stand motionless while stalking its lunch. Indeed, normally it is first noticed when it suddenly flushed unexpectedly with a loud squawking call which is what happened to me! They prey on a wide assortment of things ranging from small fish, frogs, even insects. This diversity allows them more flexibility to breed on ponds inland further which are much smaller than those needed by other herons. The one I saw was utilizing a small swampland area not more than 50’ in diameter!
I can see how they could be confused with the Black-crowned Night Heron since it does have a rather dark black crown on its head. However the dark green/blue wings and a colored chest are far different than the white chest of the night heron. The Green Heron is fascinating to me as it is one of a very few critters in our bird world which is known as a “tool-using” bird. By this, it utilizes using “bait” such as crumbs, insects, worms, then drops them on the water’s surface and then proceed to nab the small fish which is attracted to the “bait” on the water. Amazing! Things like this solidify even more my pure joy in a lifelong passion to learn about our natural world and the biology behind it. Keep letting me know what you are seeing out there as we head into the autumn season soon! Every day might be a surprise waiting to happen!

Masters at fishing

2009-08-15T10:29:00.000-07:00

OK, having just returned from a very long and wonderfully relaxing annual vacation to a far off lake shore in the Inland Northwest near the Idaho border, I feel great! And we even caught some fish in our lazy times - lovely 10-12" rainbow trout on multiple days, played with catching the little bluegill by the docks, and even came home with a grand story of "Bruce, the monster 18"+ trout that got away"! As is the case every year, it was enjoyable to watch the "Fishing Masters" of the lake perform their tricks, and these tricks came both from the air as well as from the surface of the waters!

A tree within 100 yards of where I stayed was successfully again home for a family of ospreys. So from early morning until dark four ospreys (two young now learning to fish with the parents) were calling, soaring, and diving. What a show!

Along with them working the more shallow waters of the lake were numerous families of red-necked grebes. What a treat to be at a lake which serves as a successful breeding location for such wonderful birds!

All is quiet from the Inland Northwest

2009-08-14T19:36:00.001-07:00

Ah, so it's been very silent here in blogsphere lately from me, eh? Hello from the tail end of a long get-away vacation in the Inland Northwest. The lake we've been hanging out at has been refreshing for much fishing, swimming, playing, bird watching - and the bird watching turned fishing with the Red-necked Grebe population that exists there! Ospreys as well - I'll have to follow up with more from them. First, time to get back to the office and catch up soon!

A great week for clouds in the record heat

2009-08-04T22:25:00.000-07:00

The hot muggy weather of last week is seemingly a distant memory as we now all seem to be thriving in the cool cloudy mornings with daytime temperatures not even getting out of the 70's again. I know my dog is certainly happy about that too! The heat last week created an atmosphere which was incredibly unstable over the Cascades. There was virtually nothing in place to cap the air from rising to incredible heights, thus creating daily lines of thunderstorms. And oh how enjoyable it was to be cloud-watching all week from my eastern Puget Sound location in the Cascade foothills!

Every day was different, every day was a great cloud watching day,

all week long.

Tacoma event coming up next Tuesday

2009-08-01T15:39:00.000-07:00

It's time to start visiting the South Puget Sound areas in a series of presentations coming up and first up is already upon us this coming Tuesday evening! I hope to see a number of you drop by to visit with me at the Tacoma Library main library where I'll be doing a presentation in the Olympic Room on Day Hiking-Central Cascades. I'm sure I'll share some stories of the areas that play "backyard" to the Tacoma area such as the South Cascades and Mount Rainier also! Books will be available after the presentation via a bookseller being represented at the library and I'll have backup books in case they don't bring copies of all of them :) I'll be with Craig at the Tacoma REI in September and also am in the midst of arranging a presentation with the Olympia Library soon.

So break away from the heat and cool off in the library this Tuesday evening, August 4th, in Tacoma! More details at their website http://www.tpl.lib.wa.us/Page.aspx?hid=50.

Summer fun on the Seattle waterfront

2009-07-30T14:33:00.000-07:00

So I never have taken the time to visit the Seattle waterfront areas during prime tourist season. Being in Seattle all week last week for 8 hours during baseball camp gave me a chance to use the time one day to give it a try and enjoy seeing what all of the fuss is about for people visiting these areas. Pike Place Market?

I've only been there once, in February! What a fun way to spend a few extra hours I had. I even treated myself to a good bowl of chowder for lunch with a sandwich. Carousels, boats, fruit, lobster tails, great fun!

Oh, and I hit the Seattle Aquarium as well...

...and the library on the University of Washington campus to round out the day.

