Author: Loren

Exploring Nature: Narada Falls Hike from Cougar Campground at Mt. Rainier

I’m still working on the Colorado/Utah photos, but I took a break from the computer and the three amigos went for a hike on Mt. Rainier.  We originally hoped to hike to Comet Falls, but once again the parking lot was full by the time we got there.  Luckily, we already had an alternate plan in place: hike from Cougar Campground to Narada Falls.  It’s a familiar hike, having done it for four or five years in a row. It’s also a challenge this early in the season, nearly seven miles roundtrip with 1,700 feet elevation gain.  The trail either follows or parallels Paradise River, making for scenic breaks and cooler temperatures on a warm day.

The hike starts by crossing the Nisqually River, which offers spectacular views of Mt. Rainier.


Although  most of the hike takes place in heavily forested areas, you can still catch glimpses of surrounding peaks.

Thank goodness the trail doesn’t try to ascend those peaks, though at times the ascent seems to suggest otherwise.  

Much of the time I’m focusing on the trail trying to avoid tripping on rocks and tree roots, but occasionally I look up and am reminded of the powerful forces that have created this wilderness


or the fragile beauty that finds its own place amidst these forces.


Though I enjoy the quiet of these dense forests, the sound of rushing water seems almost more calming.

 


At 1.5 miles you reach Carter Falls, the point where most hikers turn around, 


but if you go a little further you run into another falls which is almost as impressive. 


If you’re willing to push on another one and half miles, you leave the crowds behind and can visit the even more impressive Narada Falls at the end of the rainbow.


It feels like a major accomplishment to reach the falls, but seeing the hordes of visitors who have driven right up to the falls takes something away from the experience of walking three miles to see it.  

Exploring East Lake 3 Park and Nature Preserve in Thornton, Colorado

Our visit to Colorado to see Tyson and his family was a little more chaotic than in past years because both Sidney and Zoe are working during the summer to make money for college. In essence, it meant that we were seldom together at the same time.  What wasn’t abnormal, though, was my intent to walk every day to become accustomed to the high altitude.  Luckily, there is East Lake 3 Park and Nature Preserve in Thornton just a few miles away from their home where Leslie and I walked on our second day in Broomfield.

The Nature Preserve is surrounded by homes and, for the most part, the birds we see there are the birds we often see, like this Red-Shafted Flicker that greeted us a few yards from the entrance,


this Red-Winged Blackbird, 


this Kestrel, 


or this Long-Tailed Grackle. 


The one bird I seldom see, particularly this year, is the American Avocet.  


When we were here last year we saw a mother with chicks, but we didn’t see any chicks this year, just two Avocets that appeared to be heading toward each other but walked right past each other as if they were only interested in where there next meal was coming from.


This time the only babies we saw were Prairie Dog pups.


In past years, this three-mile,  nearly flat walk has seemed relatively easy, but this time, despite numerous stops to get pictures, both Leslie and I struggled in the last quarter mile. Thank goodness we were distracted from our tiredness by the beauty we both find here.

Knowing the Tides is Vital for Birdwatching


I took so many photos at Ocean Shores and stopped to have Sushi that we ended up being late getting to Bottle Beach on the other side of the harbor.  Ideally, I should have been there at least an hour before high tide, but it was almost a full tide when I arrived.  Despite that, we were greeted at the beach by the same birds we had seen at Ocean Shores, a Semipalmated Plover and a Western Sandpiper.


We saw a lot more of those.  In fact the only shore birds we saw at Bottle Beach that we hadn’t seen at Ocean Shores were Dunlin. 


My favorite moment at Bottle Beach actually came when most of the birds had stopped feeding and were resting, huddled in along line behind the larger Dunlin to get out of the wind.


I was disappointed with myself that I had miscalculated the high tide, but it was hard to be too disappointed when we ended the day with some nice shots of the Brown Pelicans


flying overhead on the Westport Jetty.   


Of course, I also consoled myself with ten dollars of chocolates from the candy store in Westport to eat on the way home.  Sushi should always be followed by chocolates.  

Long, Long Ago in a Magical Place

Ideally, I would like In a Dark Time to be a journal; I would like to write about what I’ve done that day or the day before.  Unfortunately, life is seldom ideal, and that seems to get truer as I age.  Last year I fell so far behind in blog entries that I had to admit, “I’ve fallen behind, and I can’t catch up.”  As a result I ended up not posting for several months. I’ve resolved not to fall into thats trap again, though I’m not sure how I will manage not to fall behind because I’m already behind in posting pictures I’ve taken a month ago.

After going to Ocean Shores too early to see the Shorebird Spring Migration, I went back on May 8th and got a lot of pictures that I really liked.  Unfortunately, I was still publishing shots I liked that I had taken on our Arizona/California trip.  I was on a roll with publishing entries until I had to spend over a week trying to fix my blog before finally switching hosts to resolve the problems.  By the time I finally fixed that, I had to work in the yard and get ready for our trip to Colorado.  

To make a long story short, I’m always going to publish the pictures I really like even if they’re not from the day, or even the week, before. Beauty is beauty and transcends the moment.  I loved seeing this little Semi-palmated Plover when we started walking the beach.


We didn’t have to walk much further to spot this little Western Sandpiper in breeding plumage  running along the surf.


I was even more excited to sight this Ruddy Turnstone a little further down the beach.  


We ended up seeing more Ruddy Turnstones flying up and down the beach in the next mile than I have ever seen before. I must have gotten at least forty shots of them, making it difficult to decide which of them to post here.


I’m not sure what they eat, but, unlike the Western Sandpipers who seemed content to probe the sand as the tide came in, 

the Ruddy Turnstones seemed attracted to the piles of kelp scattered on the beach. Google tells me they are omnivores but feed mainly on insects during breeding season, so perhaps they were attracted to the bugs feeding on the kelp.

It was disappointing not to see any of the larger shorebirds that migrate in Spring,  but I was glad  to see all the shorebirds we did. The beach is a magical place during Spring and Fall Migration season.