[Larry]

I'm getting really antsy to get out, and Saturday is my window for a day of trekking and photography...looks like the weather will be cloudy but not super-rainy over in eastern Washington...perfect for macro type photos. I know it's early, but wondering if anyone has any beta on the Thorp area (Hayward Hill, Yakima Valley, Horse Canyon) for super-early blooms that might have cropped up? Maybe Taneum Creek or possibly Umtanum? My old Yashica medium format camera started jumping and rattling on the shelf last night, and wants to snap off some old standard flower closeups. So...I have an excuse to wander the arid steppes over the Pass. It's not my fault, it's the damn camera starting to act up and getting snippy on the shelf. I would appreciate any suggestions for finding at least one bloom somewhere in the east, not too much farther east than Ellensburg. Can anyone help me out? Am I dreaming? Should I just be cleaning house rather than trying to find flowers?

[Dave Weyrick]

Larry, Enter Alan Bauer's name in the search blank of the WTA trip reports section and check the author box. If your search results are like mine, you'll have 134 of Alan's reports over the last several years to peruse to get ideas about places to take your camera for a walk. Don't forget the leash.

[Larry]

Thanks a million, man! I'll do just that.

[Karen]

According to Alan Bauer, Yellow Bells have been sighted (cited??) on the East side. Karen

[Alan Bauer]

Yup, sagebrush buttercups, yellow bells, and 2-3 species of lomatium are blooming along the Columbia River from Hanford Reach and down south of Pasco in all units of the McNary NWR. Nice flowers east of Pasco along the Snake River as well. TONS of flowers coming up down those ways now too--should be great next month!!

[Larry]

Thank you, Karen! I might get lucky, and see a few various "just starting" wildflowers. Last year I went to the Hayward Hill road on April 3rd...and the flowers were kicking in nicely. We aren't all that far from that date right now...and it's a milder winter. If you've never been to that Hayward Hill...it's a real "sleeper". Sort of a transition between sage country and upland boreal forest...with little patches of pure subalpine meadow type ecoderms, situated among the spring streams running off of snow patches. It's fascinating, and you can look down the valley and see the transition line in the way the vegetation changes over, almost in a visible line. There's an overlap of arid flower types with subalpine flower types...for instance the Dodecatheons overlap with the Arrowroots...even the Trilliums will be seen overlapping with Glacier Lilies...how's that for neat! The best way to visit is to just roll along at about 1.5 mph in your car until you see a likely little "alpine meadow"...then get out of the car and just stroll a little either to the righthand uphill side or the lefthand downhill side...then go further in the car and repeat...

[Larry]

Alan: HERE WE GO!! It's starting! It is awfully early, but looks like I'll at least see SOMETHING in the way of flowers. Not that you HAVE to have flowers to enjoy a hike. But, I need an excuse to lug that damn medium format camera a tripod...even if it's only 300 yards from the car! Haha! What a Hardcore guy I am! I can think of nothing better to do on a rainy west side Saturday though, than to stroll the arid outback! Even if it rains, it won't be a deluge over there...

[Larry]

Here's the larger photo you asked about: http://biglines.com/photo/pbpic8594.jpg Rain Forest - April 2002

[MCaver]

I vote Alan as the Official NWHikers Plant & Animal Database [TM]

[Larry]

[MCaver]

Thanks! I'm glad you like it. Its the photo I'm the most proud of so far. I don't have a large version of it on hand (the original is buried in the massive amount of photos on my hard drive) but I do have the "preview" below that's bigger than my avatar. It's Nickel Creek at Mt Rainier, taken in Fall 2000.

[Karen]

Larry, I am really enjoy your photographs. Is that what you do for a living?? Karen

[pappy-]

[Larry]

Well, Karen and pappy...thank you so much! What a nice feeling to get compliments! Heck...I don't mind admitting it makes me feel good. No, I don't make a living with photographs! We are talking about a huge competitive field out there! I just enjoy taking them. I retired from the State of Washington in 1998, and now I am a consultant for Boeing, working in Bellevue eastside campus, but I maintain a home on the Kitsap Peninsula. I stay up here during the week to avoid the commute. I love the work. If I didn't love it, then I would just quit. So, I'm in a good situation at this point in my life. I used to hurry and hustle and sweat, and climb some moderately extreme mountains, and try for high mileage on trails....in my younger years of course (not that I'm all that old at age 54)...and that was great fun...but, like a lot of young sprouts, I didn't realize that I might be missing some things by being so "destination" oriented. Probably a mix of ambition, testosterone, and trying to form a sense of self-confidence. Well, now, of course, I am pretty much okay with myself, the testosterone has become more of a tolerable condition than a "quest" (haha), and I seem to have sort of realized that the journey is the key...the beauty around us, the "slowing down". Every once in a while, though, I go half-nuts and climb on a more difficult peak. Nothing wrong with that either. I now tend to lean more towards hiking, with my first love the mountain meadows and lakes and waterfalls and mostly the off-trail rambling that is so wonderful in the Olympic Mountains. I have found that setting up mileages from a mere 2 miles per day, up to maybe 5~7 miles per day, depending on terrain, is so rewarding...allowing me to drop my pack every few hundred yards if I so wish...and walking quietly and delicately into the little meadows and glades and tree groves and creeks to look around. I really enjoy solo traveling...I know there are some inherent risks, but I really watch where I put my feet, and don't do anything that is going to be extreme. Some people have said, "What if you had a heart attack or something?". Well...it wouldn't matter if I had a heart attack even if I was with 100 people...there would still not be much they could do. I've been doing plenty of solo hiking since I was 12 years old, so I don't know what to say, except that I'm careful. I love to go out with others too, but usually just a party of one other person or two at the most...I like to travel with the quiet people the most. My grandfather was my hero and mentor...he basically raised me from my pre-teen years and took me to many places in the Olympics, mostly off-trail, over a 32 year span of time. I've traveled a fair amount in the Cascades, and they are so wonderful. I do see the proliferation of bootpaths and trampling though, simply because there are so many people using the area (can't blame them at all, can we? Wow, what beauty!). The Olympics, so far, are relatively untouched in the off-trail areas. Even the main trails are far less crowded. So...that's my bag. Okay, I've rambled on this one. But..that's okay. I truly like this forum. The people are pretty polite, and pretty smart, and all seem to have a commonality of being easy on the land.

[Larry]