Lyon's Ferry

On May 12th we went to Palouse Falls State Park with our daughter and grandchildren, but found the park closed due the death of someone who had fallen from the cliffs and for whose body they were searching the river.  We went on to Lyon's Ferry State Park, a little south of Palouse Falls and spent some time exploring the area while the children swam and enjoyed ice cream and a picnic lunch.

Lyon's Ferry is named for the Lyon family which operated a ferry there until 1968 when the ferry was replaced by the Snake River Bridge.  The ferry is at the confluence of the Palouse and Snake Rivers and the area now has a marina and a fish hatchery as well as great views of the Joso Railroad Bridge.  We hiked the breakwater and enjoyed a beautiful sunny day there.

the old ferry

the views

Snake River Bridge

Snake River and Joso Bridges

Joso Railroad Bridge

Black Locust Trees

Dog Rose

Dog Mountain

After spending a the morning of June12th at Catherine Creek, we debated what to do.  There had been some sunshine in the morning, but the day grew progressively more gray and wet.  We had planned on hiking the Dog Mountain Trail to look for Phantom Orchids there, but wondered about heading north towards Ellensburg and Leavenworth where we intended to spend the next day.  We finally decided to try Dog Mountain and that proved to be the right decision, though we did not get much of a view of the Columbia River from the top of the mountain  on account of the clouds and mist.

We were thrilled to find Phantom Orchids (Cephalanthera austiniae) everywhere along the trail, even though this species is usually quite hard to find.  In addition we found the Giant Rattlesnake Orchis (Goodyera oblongifolia)beginning to send up spikes and Coralroots of every kind in bloom, including both the ordinary form of the Striped Coralroot (Corallorhiza striata) and the Vreeland's variety of this species, and including a number of different varieties and forms of the Spotted Coralroot (Corallorhiza maculata).  Just seeing all these unusual orchids was a treat but several of them were new to us.

Phantom Orchids

Striped and Vreeland's Striped Coralroots

Western Spotted Coralroots

Giant Rattlesnake Orchis

The woods were misty and dark and rather spooky and the trail was very wet especially on the downward journey.  It was also quite steep, gaining nearly 2400 feet in the two and half miles to the top.  My wife took a picture of the walking sticks that other hikers had picked up along the trail and left at the end of the trail.  We enjoyed the hike, however, both for the orchids and other wildflowers and for the few views we did get of the Columbia River and gorge, though on a clear day Mount Hood and Mount Adams are both visible, as well as Mount Defiance across the gorge in Oregon.

We had to be very careful, or at leasty as careful as we could to avoid Poison Oak which was everywhere.  There were signs warning against it, using the little rhyme, ""leaves of three, let them be."  I believe the first picture below is of this plant, and, if it is, we certainly saw a lot of it, especially in the drier areas.  Thankfully, neither of us were affected even though we both were down on the ground frequently for pictures of native orchids, wildflowers, insects, spiders, and whatever else we could find.  It may be, of course, that neither of us is affected by the irritants in it, true of about 15% of the population.

Poison Oak

Columbia Lily Seed Pod and Spider

Beetle

Caterpillar

There were a lot of wildflowers in bloom, especially on the wetter side of the mountain, Lupines, Balsamroots (nearly finished blooming), Indian Paintbrush, Columbia Lilies (I did not get a good picture), wild Roses, Ookow, Columbia Windflowers, and Scouler's Valerian, and what I believe is Woolly Vetch, a non-native, though quite attractive with it's two-toned flowers.  As always these are identified to the best of my ability and I welcome any corrections.  Finished with wildflowers and the hike we returned to the car just in time to avoid a downpour, and leaving Dog Mountain we headed east and then north.

Balsamroot, Lupine and Indian Paintbrush

Forktooth Ookow

Wild Rose and Beetle

Columbia Windflower

Scouler's Valerian and Lupine

Another Trip to Whidbey Island

We had gone to several sites on Whidbey Island to see the native orchids on May 27th.  At that time we found Western Spotted Coralroots and Heart-leaved Twayblades blooming at the Au Sable Institute near Coupeville and more Western Spotted Coralroots blooming at Goose Rock near Deception Pass on the north end of the island.  We also found the Ozette Coralroots and Western Coralroots in spike but several weeks from blooming.  We went this time to see them and found both of them in bloom, though the Ozette Coralrrots were just starting.

Ozette Coralroots

The weather this visit was the opposite of what it had been on the first visit.  Then it was sunny and warm.  This time is was cool and rainy.  We did not let the rain affect our enthusiasm, however, and not only looked for the orchids, but, as is our habit, we wandered around looking for other things to admire and photograph and came back with plenty of pictures.  In the woods at the Au Sable Institute we found not only the Ozette Coralroots but also the Spotted Coralroots in bloom.  This is the more common later-blooming variety distinguished also by lip and flower shape.

Spotted Coralroots

Spider!

Wandering along the paths in the woods we found everything wet and my wife took photos of a beautiful Red-banded Polypore whose colors were enhanced by the rain.  We also found several old Indian graves, which were obviously tended and visited, though the individuals had been dead for many years.  They were the graves of an Indian Chief, his wife, and of someone else named Crow Feather.  The former two graves were inside a small fence and the third outside it with no discernible connection to the others, though it was better kept than the other two graves.

Red-banded Polypore

Finished at the Au Sable Institute we drove back north to Deception Pass State Park and to the eastern end of the park near Cornet Bay where we hiked some of the trails at Hoypus Hill.  We were looking for the Western Coralroot, very different from the Western Spotted and found it in full bloom in several different color varieties.  We had seen the spikes of Candycanes, another saprophyte, on our first trip but this time someone or something had destroyed them all.

Western Coralroots

Along the way we also photographed a large slug (they were everywhere because of the wet conditions), the Orange Honeysuckle which was blooming not far from the waterside, and tried to get some pictures of the beautiful old second-growth forest in which we were hiking.  My wife's pictures of the forest and trails were better than mine, as is often the case.  The weather, which had been reasonably dry began to threaten again and we arrived back at the car just as the rain started.

Orange Honeysuckle

Wild Roses

Thimbleberry

Stinging Nettle

Banana Slug