{"id":610,"date":"2009-06-07T08:57:30","date_gmt":"2009-06-07T16:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mtnmacaw.wordpress.com\/?p=610"},"modified":"2009-06-07T08:57:30","modified_gmt":"2009-06-07T16:57:30","slug":"exploring-new-places","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/?p=610","title":{"rendered":"Exploring new places"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fire to the northwest of us continues to create beautiful sunsets.\u00a0 A bit of weather moved in last night and if we get any rain out of it, the air quality will improve dramatically.\u00a0 We had a beautiful sunset last night but I was being lazy and just watched it instead of getting out on the front porch and taking a picture.\u00a0 This sunset was from two nights ago.<\/p>\n

\"Mount

Mount Baldy can be discerned in the distance.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Even

Even if the sky is smokey, the sunsets feel serene.<\/p><\/div>\n

Yesterday we went on another birding trip around the area and explored some areas we’d seen on a map.\u00a0 This is the first summer we’ve done much in the way of exploring this part of the country.<\/p>\n

Our first stop was the largest lake in the county, which also happens to be the lake closest to our home, roughly 30 miles distance.<\/p>\n

\"Looking

Looking north from the swimming beach, located on the south end of the lake.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Looking

Looking south from the swimming beach.<\/p><\/div>\n

The picnic area in the state park has a swimming beach cordoned off from boats.\u00a0 There are a lot of motorboats on the lake, as well as jet skis, but it is never very crowded.\u00a0 There simply aren’t very many people in the area.<\/p>\n

Right now the only swimmers in the pool were two pair of Canada Geese and more than their share of babies.<\/p>\n

\""How

"How many babies did you say we had? I think Andy and Shirley gave us some extras and went to Acapulco for a vacation!"<\/p><\/div>\n

Watchful parents and their broods.<\/p>\n

\"Swimming

Swimming lessons over, heading for open water.<\/p><\/div>\n

The goose in the front of the line looks like they’re counting heads, or giving a lecture.<\/p>\n

\""Now

"Now watch, this is how it is done."<\/p><\/div>\n

Getting past the floating barrier is no problem for adults or youngsters, who are only a couple of weeks old at most.<\/p>\n

The babies were so cute climbing over.\u00a0 They would flap their stubby and fuzz covered wings to show how clever they’d been, and the adults would nod their heads in approval.<\/p>\n

We heard a Northern Waterthrush calling, and saw a Red-necked Grebe on Curlew Lake.\u00a0 This is the far southern edge of the breeding grounds for these two species.<\/p>\n

Our next stop was Mud Lake, which wasn’t particularly muddy.\u00a0 It did have some interesting birds for us to watch.\u00a0 We added Ruddy Duck, Redhead, Lesser Scaup, Gadwall, and Marsh Wren to the list of birds for the 2009 county list.\u00a0 Coots were also present, babies in tow.\u00a0 A pair of Cinnamon Teal rounded out the waterfowl floating about on the water.<\/p>\n

\"We

We had hoped to find Black Terns here as one of the most likely places in the county, but no such luck.<\/p><\/div>\n

On a road branching off of the San Poil River corridor where we were last weekend, there are several lakes located in forest service property, all three of which have campgrounds and boat launches.\u00a0 These lakes are home to a northern species of bird, Common Loon.\u00a0 Like the Red-necked Grebe and Northern Waterthrush, this is the far southern end of their breeding range.\u00a0 We found a pair of loons at each lake, which was quite exciting.\u00a0 These birds are extremely sensitive to disturbance from people, and they are becoming very rare.<\/p>\n

First was Swan Lake, the largest of the three lakes and the most popular among the local residents.\u00a0 In addition to the campground, Swan Lake also has a very neat interpretive trail which goes completely around the lake, an easy level hike through very pretty lakeside woods and over granite outcrops.\u00a0 There is also a very nice picnic area overlooking the lake.<\/p>\n

\"The

The trail passes over these rocks which are way across the water from where I took this picture.<\/p><\/div>\n

The first summer we moved here, we visited this lake and found wild blueberries along the trail.\u00a0 I made a batch of pancakes with said blueberries.<\/p>\n

Ferry Lake was the next place on our travel plan.\u00a0 A loon was quite close to the boat launch when we got there, and then moved off to an area close to reeds on the waters’ edge.\u00a0 We saw fish jumping out of the water near the loon.\u00a0 No doubt, the loon was having great success finding plenty to eat.<\/p>\n

\"This

This is a fairly small circular lake and no motorized boats are permitted.<\/p><\/div>\n

They float low in the water, sometimes totally submerged except for a head peaking up above the water.\u00a0\u00a0 We always think of a submarine when we see them doing that.<\/p>\n

\"Swimming

Swimming away from us, this bird first surfaced within 20 feet of us, but was my camera ready? No!<\/p><\/div>\n

Loons have a fantastic call; it was very disappointing we didn’t hear them making any noise but it was pretty late in the day by the time we arrived at the lakes, lunchtime to be exact.<\/p>\n

The last lake we visited was Long Lake.\u00a0 On this lake we actually got to see a loon sitting on a nest.\u00a0\u00a0 This lake is long and narrow, nestled between tall granite cliffs on either side.\u00a0 The boat launching area is shallow and not the least bit muddy, and it will be a great place for us to go floating around in our Klepper folding kayak.\u00a0 We’ve had this kayak since the late 1970’s and it is very neat to have a place so close to home that is perfect for its use.\u00a0 We need to buy some hipwaders.<\/p>\n

\"The

The granite cliffs go straight up, and have fractured into scree slopes.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"We

