A short trek through Big Horn country...

Waiting for Spring…

An old cottonwood along the banks of the Kettle River reaches up into the cold, early March sky. Not much thawing of the ice flows today. Snow lay deep along the trail. Listening close I could hear the whisperings of ice and water as the river enters the transition from the cold season to one slightly warmer. For a moment the thick clouds parted and rays of sunshine found a distant mountain. It soon passed. The message was clear – not today, not today…

Trekking around in big horn country again today. What a difference one day and a bit of warm sunshine make. Temperatures near 50* give a feel that this winter may be relinquishing it’s near four month grip on the Kettle River Valley.

Here are some images (remember to double click to see the photographs in larger format)…

Mary’s Dome, a prominent feature in the upper Kettle River valley, on the SW flank of Vulcan mountain.

As the ice recedes the lichen grows. Such is the way on these vertical south faces along the banks of the Kettle River. Later in the year temperatures will be so hot that the lichen will all but vanish, drying and shriveling to naught as there will be no moisture to be found during the hot.

Below the ice and lichens, on a very wet, south facing rock wall, the mosses grow thickly.  Look closely and you can see several trickles of water dripping through the dense, wet moss. The sound of small, cascading waters were prevalent along this cliff line.

The Oregon Grape are in full ‘red’ as winter’s grip leaves the steep and rocky south slopes of Little Vulcan Mountain.  The white snow, red leaves and speckled rock made for a strong composition of the natural elements.

Lichened rocks, red leaves, distant cliffs, towering Ponderosa Pines and a shear rock wall, what’s not to like on a sunny afternoon trekking about in the mountains? Given this was the warmest day of this winter, the ice falls that had frozen onto the vertical rock faces were melting and breaking loose, often tumbling 100+ feet from the rock above. Hundreds of pounds of ice crashing down and shattering thousands of small pieces on the rocks below. Made for an interesting hike.

Pinja pup on a boulder that several years ago came to an abrupt stop against this young tree (which still bears the scars).

An image of a cottonwood starkly silhouetted in the winter’s afternoon sunshine…

These three rocks, still frozen into the Kettle River remind me of a Japanese sumi drawing.  That simplicity of form, the stark contract of light and dark, the line of composition

Pinja on guard…

It was a strenuous day, hiking about in the mountains. Walking was a combination of post-holing thru snow, skiing on loose rocks, sliding on hard crusted ice and slipping in muck. But the warm sunshine made up for it all…

To close a fine afternoon we had this pileated woodpecker visit as we were walking back to the rig….


Thanks for checking in...

Golden Tiger Pathway

The last entry I managed to upload here was clear back in July. Gads! How is it that life buries us under such minutia of details we are always short of time? Speaking of which, here is a short story I'll share before I get to the topic I want to cover in this posting:

GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR:

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for ...hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.


He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.


A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.


As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!


MORAL :
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up

* * *

Golden Tiger Pathway

Near the small mountain town of Republic WA, deep in the Okanogan Highlands, on the foothills of the Kettle River Range there is a 27 mile long stretch of abandoned railroad grade running from the town north to the Canadian Border. The first three miles of that grade have been partially surfaced over and form what is known at the Golden Tiger Pathway, which is the portion I'll mention here. The rest of the grade is now a part of the Ferry County Rail-to-Trail system (see Ferry County Rail Trail, ).

The western gateway to the Sherman Pass Scenic Byway also marks one of the parking / entrances to the Golden Tiger Pathway near Republic, WA. Photography by J. Foster Fanning

The southwestern entrance to the Golden Tiger Pathway is near Republic, WA. has two small parking lots, one located across State Highway 20/21 from the high school football field. The other entrance is at the Sherman Pass Scenic Byway sign along side Hwy 20/21.


The Golden Tiger Pathway has both an improved and unimproved surface.
Photography J. Foster Fanning


The pathway is well separated and above the state highway and for the most part is usually uncrowded. Often I find myself the only person walking or cycling the trail.  





An interpretative sign along the Golden Tiger Pathway.
Photography J. Foster Fanning

 There are some interpretative signs along the trail and I think the plan includes more as funds come available.

Big Gib, a steep mountain face overlooking the town of Republic WA seen from the Golden Tiger Pathway.
Photography J. Foster Fanning

This is a late summer image of Big Gib, the mountain overlooking the town of Republic. The vistas of the pathway have distinct seasonal changes as the cycle of seasons occur. The pathway is groomed for cross country skiing during the winter months.

A bench overlooking one of the many vistas of the Golden Tiger Pathway.
Photography J. Foster Fanning

I'll close this posting with this image of an inviting bench overlooking one of the many vistas of the Golden Tiger Pathway. If your in the Republic area this is definitely a walking or cycling path worthy of a visit.


For more info regarding the Ferry County Rails-to-Trails
http://www.ferrycountyrailtrail.com/

Cooking with Beer...