Central Oregon roamings, the end - buildings of past and present

2009-07-29T12:19:00.000-07:00

Throughout my 5 days driving around mostly in solitude on backroads throughout Central Oregon I mixed in my travel time with hunting for a favorite subject of mine: abandoned buildings or historic buildings being preserved. It made the journey time between other photographic attractions a joy!

The first thing that jumped out at me was a stunning abandoned Locust Grove Church, built and opened in 1895.

(above: Wheeler County/Fossil; Crook County/Prineville; Sherman County/Moro)Then as the week progressed I continued by hitting many county courthouses - I love the rich historic old buildings that shine in the smaller population counties east of the Cascades! I wish more of "the big cities" would have their old original courthouses still like you see so much more in the Inland NW.

Toss in a number of abandoned homesteads here and there, and I had a nice collection of buildings to bring home with me! Thanks for letting me share all aspects of my Central Oregon trip, as this marks the end of my talking about that trip. A much more enjoyable way for me to share how much I enjoyed the trip than to just toss out a few locations and photos that I visited! Now I need to get on with "all of the other places I've been since June" - stay tuned!

An "Owl" of a day

2009-07-28T10:59:00.000-07:00

Last week I was in Seattle every day while my son was working hard in the heat at a baseball camp. I used the chance to tour around some places I normally wouldn't have made the time to travel all the way into the city to visit and it was a lot of fun! One hot day I went to the Arboretum and walked many of the paths there. Just when I was thinking "pretty place, but need to come in late spring for flowering shrubs and in fall for color" I passed a small pond and for some reason looked up.

Staring at me just above the pond on a tree branch? A lovely Barred Owl! After photographing it for a minute or so, it flew to another branch farther away, up in a maple tree. I left it alone after another minute and enjoyed my luck! I passed by the area on my hike out about an hour later and went to see if it was still there. Knowing it had been I looked more closely at all areas around the pond, and after a couple of minutes indeed did locate the lovely bird again! It had worked its way far up into a top notch of a different big-leaf maple tree and appeared to be napping.

Oh, I saw a Great Gray Owl also!!! But for that one...I was cheating. Woodland Park Zoo has a great way to photograph them if you see it out in a very natural setting. Ha!

Central Oregon roamings, part 11 - Tumalo Falls and a thunderstorm

2009-07-23T22:26:00.000-07:00

Didn't I refer earlier in posts about "the incoming threat of serious weather" that held me back from additional roaming about in Newberry National Volcanic Monument? Yes, I did - and I skipped a long planned 1/2 day stop at the fabulous High Desert Museum south of Bend as well. But as I left there with rumbles of thunder booming the storms seemed they might be building over the US 97 corridor and Bend and moving NE slowly. So I chanced adding one more photography stop I've longed to do there which was 15 miles west of Bend.

Tumalo Creek comes crashing through old burn areas and blasts off a cliff into a canyon forming the lower and most popular part of Tumalo Falls. If you hike a few miles up the creek trail you will find 2 other falls along Tumalo Creek. With distant VERY near constant lightning and thunder rolls from the east of my photographic position at Tumalo Falls, I chose to just hang close to the truck and not risk being on a 6-mile hike should THOSE massive black clouds keep building westward too. I was rewarded with enough great scenery just here anyhow!

Now...the REAL adventure began as I drove back to Bend intending to get back to Prineville some 28 miles NE of Bend for the last night of my trip. This photo was the beginning of things to come as I came back to town:

What we have here is the start of the massive severe thunderstorm warning results that hit the Bend area while I was out at Tumalo. Here there is only areas of 1" of hail on the ground with a lot of water. By the time I was in "old downtown Bend" the ground had up to 4" of hail covering it! To make matters worse, then the storm followed suit with up to 2" of rain in 20-30 minutes. The water had no where to go since all storm drains were clogged with hail. Results? It took me over two hours to find a way to get from the west side of US 97 to the east side of US 97 to get out of town! Every underpass under the highway was flooded with as much as 8' of water in the form of a lake. Thankfully my GPS helped me get far enough south on very goofy side streets to find an OVERpass to get over the highway that didn't just lead me to a low area under water. I only wish I had taken a photo of the snowplows working in town. Yes, you heard me right. Second week of June and the department of transportation quickly got snowplows on the trucks to "plow" the hail off the roads faster to clear storm drains! It was hilarious and a funny way to end my last day in the area before heading home the next morning!

Spider Meadows and Backpacker Magazine

2009-07-21T21:46:00.000-07:00

Many of you know I do mapping work for Backpacker Magazine where I get GPS routes mapped out with data that I then write up details of a full trip. The current August 2009 issue of Backpacker went one step further where they used one of the routes I mapped for them as a special insert segment "Rip and Go" with details you need to go enjoy a special day hiking - and best deal of all was to see a 1/2 page photo used as artwork to accompany the piece. A good day to look in the mail....

