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...

Washington Park

Washington Park in Anacortes is one of our favorite places.  It is on a peninsula on the west side of the town and looks out over the Straits of San Juan.  The name" park" is misleading, since it is mostly wild, though there are a picnic area, a boat launch and a campground in the park.  We go there often to walk the trails and the one-way road around the park and to see the wildflowers which include five species of native orchids.  I've done one post featuring the Fairy Slippers and early wildflowers.  These photos were taken on a subsequent trip when we were there to photograph the native orchids.

the trails

a few wildflowers including:

Death Camas

Common Camas

Sea Blush

Field Chickweed

Checker Lilies

Wildflowers everywhere

Mushrooms

Mica-caps

Lichens

probably the Waxpaper Lichen

 Western Red Cedar foliage

and the orchids, including:
Western Fairy Slippers

Western Spotted Coralroots

Western or Merten's Coralroots