A Short Hike with Heifers

On Wednesday I did short hike in my favorite area east of Fishtrap Lake near Sprague, Washington. It was hot and lots of cows on the blm land. I did not see much bird life but on the way home just back on the paved road I drove through a swarming of thousands of dragonflies. I had never seen so many in one place before and wonder what brought them out to that dry flat field?

Tuesday Evening Bike

I went for a 'short' bike ride on the Fish Lake Trail. On the initial gravel section overlooking a large but nearly dried out pond I saw three Great Blue Herons soaring away in their arcing flight. It was nice to get to smooth pavement after crossing the railroad tracks at the F.L. Trailhead. The orange tinted clouds where reflected on the surface of Fish Lake as I passed above. Fish were feeding all across the lake sending out ripples across the calm surface. There were an abundance of bugs along the trail this evening and I kept my head down as much as I could to keep them out of my mouth and eyes yet glancing up frequently to avoid the other trail users. In one open section a pall of dust had settled over the fields and houses near a dirt road that reminded me of the fog that is so common in our area in November and February.

I turned around at the Cheney trail-head and as I sped back racing the darkness the bugs grew thicker. With my head down I suddenly saw a dark patch of movement in front of and to the right of me. I had to swerve to the left while shouting and luckily the Porcupine turned back to the right. I nearly ran over him on my bicycle! I also could have swerved too violently and fell on him although I was probably traveling too fast for that. It was a very close call. As I got back to the gravel section I had to be careful with all the potholes but I had no real problems the rest of the way. The full moon over the canyon wall stayed with me and guided me back safely to my car.

Lasting Summer

We have a month to go of Summer so here is a perfect quote that I found today:

"Never could I have enough; never stay long enough. The hours when the mind is absorbed by beauty are the only hours when we really live, so that the longer we can stay among these things so much the more have we snatched from inevitable Time."
- Richard Jefferies The Pageant of Summer

Early Morning Head Clearance

I needed to get outside to clear my mind and de-tox from the recent stress that I have been under. With resolution comes a search; a return to the state of inner peace where I dwell. I almost always turn to nature in order to do this. Here is where I manage my internal happiness.

I got up at five, grabbed gear, food & water and headed west towards Hog Lake. It was cloudy and cool but a very pleasant temperature to hike in and, extra bonus, no bugs! I hit the 'trail' at about 6:15 am and had decided to explore a trail I hadn't know about before. I saw it on the bulletin board at the entrance to this chunk of BLM land. It headed south along the creek formed from the outflow from the small Hog Lake Dam at its southern end. Very wild and green with interesting rock formations like most of the other areas here in the 'channeled scabland' areas. It was very fun exploring someplace new and close to home. And the bird-life was everywhere; wrens, thousands of swallows, cinnamon teals, yellow-headed and red-winged blackbirds, gulls, hawks, wood ducks, and robins.

I explored several overlooks above these small lakes, seemingly only visited by hunters, then I headed inland a bit and found the horse trail that I knew to be around here. I followed it south and then west up to the highest point in the immediate vicinity which happens to be out in open country with only an occasional lonely Ponderosa Pine. Quite a contrast to the lowland canyon by the stream/marsh/pond topography. I headed back on this higher ground, exploring as I went. I knew that I would eventually find game trails down to the stream area. I did and came out pretty close to where I had parked. I really like this open country to hike in! You really can't get lost as long as you pay attention to the lay of the land.

I then drove to the north end of Hog Lake to more familiar trails because I wanted to check on the waterfall which all but drys up in the summer. It was flowing nicely and as I approached the sun finally began to come out. I mountain-goated the talus slope of sharp angular basaltic rocks that ring like chimes when they fall against each other. A very beautiful day and very renewing for my spirit!

Home by 10:15 am and was safe and warm when the hail, snow and rain hit...

The Downside of "Near Nature, Near Perfect"

My widely dispersed neighbors and I watched the baby moose grow up over the last two years. Occasional sightings were shared over the fence or over a beer in the evenings. As it grew it became less awkward and began roaming some on its own preparing for its future in the adult realm.

Then one night its luck ran out as it tried to cross the road. Or, I suppose, it could have tumbled down one of the many small cliffs we have in this bare-basaltic flood-scoured area near Spokane. What I saw early Sunday morning made me sad and dismayed. As it crossed the dirt road near the intersection with the main road I saw it walking with a very wobbly, unstable right rear leg. It could hardly bare weight on the obviously broken extremity. In talking the next day with my neighbor she had thought it was walking strangely the week before.

I called and spoke to a Fish and Wildlife Officer who told me that they normally leave injured animals like that alone as long as they are still able to get about. They have seen elk and deer survive for 2-4 years with only three legs. They only come out to euthanize them if they are unable to get up.

Monday I rode my bike and walked on the trails around our 'neighborhood' trying to locate the moose but to no avail. As I passed near the red-tailed hawk nesting tree I got a scolding and an escort out of there. A reminder, as well, from the natural denizens of the area to not interfere.

(Note; the photo is from October 2008 from our back porch)

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Michael Pollan's book that I just read titled "A Place of My Own; The Architecture of Daydreams:

"With this more substantial shelter about me, I had made some progress toward settling in the world" - Henry David Thoreau; Walden

"If I were asked to name the chief benefits of the house, I should say: the house shelters daydreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace." - Gaston Bachelard; The Poetics of Space

"No good work whatever can be perfect, and the demand for perfection is always a sign of a misunderstanding of the ends of art." - John Ruskin

"That I had dreamt it and then had a hand in making it a fact was more gratifying than I can say, but now I was looking past that, or trying to , wondering, pointlessly perhaps, about how this building I'd helped to shape might come in time to shape me, where the two of us might be headed." - Michael Pollan

"As Venturi's comment suggests ("the relevant revolution today is the current electronic one"), the relationship between the information society and architecture may resemble a zero sum game. The culture of information is ultimately hostile to architecture, as it is to anything that can't be readily translated into its terms - to the whole of the undigitizable world, everything that the promoters of cyberspace like to refer to as RL (for "real life"). - Michael Pollan

This last quote speaks to my main reason for having this blog in the first place:

""Information overload" is something we hear a lot about these days, and there does seem to be a growing sense that technology, the media, and the sheer quantity of information in circulation have somehow gotten between us and reality - what used to be called, without a lot of quotations marks or qualifiers, nature." - Michael Pollan

Spring....

Big, fat, buttery, creamy Buttercups! Like minature thermonuclear suns brightening up an other-wise dreary day!