A special day...for man and the moon

2009-07-20T17:52:00.000-07:00

Today stands out to me. Since as early as I can remember, I have always been in awe of the earth's moon. I remember cold camping trips as a child on the Oregon Coast with a clear night and a lunar eclipse while camping near Florence, OR. I couldn't have been more than 7 years old but it is as clear of a memory as if it were yesterday! I was thrilled to enjoy all lunar eclipses that I could since (including the one in October 2004 shown in a few photographs here).

Why is today worth standing out in my mind? Of course it is because today marks the 40th year anniversary of that magical day on July 20, 1969 when man first stepped foot on the moon. Hearing the broadcast of that day today just brought chills to my skin as it did when I was a little kid! Today I raise a high-five congratulations still to Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins for their brave feat, and to all people involved in taking them to the moon.

I hope we again see this feat taken in the coming 20 years...we are long overdue.

Central Oregon roamings, part 10 - Newberry National Volcanic Monument - Paulina Creek Falls

2009-07-19T19:19:00.000-07:00

OK, so still no thunder was happening when I completed my "hike the Big Obsidian Flow TWICE" gig. So I quickly headed back down the road a bit to the trail head for Paulina Creek Falls. The main view of the falls is a very easy 1/4 mile flat walk. Another more spectacular view from below in the "canyon" is maybe 1/4-1/2 mile down (and back up then!). Another view from the other side of the creek is a lovely 2/3 mile or 3/4 mile each way hike up the creek to the lake outlet, then back down the other side to view. I did all three strolls!

What a lovely place on a day when it was muggy, but getting cooler and breezy. Alas, just as I was hiking up from the last viewpoint for them, boom...first thunder! So my day was done here. Thankfully I was aware of the incoming storms that were predicted to hit. What an UGLY drive back out to US 97 from up in there! And it got much much worse in Bend...that's for another story!

Central Oregon roamings, part 9 - Newberry National Volcanic Monument - Big Obsidian Flow

2009-07-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

Finally, I'm back in town and actually might be leading somewhat a normal schedule for a few weeks! Moving further south from where I left off talking about the Newberry National Volcanic Monument at Lava Butte, I headed south toward quickly building clouds and just before reaching the LaPine area on US 97 south of Bend went east and up into the main Newberry Crater area. I could spend a full week just exploring up in this region alone! Paulina Lake is of course a landmark to this, a massive lake in the old caldera of the volcano. Short on time due to knowing I'd be dodging lightning storms by early afternoon I opted to explore the Big Obsidian Flow at the base of Paulina Peak (wish I could have gone up there but snow still blocked the road and no way I was hiking to the high point in the region with scattered thunderstorms brewing!).

The Big Obsidian Flow is that, a massive lava flow that in many parts is almost entirely made up of obsidian - a hike on glass! Being someone who grew up fascinated with arrowheads carved from obsidian found at Native American camp areas, seeing SO much obsidian was just heavenly to me!

There are great views straight up at Paulina Peak, to the north overlooking Paulina Lake, and the snout of the flow is truly amazing to see the thickness of the flow. Wow.

I even hiked it twice. Not by design - but because when I was 1/2 way done with it I realized I had no spare CF cards in my backpack as they were back in the truck! So I completed the loop, got my gear, and did the hike again! Worth every moment....

Break from the action....

2009-07-11T07:07:00.000-07:00

Hello to everyone - quiet here, isn't it? Well, that always means one thing: I'm busy out enjoying trips to places and not at the computer adding blog entries! I just got back from 4.5 days with my family around the Olympic Peninsula and while I could add a lot of information as well as my next part of my journey to Oregon (Newberry National Volcanic Monument is up next!), I can't. I'm leaving in just 14 hours to go for a five day journey to the North Oregon Coast with my son for much hiking, fishing, biking, fishing, fishing, kite flying, hiking, fishing, biking, s'mores roasting fun!

Back at you on a regular basis in a week - take care and hey, make summer a good one for you right now!

(photo: very small black-tailed fawn nursing with mama in avalanche lilies on Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park)

Central Oregon roamings, part 8 - Newberry National Volcanic Monument - Lava Butte

2009-07-04T06:53:00.000-07:00

As a child who grew up in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, one of the annual types of trips we did was to always head east to explore and camp around the regions south of Bend, Oregon. The lava lands. Having a full day left in this area once I completed my multi-day tour of the John Day Fossil Beds I was excited to bring back memories and finally see some of those places again some 20-25 years later! Lava Butte, Newberry Crater, High Desert Museum, the list went on!