We can't see all way way down the lake from the boat launching beach, the lake bends around the corner.<\/p><\/div>\n

Long Lake added a Vaux’s Swift to the county list, and we heard several variety of Thrushes singing in the woods.\u00a0 This lake was just gorgeous and the woods were full of flowers.<\/p>\n

\"These

These wildflowers are in two colors, blue and white. The flowers get all fuzzy when they go to seed after blooming.<\/p><\/div>\n

I would be willing to bet that if I planted clematis in our flowerbeds that the deer would munch them right down.\u00a0 The wild plants grow by climbing up into trees and avoid this fate.<\/p>\n

\"This

This violet is one of three colors, and all three will grow in the same area.<\/p><\/div>\n

It might be my imagination, but it seems like the white color variety of violet grows taller than the blue or yellow varieties.<\/p>\n

\"Delicate

Delicate with blue veins through the white blossom.<\/p><\/div>\n

The yellow variety of violet is the most widespread in this area.<\/p>\n

\"A

A carpet of last years' larch needles on the ground behind this flower. Larch needles are golden when they fall.<\/p><\/div>\n

This isn’t Oregon, and these aren’t grapes….<\/p>\n

\"This

This evergreen Oregon Grape has pretty yellow flowers and red berries, and shiny leaves. A common and widespread wildflower in the mountains.<\/p><\/div>\n

After lunch by the lake, we went up into the mountains.\u00a0 The highest mountain pass in the state is located in this county, and there are some forest service roads which branch off the main highway.\u00a0 This is where we went exploring next, hoping to add some rare birds to the list for the year.<\/p>\n

\"This

This short paved trail loops through woods and out to an overlook at the top of the pass.<\/p><\/div>\n

This whole area is under consideration for wilderness designation.\u00a0 It would be wonderful if that were to occur.\u00a0 I personally think a new national park would be a better use for the area as it isn’t truly wilderness anymore, and development of camping areas and trails, and management of the forests might actually be of more benefit to correct some of the prior abuse of the forest.\u00a0 As far as a boost to the local economy, a national park would work wonders.\u00a0 Most likely the local politicians are too short sighted to see this benefit since it would cut into use of the forests for logging and cattle grazing, both sacred cows for this part of the state.<\/p>\n

\"Our

Our Forester is most at home on these sorts of roads.<\/p><\/div>\n

These cliffs were adjacent to the road.<\/p>\n

\"The

The granite cliffs turn a very dark charcoal gray when the iron in the rock oxidizes. The ligher rock appears when portions shear off and fracture.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"A

A deep canyon separated us from this rock cliff.<\/p><\/div>\n

We went off the main highway about 7 miles, and encountered one SUV about 4 miles in.\u00a0 We stopped and chatted with the man and woman in the other vehicle, and the conversation went something like this:<\/p>\n

Them:\u00a0 “Do you know where Copper Butte is?\u00a0 We’re supposed to meet some friends there.”<\/p>\n

Us:\u00a0 “No, but we have a good map.”<\/p>\n

We handed them the map and told them to look on page 116.\u00a0 They found Copper Butte immediately and didn’t look the least bit inclined to go back the direction they had just been to get there.\u00a0 It was actually pretty funny.\u00a0 They told us that immediately behind them (the direction we were traveling), was a bog in the road and they had almost gotten stuck.\u00a0 Naturally we were a bit concerned since their SUV was a lot bigger than ours and they had tires more suited to muddy conditions than our all-weather radials.\u00a0 But we continued on anyway.\u00a0 Dan must be a better driver than the other man\u00a0 was since we had no problems with the muddy spot described and can only surmise they had driven off the road or into one of the muddy ruts in the road.\u00a0 They told us they were going to go back to the main highway and see if they could find their friends and then return.\u00a0 We didn’t see them again, so they obviously decided to stick with paved roads.\u00a0 Tee hee.<\/p>\n

The road surface felt very weird since it was still partially frozen or only recently thawed.\u00a0 We saw remnants of snow in several places along the road and out in the trees.\u00a0 We also discovered, much to our delight, a lot of wild blueberry bushes with tiny berries growing on them.\u00a0 And I do mean a LOT of bushes.\u00a0 This whole area burned in the 1920’s, evidently providing a habitat for the berry bushes that they like a lot.\u00a0 Mid July we’re going to be up there picking berries.\u00a0 It is already on my mental game plan list of things to do this year.\u00a0 If there is any place in this area to come across a brown bear, it will be in the middle of the blueberry plants.<\/p>\n

\"Thunderstorms

Thunderstorms moved through the mountains, dropping enough moisture to get the roadway wet in places. It is amazing how much the clouds can change the character of the landscape.<\/p><\/div>\n

We were up at roughly 6,000 feet elevation when we decided to return home.\u00a0 The road continued back at least another 13 miles and had some very interesting looking sideroads off of it for exploring.\u00a0 We decided that since we didn’t have a tire pump with us, discretion was the better part of valor and we’ll just return again soon.\u00a0 There are multiple trail heads up there, all climbing to the top of the mountains, and one very nice campground.<\/p>\n

We didn’t add new of the rare bird species we’d been hoping to find.\u00a0 Oh well, maybe next time.\u00a0 We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and I picked up vegetables with which to make tempura for lunch today.\u00a0 And some strawberries for dessert.\u00a0 Yummmmm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The fire to the northwest of us continues to create beautiful sunsets.\u00a0 A bit of weather moved in last night and if we get any rain out of it, the air quality will improve dramatically.\u00a0 We had a beautiful sunset last night but I was being lazy and just watched it instead of getting out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmeadow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}