The first day after arriving at the cabins and getting settled, we drove up to Gorge Creek Falls and its short trail, which was very mossy. Later I identified the fern-like moss as "Step Moss". There was a mossy rock star too.
We also checked out Ladder Creek Falls Garden in the hydroelectric company town of Newhalem. The "garden" was stranger than I expected. It was built long ago and has fallen into disrepair. Native plants have invaded the gardens, and the stonework and garden structures look semi-ruined and forsaken. The waterfalls themselves were stunning.
The next day we drove up to Washington Pass where there are many trails that sounded great. Most turned out to be snowed in still. We hiked up Cutthroat Creek, which was lovely and perfect under the looming mountains. After a while there were snow patches on the trail, and by the time we neared Cutthroat Lake, there was deep snow everywhere. We tried to find the lake using map, compass, and GPS, but eventually discovered that either a bridge was missing or hikers ford the creek. But in May, the creek was wide, deep, and fairly raging. The path went right down to it as if it went on beyond. But across the creek was nothing but very deep snow. So we didn't find the lake. Nor did we try to climb up to Cutthroat Pass, due to snow, although we were tempted.
Returning to the cabin, we stopped for a stroll along the short, boardwalked, Happy Creek Trail. It was the kind of place that in the summer would probably be full of people, but we had it completely to ourselves. A semi-boggy forest of giant cedars, with a very happy creek tumbling through.
I snapped some pictures through the car windows of Colonial Peak and its friends, as we drove down from the Diablo Lake viewpoints. This was one of the few times there were blue skies.
The trail along Thunder Creek sounds like one of the best in the whole area, but in October, 2003, a big storm and logjam took out the bridge that begins the trail. We stopped at the campground there and walked the mile or so to the ex-bridge. That one mile was stunningly beautiful. The bridge and logjam was impressive. That must have been some storm! I took a picture of a steel beam that had been bent. Its concrete anchor had been lifted out of the ground and broken up. The wooden parts of the bridge are totally gone. The supporting steel truss was half sunk in the creek. On the return I saw some false morel mushrooms, a clue!
One evening, back at the cabin, I took a walk down to the Skagit River and did some experiments with twilight, long-exposure camera settings. There was spooky mist rising off the water, and long exposures made the rippling water look misty too. Earlier visitors had built a couple river-rock towers.
The next day we hiked up Canyon Creek to Boulder Creek. On the way up we drove past Diablo again, the clouds and spots of sun playing interestingly on the mountains. Canyon Creek was another mossy wonderland. It was often too dim for photos, but I got some. There was a mile stretch where orange coral fungus grew all over. Further along we found many aminita mushrooms. I failed to get a good picture of the "fairyslipper" orchids.
Then we said goodbye to the cabin, took a picture, and headed east to the Methow Valley. Stretched our legs on the trail loop off the Lone Fir Campground, near Washington Pass. Saw more weird fungus.
After stopping at Winthrop and getting espresso (I hear there are more espresso places in Winthrop than there are permanent residents), and visiting the ranger info station, we drove up the Chewwuch River and made camp at the Falls Creek Campground, a short walk from Falls Creek Falls (there must be at least 20 "Falls Creek Falls" in Washington State). It was hard to take a good picture of the falls, but there were many pretty wildflowers in bloom.
In the late afternoon, we drove further up the Chewuch River into the area that had burned in the summer of 2003. There had been several fires, collectively called the "Fawn Creek Complex". The area we saw was probably part of the aptly named "Farewell Fire". We stopped at a couple spots near Andrews Creek and examined the roadside forest. We had heard that morel mushrooms often grow in burn sites and thought, who knows, maybe we'll find a morel. Instead of "a" morel, we found a motherlode. At one point, Tara found two next to each other and called me over to see. One the way over I saw two more. As we sat there and looked around, we saw morels all around! I took a bunch of pictures, but with the dim light and the way morels seem to grow in awkward places, many didn't come out. Of at least twenty or thirty we saw, I got pictures of eleven. I also took some pictures of the burned forest itself. We also saw brilliantly yellow birds that I think might be "tanagers". I never saw such brightly colored birds in the wild. Besides morels, there were other mushrooms, fungus, and other weird lifeforms, like "pixie cup lichen". Finally, I took a couple pictures of nearby Andrews Creek.
That night, I went out with flashlights for a brief night hike, and ended up hiking up the Falls Creek Trail for a mile to a road that brought me back to the camp, but via four or five extra miles, resulting in way more of a hike than I bargained for, and mostly on road. The moon lit up the landscape serenely, and I tried some more long exposure experiments.
The next day we considered various camping options, and ended up going through the towns of Twisp, Chelan, and Cashmere, before finding ourselves heading north along Chumstick Creek to Lake Wenatchee. A campsite that a few months ago had been hidden and empty was full of families and dirt bikes (it was Memorial Day weekend). So we headed up the excellently-named Chiwawa River, checking out various camping options. We found the perfect spot at Schaefer Creek Campground, and had a quiet evening along the river, watching the fire (and playing with more long exposures!), seeing deer and rabbits, and sleeping well.
It began to rain just as we went to sleep. We slept dry, but discovered in the morning that the tent and sleeping pads were soaked. As I type this, the tent is still hung up to dry.
Cow drove home. At Stevens Pass, we explored a little side road and saw lots of cascades.
