Tag Archives: nature

Larch Mountain Gate Opens 05.27.14!

24 Saturday May 2014

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We have word from a reliable source that the Larch Mountain snow gate will open next Tuesday afternoon!

The gate at milepost 10 is closed from November until the snow clears in late May / early June (in 2008, it didn’t open until July!).  While we are all antsy to get up there starting about April, that area is at or above the same level as Government Camp on Mt. Hood, which is well above snow level.  Plowing it every day would only get you to mile 14  on the road, where you could stand and stare at buried parking and trails.

Put Sherrard Viewpoint on your list for this summer, and we’ll do our best to clear the skies for you so you can see all five mountains : ).

Sherrard Viewpoint_June 2012

Meanwhile, don’t let the closed gate keep you off Larch for the Memorial Day weekend… look for the small trailhead on your right beyond milepost 5, or grab any of the logging access gates with Recreational Use signs posted, and start walking.  It’s beautiful and green up there, and the small wildflowers are already in their second round, with salmon berries coming on, and thimble berries and huckleberries following shortly!

Larch Mountain with dogs and flowers

Remember to make your stick Scout arrows when you get to the forks in the road! (bread crumbs tend to get eaten, and that loaf of bread is bulky in the backpack) – it’s easy to get turned around out there.  I can testify, having had to enlist a friend with a large truck to blow the horn on the road so I could straighten my unreliable directional sense back out a couple weeks ago : ).

Larch with dogs

Enjoy the weekend!
Loree

 

 

All images and words © Loree Harrell; 2012 – 2014

 

Let There Be A Gorgeous Chaos…

28 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by in Beauty Be Us

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… and it was so.

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Bits of two days in the past week spanning about 1/8 mile on my favorite Sandy River Gorge trail.

All images, Loree Harrell; 2013

Beaver Dance

14 Saturday Sep 2013

Posted by in Beauty Be Us, Day Trips

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I noticed a new pile of sticks across the river last month.  It’s an oddish place for a beaver to build a den in the summer, as the beach on this side gets heavy and exuberant use when the sun is shining, so it didn’t really register, but we hit an afternoon after some rain last week and got to watch the show.

Beaver1

Just before this shot, the beaver had been coming towards the three Mergansers who were minding their own business floating about and enjoying the day.

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Then he turned and headed upstream.  It was unclear, as I don’t actually know how beaver brains work, whether the Mergansers were a perceived threat (what kind of threat could a duck be to a beaver?), or if they had a past history of hanging around to purposely annoy him, or if it was some sort of catch me if you can game.

Beaver3

You would think that a human would be a larger threat than a duck (maybe beavers species memory has forgotten the whole Hat thing), but he came right down in front of me…

Beaver4

… before another of the Mergansers arrived and he turned…

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… to find the rest of the family taking up position.

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At the point the last two flew in and he was surrounded, he gave a good thwack and dove.  I had a bad moment thinking a duck was going to get pulled under the surface (probably an unreasonable fear, but, again, I don’t know how beaver brains work).

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Having been totally oblivious up to this point, the thwack! got Max and Ebb’s attention.

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The Mergansers took up position in the front yard again, with the beaver patrolling the perimeter.

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Max and Ebb were on the beach watching, and the beaver was swimming in circles between the Mergansers and the dogs…

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… until the beaver finally got thoroughly fed up with all the unwanted company and dove with a huge and very clear fwap of the tail.

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Someday, we really need to learn about that swimming thing.

all images Loree Harrell; 2013

A Quiet Place To Run

18 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by in Day Trips, Ramblings

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What I love most about this place we live is that there is always a new place, always a place with no people, always green and water and sweet air.

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Sometimes you just have to look a little further, venture someplace you don’t know.

The dogs and I have five places we usually run, and in all five, for most of the year, we have the trails to ourselves.  This time of year, the two river trails are busy with summer people, and the other three trails, beyond the gates on tree company land, were closed to entry two weeks ago because of elevated fire danger.

So we’ve been going to the river trails in the early morning before the summer people have had their breakfast, but a late shift Friday had us out in the afternoon with no place to go, so we went further up Larch Mountain, into the National Forest land, to find a place.

At milepost 9, we found a gate with paved road and walked in.

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Well, I walked.  The dogs exuberated.  (No, it’s not a word.)  (But it should be.)

