Gairloch forest and farm stroll

Our day in the Gairloch area took us along a lovely pathway past a manor house...

...and a horse farm--there was a riding class in session.

Both homes shared in the abundance of wildflowers to be seen in the neighborhood.

We got beyond the inhabited area and Shaun pointed out the lone cottonwood (I think it was cottonwood) tree.

That one there on the hill. Once there was a forest.

As I mentioned, we were on our way to a waterfall. There it is.

Name? Waterfalls here don't have names.

We actually did take shelter --all of us--under this uprooted tree's extensive root system when a sudden shower came along. It was the only serious rain of the day.

It was there also that I changed memory cards in my camera, so the rest of the hike are in another folder. Up to this point I had taken 654 pictures. I have two more cards which will take us through the rest of Gairloch, the rest of the Highlands, our trip back to Edinburgh, down through Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, to Wales and finally London. The trip isn't over yet.

ABC Wednesday---Z

Coming to the end of another alphabet--Z is always a little more difficult than some of the other letters. I must thank Dina from Jerusalem Daily Photo, whose Zones of Silence post suggested the idea of some other zones to me, the ecological zones of Mt. Rainier National Park.

We start at the lower elevations, with the Forest Zone, where abundant rainfall and melting snowpack from above provide for a lush dense growth of a wide variety of green plants.


Hiking through the old growth forest on a warm day is a cooling experience. Ferns, fungus, mosses, lichens, and a variety of cool weather wildflowers carpet the ground. Nurse logs provide a new base for new saplings.

Critters in the forest include some you might be squeamish about.

So, now lets go up to a higher elevation--the Sub-Alpine Zone. Once the snow melts, the lush meadows are home to a rainbow of wildflowers, starting with these Avalanche Lilies and their companion yellow Glacier Lilies, the first to pop through the snow.

Further up the slope we reach the Alpine Zone--conditions so severe that the few trees are only a few feet tall after a hundred year's growth. The soil is thin and rocky.

The area is similar to Arctic tundra. Growing season is so very short...

So, as you see, are the plants. The variety of lupine that grows in this area has leaves that measure--yes, those are centimeter marks, not inches, on the walking stick. Lupine leaves in the sub-Alpine zone measure three to four inches across.

In the rocky reaches of the Alpine Zone, we saw dozens of pika the other day.


So thank you again, Dina, for suggesting that Z is for Zones. Thank you to Denise for another successful round of ABC Wednesday. Thank you to the team for keeping us going. You will find the other ABC-Z entries listed here.

ABC Wednesday--Y

I used Yarrow in Round Two--my first round of ABC Wednesday--but I have a nice yard full of YARROW right now. Our lawn in front masquerades as a meadow. Most of the more colorful meadow flowers in the meadow/lawn/yard have faded. Some of them were yellow.

Oops! I see a couple of nasty weeds that I had better deal with.

Each individual flowerlet is perfect in itself.

~

We also have a YELLOW rose in bloom--well mostly yellow. On another bush the buds are yellow but are pink when they open out. Interesting.

Almost the end of ABC Round 6. What will Round Seven bring?

My World--return to the wild horses

As I said here, someday I would return to the Wild Horses Monument off I-90 near Vantage, Washington, with my hiking boots and ready to go.  Preparations included tucking my jeans inside my socks because:                          

 I also said windbreaker, but with the temp up near 80º, that was replaced on the supply list with water, sunscreen, and a wide brimmed hat.

That's a long way up--and up is the word. It really isn't that great a distance, but it is up. A glimpse of some others who took up the challenge gives some perspective.

The Washington desert (yes, a desert--it's not all evergreen forest) was in bloom.

As we were reaching the summit of the trail, we got our first close peek at the wild horse sculptures along the top.

And then:

A view of the horses?

Or a view from the horses?

It was awfully hard to pick my favorite.

For a sense of proportion, hubby took a picture of me next to one of the horses. Can you see why the camera is usually in my hands?

But, at least,  unlike my dear departed sister, he did not cut off my head.

Any rattlers? No. We were definitely alert because it is snake country, and we didn't see any. But on the way down, hubby called my attention to a lizard by the side of the trail. By the time I got there, the camera shy guy was not cooperating. All there was for the lens was the tail. do you see it?

(Does the ostrich come to mind?)

I have more pictures from the Sculpture installation, which is formally called "Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies" which will appear in coming weeks on my 365 photo blog.

And that was my world this week.

I am adding a link here to the story of "Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies."

ABC Wednesday--T is for

T is for Tiny        Here is a collection of some of the tiny things we saw while hiking this weekend, beginning with the tiny sprouts of the fiddlehead ferns. they looked like copper wires sticking out of the mulch of the forest floor.

And the calypso orchid which stands only about three inches high.

This tiny mushroom was only about two inches, but then we found these unusual fungus, which we were assured are edible. They reminded us a bit of gummy bears. they are less than an inch.

 

None of them matched the tiny mushrooms we saw in the fall a couple of years ago.

Which were eclipsed by some even tinier.

ABC Wednesday coming down to the end of the Sixth Round.

See what else inspires the letter T at the site.

Sunday's Psalm--Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!

When I behold your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon

and the stars

which you set in place —

What is man that you should be mindful of him,

or the son of man that you should care for him?

O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!

You have made him little less than the angels,


and crowned him with glory and honor.


You have given him rule over the works of your hands,

putting all things under his feet:

O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!

All sheep and oxen,

 

yes, and the beasts of the field,

The birds of the air, the fishes of the sea,

and whatever swims the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth.

<~>

from Psalm 8

<~>

Photos:

sky over Eastern Oregon

crescent moon

clouds and fog in Gastineau Straits

Alpine Aster

underfoot at Kalaloch Beach

ewe, muskox, deer, pelicans, whale