Brauts and Brew have a long history extending over the grill, atop the stove and in the oven. What I’ve found important, through trial and error, is the relationship to temperature, moisture content, elevation, barometric pressure and latitude during the cooking process. Thus when our friends and proprietors of the Republic Brewing Company launched a Beer Cook-off with the judging based on “Recipes judged for: deliciousness, difficulty and strategic use of beer” I knew a definite advantage in the ‘strategic’ use of beer category.

Now ‘deliciousness’ is an altogether different element but confidence held with the use of Louisiana Hot-link Sausages bathed throughout a ten hour simmer in a frothy, rich brown beer from said taproom carried home in a four pint growler.

So in the end all that remained was the ‘difficulty’ portion of the prerequisites. Hmm, lets see my riverhome kitchen is at 1,850 elevation, 48*52’.59” Latitude, with the current barometric pressure of 29.78 and steady, with a ten hour preparation duration the cooking temperature had to be ~ well, you get the picture. Thus my recipe:

Beer Bath Louisiana Hot-Link Sausages

• One pack of Louisiana Hot-Link Sausages

• 1.5 pints of Republic Brewing Company’s Fit Brown Brew

• A dash of Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce

• One large crock-pot

• Ten hours of on-&-off cooking (mostly on)

Combine the contents into the crock pot early in the day. Periodically check the progress. During each inspection pour one quarter cup of Fit Brown Brew into a measuring up and drink slowly. If your measurements are done correctly the growler will be empty and the sausages cooked at the end of the ten hour period.

Catherine's Frothy Fit Brown Brewbread

3 cups organic all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoon organic granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt


Mix dry ingredients together and add your favorite spices and cheese.
A dainty shake of locally grown and dried Dill
2 Tablespoons of Feta


Add:
12 ounces of Frothy Fit Brown Brew from Republic Brewing Company’s take home growler.


Mix lightly batter will be thick. Add more beer for a thinner loaf.
Spread into a buttered 8 inch loaf pan.


Glaze: 1 brown home grown organic egg & 2 teaspoons Frothy Fit Brown Brew, well beaten
Cook at 375* for 45 minutes.

Bon Appétit...

2010 September Sail Cruise...

The 2010 September Cruise has been moved to:
http://fosterfanningaquila.blogspot.com/p/herman-melville-once-said-lifes-voyage.html
and is now a part of the new FOSTER'S SAILING BLOG. Please check it out...

The Thirty Mile Fire tour...

HISTORY:
On July 9, 2001, the fateful Thirtymile Fire ignited from an illegal campfire. What was thought to be a relatively simple suppression operation took a deadly turn during the peak burn period the next day. By the end of shift July 10th 2001 fourteen firefighters had been entrapped, four were dead and the fire was heading towards 9,000 acres in size and would cost over four million dollars to suppress.

Since that time hundreds of firefighters have traveled up the Chewuch River not only to pay their respects to fallen comrade but to learn from the lessons of that incident.

We started out at the Winthrop Memorial to Fallen Firefighters;

I was fortunate to once again be in the company of the Orcas Island firefighters. Adding to the learning experience were two local firefighters Pete Soderquist and Tom Leuschen who were to be our guides for the day. From here I'll let the phographic captions tell the story...

Winthrop Firefighters Memorial: http://www.methowartsalliance.org/pre/WildlandFIrefightersMemorial.htm
Orcas Island Fire and Rescue: http://www.orcasfire.org/
Fire Vision LLC: http://www.firevisionllc.com/staff.html

The Perch...

Dawn approaches on a cold and wet, early spring morning. New snow has fallen in the nearby mountains. I can see the hint of fresh whiteness in the parting of the valley mists. As daylight comes I perch looking out over the river, looking to the east, looking to the new light of day. A bald eagle is also perched in what we call the 'eagle snag'. An old cottonwood with a dead, heavy branch protruding over the flowing of cold morning, quicksilver water. As light enters the valley the eagle watches intensely for the shadow of trout just below the dark water surface.

My perch is more comfortable then my neighbor eagle's. The fireplace crackles just behind me, radiant warmth taking the chill of night out of Riverhome. Hot, strong, coffee aroma wafts up from the ceramic cup tucked close to my chest. There is movement at the river. I note a whitetail doe leading seven others across the shallows from my side of the stream to the other. The deer walk cautiously thru the water. Wavelets break against their belly’s and last years fawn breaks rank and runs for the shore. Shaking itself like a dog and bucking like a tiny filly when it reaches the gravel bar. The does do not seem to mind. They continue to plod through the water. It is a daily routine.

The eagle appears to pay the whitetails no attention. The great bird stands erect, and with it's back curved inward stretches it's wings. One big shudder and the eagle has tucked itself back into the slender, dark form against the growing light. Morning has broken...

