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kitya
Fortune Cookie
Joined: 15 Mar 2010
Posts: 842 | TRs | Pics
Location: Duvall, WA |
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kitya
Fortune Cookie
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 Sun Sep 22, 2019 7:07 pm |
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Almost exactly a year ago I hiked to the main summit of Crater Mountain (https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8028467)and enjoyed the view so much, I decided to do a rare second visit, but this time to the Jerry Lakes area below the Lookout #2 site.
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/4083984088
Larches are not yellow yet and there is very little left out of Jerry Glacier, but the lakes are pretty. Met one evil hunter going up and two campers heading down. Jerry lakes seems to be super popular camping destination, but I'm not sure why - it is not that far and nicer to do in a day. I really don't like camping anyway.
Best highlight of the trip was finding my first matsutake mushroom. Matsutake is the most prized mushroom in Japanese cuisine and when I used to live in Japan, I remember sometimes seeing it in the grocery store, but I never actually tried it, because I couldn't afford the mushroom. It was not unusual to see one or two mushrooms being sold for 30000 yen and up.
Well, here in the forest they grow for free 
I made matsutake gohan (minimalist kamameshi) and I am not dead yet
The smell of the matsutake is amazing, it very distinctively smells like japanese food and nothing else. When mushroom is fresh right of the ground it is most flavorful.
We also met a habituated raven who was asking for food.
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olderthanIusedtobe
Member
Joined: 05 Sep 2011
Posts: 7727 | TRs | Pics
Location: Shoreline |
 Beautiful pics. I love your raven friend. Handsome birdy.
Is there a story behind that pendant? I've noticed you include a photo of it in many of your TRs.
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kitya
Fortune Cookie
Joined: 15 Mar 2010
Posts: 842 | TRs | Pics
Location: Duvall, WA |
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kitya
Fortune Cookie
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Sun Sep 22, 2019 7:34 pm |
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| olderthanIusedtobe wrote: | | Beautiful pics. I love your raven friend. Handsome birdy.
Is there a story behind that pendant? I've noticed you include a photo of it in many of your TRs. |
Thanks! Raven was amazing, but I'm concerned he or she is clearly habituated. But I know ravens are very smart, so hopefully despite habituation he or she will figure out a way to keep out of trouble.
The pendant is for the memory of my mouse friend, who I rescued before, but sadly he passed of old age this spring. Because he was a mouse and nocturnal animal, he never had a chance to go hiking with me, but the pendant contains his actual footprints and I now bring him this way in my memory to the mountains. Sad.
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olderthanIusedtobe
Member
Joined: 05 Sep 2011
Posts: 7727 | TRs | Pics
Location: Shoreline |
I encountered a habituated raven by the side of the road at one of the Ross Lake overlooks a few years ago. Most of the time they tend to be wary of people and don't get particularly close (at least around here; my roommate is in Dutch Harbor, AK often and apparently the ravens are not so shy there).
Interesting story about your mouse friend.
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kitya
Fortune Cookie
Joined: 15 Mar 2010
Posts: 842 | TRs | Pics
Location: Duvall, WA |
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kitya
Fortune Cookie
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Sun Sep 22, 2019 7:47 pm |
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| olderthanIusedtobe wrote: | | I encountered a habituated raven by the side of the road at one of the Ross Lake overlooks a few years ago. Most of the time they tend to be wary of people and don't get particularly close (at least around here; my roommate is in Dutch Harbor, AK often and apparently the ravens are not so shy there). |
Maybe it is even the same raven we met than! Because Crater Mountain is very near to Ross lake too. Raven was not scared, but a little bit wary. The photos are taken with 400mm lens on a crop sensor. But even so, I doubt being addicted to human food is good for the raven.
Lucky for your roommate. Here I don't even see ravens often at all. But we do have many crows, I read usually crows and ravens don't mix in the same area.
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Brushbuffalo
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Joined: 17 Sep 2015
Posts: 1887 | TRs | Pics
Location: there earlier, here now, somewhere later... Bellingham in between |
Fantastic area you visited!
How did Cookie-dog handle the crossing of Canyon Creek with the bridge essentially gone? Is the creek wadable now?
| kitya wrote: | | usually crows and ravens don't mix in the same area. |
At my home we have no crows, because the ravens chase/scare the crows away.
"Evil hunter? "
Really, I don't wish to start that all over again. However, have you considered that someone may not approve of fungi gathering by others?
If each practice is legal and in season, then tolerance, if not necessarily acceptance, approval, or celebration, seems to me to be reasonable.
I know, people have different views of moral vs immoral.  
Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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olderthanIusedtobe
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Joined: 05 Sep 2011
Posts: 7727 | TRs | Pics
Location: Shoreline |
| kitya wrote: | | Maybe it is even the same raven we met than! Because Crater Mountain is very near to Ross lake too. |
Could be. This one was sitting on a guard rail, there were 3 or so groups of people taking pictures and what not, the raven was just hanging out. 10 or 15 ft. away. I thought that was unusual. Soon enough someone tossed a bit of food in its direction, it hopped down immediately and scooped it up. Not its first rodeo.
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olderthanIusedtobe
Member
Joined: 05 Sep 2011
Posts: 7727 | TRs | Pics
Location: Shoreline |
| kitya wrote: | | Lucky for your roommate. Here I don't even see ravens often at all. |
A bunch of eagles up there too. You can practically hand feed them. They hang out by the fishing docks, they get a bunch of scraps.
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kitya
Fortune Cookie
Joined: 15 Mar 2010
Posts: 842 | TRs | Pics
Location: Duvall, WA |
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kitya
Fortune Cookie
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Sun Sep 22, 2019 9:58 pm |
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| Brushbuffalo wrote: | | How did Cookie- dog handle the crossing of Canyon Creek with the bridge essentially gone? Is the creek wadable now? |
We walked on the logs. There are two trees that snapped the bridge and these trees make for actual easy walking. They seem stable and not slippery. I forgot to mention them, because they caused no problem, even though reading the forest service sign at the trailhead I was worried canyon creek is impassible (forest service recommends taking east bank trail instead).
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Brushbuffalo
Member
Joined: 17 Sep 2015
Posts: 1887 | TRs | Pics
Location: there earlier, here now, somewhere later... Bellingham in between |
| kitya wrote: | | the forest service sign at the trailhead I was worried canyon creek is impassible |
The FS online Info says the same. Several people have posted pictures of the destroyed bridge here on NWHikers, and although it certainly looks usable, in this litiginous day I understand the "official" recommendation. Not yet unapproachable with concertina wire or a fence ..I hope it never comes to that.
I crossed the brand new bridge and spiffy stairs in June 2018 and although it looked like it would last a generation, few wooden bridges seem to last more than a few years in the Cascades. Usually a flood, debris torrent, or avalanche takes them out long before rot....then there are those giant trees that fall in just the 'wrong' place! 
Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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NoNameCreek
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Joined: 18 Apr 2023
Posts: 3 | TRs | Pics
Location: Anacortes, Washington |
I've read this trip report before, but was interested in this area, so I read it and others again. Love your photos. You mention that you like to day trip this area and it's not too far. Jerry Lakes and back in a day is a feat and a long way in fairly rugged terrain. I've got all the way in with a 25 lb. pack and I was beat. Couldn't imagine going back out, even with no weight.
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