I expected, it being Larch Mountain and all, and Larch Mountain having a large network of trails, that we would come across a trail that would take us off into the woods, but two miles of paved, and another mile of pack gravel before we ran into a Bull Run Watershed No Trespassing sign, and nary a trail.

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Still.  Beautiful little creeks that those of us in the party with four nimble legs could get down to for a cool down, wildflowers by the road, gorgeous forest, and quiet.

Venture out someplace you don’t know.  There’s something there, I promise.

Here, have a smile.

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Columbia Gorge Flower Frenzy!

08 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by in And Around, Day Trips, Events

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Friends of the Columbia Gorge
Flower Frenzy Challenge 2013!
March 1 to July 31, 2013

FriendsoftheColumbiaGorge_FlowerFrenzy2013

What a great reason to get boots on the trails, and experience the spring and early summer in our beautiful Columbia Gorge!  Every year, I intend to get out to Dog Mountain in the spring, and every year, I miss the window.  Rain or shine, I am going this weekend – mark it.

Friends Of The Columbia Gorge has put together a treasure hunt of 25 beautiful flowers that appear briefly in the Gorge in the spring and early summer, and the challenge is to get out there and find as many as you can, with the shyer of the bunch being worth more points.  There are prizes, although I would suggest the treasure, in this case, is in the finding more than the winning :).  The log has great information on each flower, like:

Bitter Root

Bitter Root _ Lewisia rediviva… This flower was found in the Bitter Root Mtns by Lewis & Clark (state flower of Montana). The speciman they brought back had a viable root and bloomed years after the expedition. Hence the scientific name. American Indians valued it highly as a food, and although it is nutritous, it tastes bitter. According to tribal myths, the plant grew from the tears of a starving old woman, and its roots are bitter because of her sorrow. The large, fleshy roots were harvested just as the blossoms began to bud, and, after being boiled, became jellylike and less bitter.

Register at www.gorgefriends.org/flowerfrenzy , print out your log, and go find some beauty you haven’t seen before.  Even if you’re not going to play this time, become a member!  Memberships start at 35.00, which is a killer deal and gives you access to great inside information and resources.  I also see that if you register now, you get a free copy of Ross Jolley’s “Wildflowers Of The Columbia Gorge”!WildflowersoftheColumbiaGorge_RussJolley

Some of the early ones will be disappearing soon (or you’ll have to hike up higher to find them), so start this weekend and I’ll see you on the other side of a cluster of Dutchman’s Breeches!

A Freshening Of Frogs

04 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by in And Around, Other Side Of The Inside Of The Box

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I’m thinking we’re well on our way to spring.  On the way down the hill from the evening hike four days ago, I was sitting at the stoplight on the east side of Mt. Hood Community College, and thought my car was blowing up.  I turned down the story I was listening to and rolled down the window, because (in limited areas of life) I prefer to confront bad news head on.  The light turned green, and as I crossed the intersection and headed past the green space, I realized I was hearing

frogs.

A whole lot of frogs.

Every night since, I have turned down the story I was listening to and rolled down the window.  It makes me laugh every time.

The frogs we have around here are teeny tiny green tree-frog-ish types, but boy can they sing.

So if you have a few minutes, after dark, go drive Stark by the creek that runs through the greenspace, slow, or better yet park and walk the new path they put in last summer.  Bettin’ it makes you smile, too.

Where to go
Intersection of Stark Street and Troutdale Road
Just behind MHCC and across from Dairy Queen

Meanwhile, go take a look at the National Wildlife Federation photography contest pics I borrowed the featured image for the post from.  I won’t spoil the surprise by showing you the owl here.

Victor S. Lamoureux’s frogs are New York frogs, but still.  Charming, aren’t they?

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I Don’t Care What Anyone Says…

05 Monday Nov 2012

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… or how wet I get in the middle of it.  It is an absolutely beautiful fall.

Maybe it’s just some oddly skewed perspective on my end, but I don’t remember the color being quite this [abundant saturated almost iridescence] in most other years.  By the time I get out to the woods in the evening, it’s teetering on the edge of dusk, and still there is this…

and this…

Sandy River Trail, 10.31.12

and a bit of this.

Sandy River Trail just after the rain, just before dusk

Sweet.  Very sweet.  Don’t be put off by the rain – get out there.  It’s all lit up from the inside out.

– Loree