A quick trip to Stehekin

Whoa. Where did August and September go? Whoa.

Frank and I have been busy, I guess. I'm going to "catch up" by posting some stories and photos of our activities in no particular order. I might not even put dates on the events. So there.

First off: A quick trip to Stehekin.

The Lady Express on Lake Chelan

Frank has hiked many pieces of the Pacific Crest Trail over the years, and he's semi-serious about completing sections as he goes along. Last summer he hiked from the Canadian border to Rainy Pass with his friend, Rob Langsdorf from San Diego, who is seriously section hiking the PCT. Anyway, Frank wanted to walk from Rainy Pass to Stehekin, so he took the opportunity a few weekends ago.

I decided I wanted a few extra hours at home, so I dropped him off at the Bridge Creek trailhead on Saturday after lunch and said, "I'll meet you in Stehekin tomorrow."

Early Sunday morning I boarded the Lady Express in Chelan and began a two-and-a-half hour boat ride up Lake Chelan.

You wouldn't believe the boring scenery on the way up lake . . . .

The boat arrived at Stehekin Landing around 11 a.m.  

Major activity at the landing - that's the national park bus.

So I had around 4 hours to myself in Stehekin to wander around, find and set up our campsite, eat lunch and nap atop a picnic table along the shore. It was rough. The weather was glorious (if a little hazy from distant forest fires), and the surroundings couldn't have been more serene.

Frank arrived on the 3:15 shuttle bus Sunday afternoon as planned. He was very hot, tired and dusty but we cleaned up with a dreamy swim in the crystal-clear waters of Lake Chelan. SO GREAT!

Sunset looking into the North Cascades from the tiny marina.

Frank and I had a lovely dinner at the only restaurant in Stehekin. The food was delicious. Now think about this people: It's the only food vendor in town. The food could stink and they'd still be serving it. But no, they do better than they have to. How refreshing.

We didn't have to get on the boat back to Chelan until noon on Monday, so we rented bikes in the morning and rode a couple miles to the excellent bakery for breakfast.

Frank and cinnamon roll. Yum.

The scenery along the Stehekin Valley Road was outstanding, we basically had the place to ourselves, and there was something so sweet about just pedaling along on our poopy old rental bikes.

The Harlequin Bridge - our turn around point.

Kokanee salmon (land-locked sockeye) in the Stehekin River.

Wetlands where the Stehekin River enters Lake Chelan.

Last weekend up Twisp Pass

Day hiking for us around here usually means driving 30 minutes to one hour to get to the trailhead (not forgetting the appropriate parking pass - state or national?) and then heaving our bodies uphill for several hours, having lunch, and then lurching our way downhill to the car. Gosh. It doesn't sound that great when I put it that way. Must be my painful joints talking . . . .

Anyway, we hiked up Twisp Pass on Saturday. It is SUCH a beautiful trail.

I told Frank we pretty much saw the whole wildflower book along the 2600 feet of elevation gain.

That's Hock Mountain there with the headwaters of the South Fork of the Twisp River in the valley below.

We traveled on snow for a while. It's almost August for goodness sakes! Some trails may not be snow free before snow flies again.

Beware the pink snow monster.

A good 4 to 6 foot base of snow here still.

We had lunch slightly above the pass. Yeah. I'm always thrilled to keep going UP, but certainly the views were worth it.

That's Dagger Lake below and nothing but national park in the picture.

I really like wooden signage in the wilderness.

This weekend we'll drag our butts up some other god-awful trail. Maybe Copper Glance. Maybe someplace in the Sawtooths. Any suggestions?

Hazards on the road in Twisp

And you thought mule deer were a road hazard . . . . drive safely and watch out for those ladybugs!

This week in the garden

Hi.

I just thought I'd share some images from Laurelle's garden. I wish I could share a recording of the crazy bird talk that's going on out there this morning. You probably don't want to know about the mosquitos.

"Midnight Snow" pea blossoms

"Midnight Snow" purple-podded pea

Egyptian "walking" onion. This onion produces top sets - bulblets instead of proper flowers.  You can break off the top clusters, separate the bulblets, and plant them now for super-early scallions next spring.