I headed south of Bend early from the Prineville area and got to the first intended stop - Lava Butte just 10 miles south of town. Ah, the memories I have of driving up to the cinder cone top of the butte! Wait - sign upon entry "Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.". ARG! But this played to my advantage in a way...while everyone else I saw turned around, I knew it was OK to park by the gate as long as you didn't block the gate or road. I hiked in and had the entire 2+ hours I spent hiking the Trail of Molten Lava through the lava flow below Lava Butte all to myself on a sunny warm muggy morning. It was wonderful!

The trail is a weaving paved path taking you through many wonderful formations in the lava geologic history of this area, all well marked with very timely nice interpretive signs. A side trail takes you up to a high point below Lava Butte to view the massive size of the lava flow heading westward towards the forests of the Cascades, all serving as views at Mount Bachelor, Broken Top, and the Three Sisters.

While it was unfortunate that I wasn't able to visit the visitors center here, having this entire area to myself was strange - and rather wonderful!

Central Oregon roamings, part 7 - Sheep Rock Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds-Blue Basin roamings

2009-06-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

OK, so I've talked about how much there is in the Sheep Rock Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument to see. Now for the part that required a bit of effort, some hot day hiking, some moments looking for buzzing rattlesnakes, and a lot of appreciation for a beautiful geologic area!

There are two trails that make up the Blue Basin area - the Island of Time shorter 1 mile trail that stays low and goes into the canyons that make up the Blue Basin. I did that one, but not until first hiking the 3+ mile loop trail that climbs fairly steeply to the hillsides above the basin to offer long views in many directions up and down the John Day River Valley, down into the Blue Basin, and complete with a canyon hike to get up there.

This first stretch was where I was most aware looking for rattlesnakes as it was so hot at 3:00pm as I passed through here, gaining elevation, sage, a few junipers...never saw one but was buzzed by them twice! Rascals...the nerve to get me all jumpy but then cower and hide so I can't photograph them? Next time I'll spot you first, THEN you can show me how tough you are!

After thoroughly enjoying the hot hike above, I came down very steeply to join the Island of Time trail and hiked up into the basin as well. Wow. What color, what a landscape! Previous days thunderstorms had the wash that flowed out of the basin showing signs of having really been roaring with water, but now was dry again which I found fascinating on this hot day!

Upon leaving in early evening I reflected on my two long days enjoying every part of the national monument throughout these regions. I was so pleased to have been here as I drove back toward Prineville. And I was so pleased to know I had a long full day ahead of me still to explore areas sound of Bend, Oregon in lava lands! Onward to that shortly!

Central Oregon roamings, part 6 - Sheep Rock Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds-John Day River areas near roads

2009-06-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

There is a lot to see in the Sheep Rock Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. So much in fact that I'll save the stuff that included the spectacular hiking into and around the rim of the Blue Basin area for later to give special attention to just that part of it! For starters I began by roaming all of the sights that are essentially accessed from driving around on the road or short 1/4 mile walks from a parking area. Even if you only do this simple approach you'll still enjoy seeing great geologic formations and history of the area!

Cathedral Rock is the in-your-face stunning formation of rock by a sharp bend along SR 19. After a stop here I headed north to enjoy the short nature trails in the Foree Picnic Area. The Flood of Fire trail started off with a great view back down the wonderful winding roadway that brought me here - I loved it!

Then a short 5-10 minute walk (keeping eyes open for cool lizards and being careful for snakes which never materialized here) to a great overlook at wonderful geologic eroded hillsides of this volcanic region. Wow.

Another short 15 minute loop walk on the other side of the picnic area, the Story in Stone Trail, was just as enjoyable but yet very different in what you learned along the interpretive trail, which was set up excellently!

Later in the day, long after having sweated out a hot hike on all 4+ miles of trails in Blue Basin (coming later!) I stopped at the James Cant Ranch site, a historic homestead of a settling rancher in the John Day Valley here just below Sheep Rock.

While I didn't see sheep on the cliffs above me, a

nice ram skeleton on a roof of an outbuilding was humor enough! I loved touring the old farm - the barn was open and the old farm implements always warm my heart to view and photograph. Lastly before closing I rushed in to the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center to tour the museum and fossils shown there. WOW!!

It was a very long, very hot day, and one I used every minute that I could to enjoy this unit of the monument - one I highly recommend and do allow a full day if you can! Coming next? My hike into Blue Basin, around it, dancing with buzzing rattlesnakes, and sweating in a lot of hot sun!