Anderson Lake State Park

Anderson Lake State Park is on the northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula.  We went there the week of April 5-11 as part of trip to Olympic National Park and because we had not been there for a number of years.  The lake itself doesn't amount to much though it is a popular fishing spot, but the trails around the lake are worth.  We went hoping to see a rare parasitic plant, the Vancouver Ground-cone, Boschniakia hookeri, a plant that parasitizes the roots of Salal.  We also hoped to see some Western Fairy Slippers, Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis.  We found both, though the Ground-cones were not in flower yet and the Fairy Slippers were very few.  But, as always, we found other treasures to photograph and remember.

Anderson Lake

Vancouver Ground-cones

(the last photo is an older photo of the plant in flower)

 Panther Cap (Amanita pantherina)

 Fairy Fingers (Clavaria vermicularis)

White Slime Mold (unidentified)

Western Fairy Slipper

 Western Trillium (Trillium ovatum)

 Prairie Star (Lithophragma parviflorum)

 Raindrops on Grass

Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata)

 Common Horsetail (Equisetum arvense)

we sampled some of the young shoots and found them to be like celery

 Moss

 Bracken Fern (Pteridium aquilinum)

 Termite Mound

 Pacific Banana Slug (Ariolimax columbianus)

Before leaving the Olympic Peninsula we also made a brief stop at Sequim Bay State Park near the town of Sequim and took a few more photos.  We were there for the Washington Native Orchid Society on their first outing of the year.  We visited one other location and found a few more Fairy Slippers and Western Spotted Coralroots, Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis, just starting to bloom.

Sequim Bay

Salmonberry Flower (Rubus spectabilis)

Unidentified Mushroom

Western Fairy Slipper

 Western Spotted Coralroot

Goat Lake

Twice this summer I had the opportunity (and privilege) of hiking with my youngest brother.  Since this happens only when he is out here on business we can't choose our days and so one of our hikes was on a very wet and rainy day and another on the Fourth of July holiday.  The first hike was one I had never done, a 10.5 mile round-trip to Goat Lake in the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness.  In spite of the rain we had a good hike, though the photography was not as good.

The first part of the trail follows an old road

from which we had a few glimpses of the surrounding peaks

The trail then enters a forest of Red Alders.

Walking through them is like walking through some kind of green temple.

 The Alders, for reasons unknown to me, are host to a huge variety of lichens.

Though wet and rainy, there was still plenty to photograph:

a Pacific Banana Slug,

the wet leaves of Big Leaf Maple,

 a dead moth in a spider's web,

 and some Turkey Tail fungus.

There were a few wildflowers,

Goatsbeard

 Queen's Cup Lily

 and Cascades Penstemon.

The last part of the trail is through beautiful old growth forest

of Western Hemlock, Western Red Cedar and Douglas Fir.

We found a few orchids,

Spotted Coralroot,

Northwest Twayblade,

 and a lot of Western Coralroot.

Just before the last climb to the lake there is a side trail to Elliot Creek Falls.

Elliot Creek is the outlet for Goat Lake.

And finally the lake itself, though the surrounding peaks were barely visible.

And then the hike back...