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Week Twenty-Four, August 27-September 2
Sunday, September 2, 2001
We made our second trip this year to the Quinault Rain Forest today, setting out for the forest rather than making a trip to Mt. St. Helens because the weather was more certain heading to the coast than for the mountains. Natalie and Katrina and I drove to the Polson Museum in Hoquiam first, to take a look at the history unveiled there, a history of logging and of the Grays Harbor area. Natalie and I first visited there last winter while researching our book, and Natalie had an urge to return.
After spending some time in Hoquiam we drove straight up to and past Lake Quinault and along North Shore Road to the ranger station. No sooner did I get out of the car then the pine white butterfly in the photo below fluttered to a stop on the grass nearby. It turned out to be a perfect fall day for exploring the Quinault Rain Forest. The three of us walked a 1.3 mile trail through the marsh and wetlands areas, snapping photos like the one above, with the sky and trees reflecting in the waters of a small pool created by a beaver dam. In fact, I took so many photos that I like from our walk that I could create a computer screen saver set from the images.
Among the images were those that make the quintessential rain forest shots - moss draping down from the maple trees, green upon green, biomass upon biomass. Although the Quinault Rain Forest is not quite as lush and definitely not as famous as the Hoh Rain Forest, a couple of ridges to the north, it is still an impressive sight. And since it is viewed by most as the lesser of the temporate rain forests on the Olympic Peninsula, it is also much less crowded...even on Labor Day Weekend.
After spending an hour or so wandering through the forest, the three of us drove the rest of the way up North Shore Road until it turned into a narrow gravel road, crossed a couple of rickety wood bridges and then met up with South Shore Road to complete the long loop around Lake Quinault and back to Highway 101. Natalie and I want to return in a couple of months, when the wetness that defines the character of this land is draped upon the mountains and valleys.
Saturday, September 1, 2001
We spent today on the road, driving 120 miles south to visit with Natalie's parents and then back to get ready for a nature road trip tomorrow to the southwestern edge of the Olympic Peninsula.
Friday, August 31, 2001
Natalie actually took today's photo from the window of the office in downtown Tacoma where she has been doing temp work all week. I wished that I had the camera again today. As I drove home after taking Natalie to work this morning I saw workers for Tacoma Metro Parks taking the fencing down around the new Dickman Mill Park on Ruston Way. The park was supposed to be finished months ago, but it has finally opened.
Thursday, August 30, 2001
I didn't spend a lot of time outside today. Instead, I was indoors working to convert the first issue of the Tacoma Weekly newspaper to its new online home at tacomaweekly.com. Hopefully tomorrow will offer more outdoor time...
Wednesday, August 29, 2001
The Puget Creek Restoration Society had another cleanup event down at the creek today, with Scott and me working with a dozen or so adult mentally disabled folks - pulling morning glory and blackberries near the entrance to the park. We really only worked for an hour and a half or so, but even that small amount made a visible dent in the morning glory that is peaking in its growth at this time of year.Once the event finished, I wandered up along the lower pond inside the park and saw a new butterfly. I think it was a great spangled fritilary, but I am not sure. And since Natalie had the digital camera, I didn't have a chance to get a photo. I snapped a couple of photos with the Polaroid, but they just didn't turn out well at all...
Tuesday, August 28, 2001
I spent time outside today weeding in the garden and thinking that I should get fall crops of lettuce and beets and radish and chard planted while the timing is right. After looking like a weed patch most of the summer, our gardens are starting to shape up now. I finished weeding the lower garden along the parking strip in front of the house, where potatoes are resting under the soil and pumpkins and squash vine above the soil. And now I am putting down layers of newspaper with a few inches of compost on top to put the beds in the terrace to rest for the winter. We may throw a few more bulbs in that area before the fall passes, or we could wait until spring and start planting perennials. The upper terrace will hold lavender plants, but I am not going to put compost on that soil since lavender prefers poor, well-drained soil.Fall is a busy time in the yard and garden, and definitely my favorite. The lawn is turning green after being dormant in the absence of water over the last couple of months. Everything is springing back to life after the hot season (of course, hot is relative here in the Pacific Northwest). Meanwhile, birds are flocking and moving along on their migratory paths, and all around the squirrels scurry from one place to another, gathering seeds for the winter to come and all the while trying to avoid the car tires and prove themselves one of the lucky few to make it to another year.
Monday, August 27, 2001
Natalie and I returned to Puget Creek this afternoon, to see how the creek looks after last week's rains and take a mental inventory of the area as it slides from summer into fall. Other than some additional silt and some sticks and logs being moved around on the creek bed, there is little evidence of the small wall of muddy water that swept down the creek in the thunderstorm last week. The biggest impact of the rain is that things are even more green down there than they were a week ago...
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