Back in the saddle

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After a week and a half, David and I are getting back into the swing of life in Portland. I even have a few fiber projects cooking, but the only one I'll be able to share very soon is a wedding present for my cousin, who is getting married this weekend. She doesn't read this blog so I could probably share it now, but one more week isn't too long to wait to ensure non-present-spoilage. (And it's actually a sort of ongoing present, with installments that will continue over the course of the next year, so you'll get to see it at many different stages. Stay tuned!)

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Instead I'll continue the hike documentation by telling you about a walk we did last Saturday just south of the Mount Adams wilderness. Last weekend was amazingly beautiful in the Portland area—one of the first warm, sunny weekends after a rather wet and chilly spring. We should have taken that late spring into account when planning our hike, because we set out to do one called Killen Creek, on the side of Mount Adams and complete with wildflower meadows and stunning views of the mountain. Those familiar with the Cascades can tell that the mountain above is not Mount Adams but Mount Hood, and may be able to guess from the amount of snow still on the slopes what happened: our chosen hike was still snowed in, even though it's almost July! So we took stock of our maps and planned out another one, a self-fashioned loop in the foothills of Mount Adams that was more forest-walking than mountain-climbing but was still very enjoyable.

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The loop we constructed traversed a network of trails that criss-cross a network of creeks in the Mt. Adams foothills. There was lots of beautiful dappled sunlight filtering through the canopy and refracting through the rushing stream-water: one of the prettiest and most magical features of a forest hike, in my opinion. Unfortunately, one of the reasons so much light filtered down to the bottom in some places was that there seemed to be some kind of beetle kill or arborial disease affecting patches of the pines: there were sizeable areas of dead trees still standing, and the Forest Service had done some thinning as well.

Still, tree death means a more varied understory as the low-growing plants jockey to make the most of the increased light. Most of my favorite photographs from the hike are macro shots of low-growing plants. The thin greek stalks and puffy white blooms of the vanilla leaf plants grew in thick patches in certain parts of the trail, creating pleasing repeated lines.

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The wild strawberry plants were carpeting other areas with tiny white flowers, and the particular Northwest variety of Indian Paintbrush was in bloom (David and I had a conversation about different types of Indian Paintbrush: apparently different areas of the States apply that name to wildly different plants. Who knew?)

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Oregon Grape, which is the Oregon state flower, was in bloom as well:

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But the most intriguing plant we spotted were probably those below. As best as I can discern from a bit of internet research, they may be young pine drops, non-photosynthesizing plants that live either as parasites or symbionts with a certain type of fungus. All the photos I can find of identified pine drops show thicker, more developed stalks, and look like some kind of red asparagus, but these could have just shot out of the ground. Though, if anyone else has a different identification I'd be interested to hear it. They're cool-looking, whatever they are!

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All in all, it was a very nice way to spend four hours and eight miles, albeit not exactly what we had in mind. Hopefully the snow will get on with the summer melt so we can get up into the higher, more view-intensive mountain scenery in July and August!

Oh, and a last note because I'd like to track how many hikes we do on this year's Northwest Forest Pass: we are currently at $30/hike. One more outing will make us twice as economical! :-)

216 Comments

  • What a nice sounding hike! I love the plant photos - David doesn't mind your continual stopping to stoop over to capture the jewels of the forest floor I guess - what a great hiking partner. Is that what Mt Hood looks like right now??

  • Oh, Mount Hood... my heart leaps when I see that familiar silhouette! I grow Mount Hood daffodils here in Aberdeen as a reminder. Your hike looks beautiful, and those plants are intruiging. I'm reading Molly Gloss's Jump-Off Creek at the moment, and it's made me HUGELY appreciate the comforts of home. I love the forest but I'm not a very good camper.

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