Salvia and Dianthus

Fairywing poppy

Cute kids and smokejumpers

Parachutists in training from the North Cascades Smokejumper Base.

It's been a couple weeks now since I saw blue and white parachutes drifting down in the vicinity of the fish hatchery.

I was on my way to an editorial meeting at the newspaper, saw this incredible photo op, and made the decision to be late.

I'm so glad I stopped to shoot photos; turns out the editor didn't run any in that issue (apparently "the News has told that story before"), but I hope you enjoy them anyway.

Here's the cute kids part: kindergarteners from Little Star Montessori were there watching too. Sheesh!

Natural history encounter #2

So here's the other thing I've been meaning to tell you about.

I was out working in the garden and had stopped to straighten my back and enjoy the view, when I noticed a strange, solid, football-sized shape in a chokecherry bush in our field. I had a hunch what it was, but I wanted to be sure . . . .

Yup, I thought so.

Here; let's get a little closer.

So, honeybees are awesome in so many ways. Without them we basically wouldn't have agriculture. Well, I guess if we wanted to limit our diets to lentils and wheat, but you like apples and nectarines and zucchini - stuff like that, right? Gotta have bees.

Honey's good, too.

So I called local bee keeper and all-around-great guy, Dave Sabold, and asked him what these bees would do if left alone. He said they'd either find a hollow tree to move into, or the walls of our house. Repeat: the walls of our house. I told him to come on over with a hive box and get them.

Dave's supplies - those are gloves.

By the time Dave arrived, Frank and I were already feeling kind of attached to the little buzzers, so we asked about leaving the bee hive (after they move into the box) on our property. I mean, we have apple trees and a garden and an enormous alfalfa field next door. Well, Dave explained that bears love nothing more than a bee hive - we knew that, right - and we'd have to put it inside a sturdy fence or on top of a flat roof. No flat roof here, and the only fence is my now-looking-very-small garden, so we decided to let Dave take them.

Dave is excited to get wild bees because they've survived the Methow winter without added food, so they should be more cold-hardy and resilient than imported bees. He would like to get a "Methow strain" going - pretty cool, huh?

Dave suiting up. Swarm in chokecherry bush. Hive box at his feet.

Dave pruned the branches around the swarm and removed the mass by hand.

Gently lowering the branch and bees onto the hive box.

The bees are now entering their new home.

Dave put a lid on the box and left them for a couple of days to make sure that the whole hive moved in. He came and carried them away at dusk when he knew they all would be tucked in to bed for the night.

The bees are now part of Dave and Marilyn's home honey and skin salve business, Gardner Gardens.

MVSTA thanks its workforce

As with all Methow Valley potlucks, the spread was plentiful and delicious.

Methow Valley Sport Trails Association held a volunteer appreciation barbecue at the Mazama Community Center on Sunday afternoon (June 5). Around 75 volunteers were fêted at the celebration, along with board members, ski trail grooming staff, and ski patrol. MVSTA Events Director, Mike Pruett, said the barbecue was a way for the organization to “reach out and show our appreciation to various members and ambassadors. It’s also a chance for them to meet each other.”

Mike Pruett serves up brats.

Pruett took a break from his barbecue grill duties to recognize the MVSTA workforce. He stressed the importance of member/ambassadors who interact with visitors at events and on the trails and “share their passion for living in the Methow.”

According to Pruett, around 175 members are involved in the currently-at-capacity trail pass program, which awards an annual trail pass to enrolled volunteers who work 20 hours over the course of the year. Bridge building, trail maintenance, racecourse marshal, and trailhead ambassador are among the various duties performed by volunteer workers who also support eight to ten events per year, from running and ski races to the annual Sports Swap.

Don Portman, MVSTA board president, awarded  Michael Prichard a lifetime trail pass for his years of dedication to the organization and for starting the ski patrol program.

Associate director, Danica Kaufman, reported that MVSTA is now the largest cross-country ski area in the nation, with 190 kilometers of groomed ski trails. She lauded the past year as having the second-best trail pass sales as well as the best lifetime pass sales ever, despite the continued economic downturn.

Midge Cross, Kristen Smith and Mike Real

John Owen, Sam Owen and Michael Caldwell