Another look at Seattle - March, 2010...

I like Seattle. A seaport city situated on an hilly isthmus between Elliot Bay in Puget Sound and two bodies of freshwater, Lake Union, and Lake Washington. The largest city of the United States Pacific Northwest, named after Chief Seattle, of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes. I like Seattle sitting on the toes of the Cascade Mountains, the view of Mount Rainer on a clear day and especially watching the sunrise on or set behind the Olympic Mountain Range of the Olympic Peninsula. What a fantastic setting for the emerald city!

Here are a few rather unique views from a few days Catherine, Clementine and I recently ‘Emerald City’.

Image #1: Post Alley; most folks are familiar with Pike’s Place Market or the Public Market at the end of Pike Street. Post Alley is a somewhat hidden route under the market.

In the second image the girls are walking down the beginning of Post Alley just before it turns and goes under the market place. Cobbled roadway with moss growing between the brick cracks; posters of events, art shows, performances, political statements and other flotsam of human expression line the concrete wall.

Photograph number three; No visit to the Public Market is complete without a stroll past the fish hawkers and fresh vegetable stands. This early morning shot is possible as the daily crowds are not yet thick and bustling. I like the lighting and repetitive patterns within this image.

With image number 4 we’ll stay in the Public Market area just a bit longer. The nearby Market Park is where this totem pole is found. It’s a small park with a great view out over Elliot Bay and some of the ship yards.

Believe it or not, this clean and sparsely used (at least in March) beach, image 5, is downtown Seattle. The Seattle Art Museum sculpture park is just a hundred feet up from this driftwood, gravel beach.

Photo #6 is from a mid-day stroll through the waterfront park. The Seattle Post Intelligence building makes a distinctive subject with its cloud reflecting glass front and unusual symbol globe perched atop. I like the temporary orange construction fencing contrasting with the rest of the image. The whole image just struck me as pleasantly unique.

Image #7 is from a visit to the tropical butterfly house at the Seattle Science Center where I caught this ‘morpho peleides’ hanging off a leaf of this angels trumpet tree. With the temperatures are in the low 80s, humidity between 60 to 70 percent, combined with full-spectrum lighting to keep the plants and butterflies healthy, this is an enjoyable way to pass a rainy, late winter day.

In closing; photograph #8 is from our temporary abode above Alaskan Way across the street from the Seattle waterfront. Sunrise on the Olympic on a clear morning is a fine sight to behold.

Call of the Wild...

Curlew and the Kettle River Valley has been unseasonably warm this February. Upper 40’s today, the 17th of the month. Those of us who’ve been here for awhile have seen this time of year when the daylight hours barely reach zero degrees and the nights fall to near -20° below.

As fellow firefighter Rob Slagle told me today, he’s not sure if he really likes this mild weather. “What will fire season be like?” He asked. Good question.

How warm has it been? Here’s today’s weather and part of the forecast:
Current Temperature 43° (1733:hours). Conditions ‘fair’. Wind N 05 mph. Humidity: 46%
Forecast - Tonight Lo 29°. Thursday, sunny with  Hi 48° / Lo 29°. Friday, sunny with Hi 46° / Lo27°

Home from work I poured a glass of wine and sat comfortably on the river deck in a T-shirt and jeans. As the afternoon sun set the top of Drummer Mountain glowing, two bald eagles flew by, between them clucking an early mating song. But what caught my attention the most, here on this mid-February afternoon, was the ribitting (sp) of a frog. And it was this lone frog calling on a temperate winter afternoon which inspired this blog. The frog, like many of us, is an optimist in life.

The above image of the 'frog in ice' by Gary Nafis from this website: http://www.californiaherps.com/noncal/northwest/nwfrogs/pages/r.cascadae.html

The 1st image of this posting is from this afternoon looking eastward down the river valley to Drummer Mountain (NE of Curlew).

The above photograph of the Kettle River taken Monday evening 02.15.10 shows how little ice there is on the river. It is not unusual for the river to be frozen bank to bank this time of year.

And I'll close this post with a stock photo of mine of a bald eagle perched in a cottonwood watching the winter river flow by.

Take care, and enjoy the weather...

A 'lighter' shade of pale...

If I asked you what happened 20 years ago you might tell me;

Nelson Mandela was released from a South African jail.

The Sandinistas are defeated in Nicaraguan elections.

The Windows 3.0 operating system is released by Microsoft.

The pilot episode of Seinfeld premiers.

Re-unification of Germany. East Germany ceases to exist.

July 8th,1990 - At 12:34:56 the time and date by US reckoning was 12:34:56 7/8/9/0.

Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to lessen Cold War tensions and open up his nation.
And if you told me any one of those events happened 20 years ago you’d be correct. But this week marks the 20th anniversary of one very special photograph. A very dramatic photograph. Though, at first glance, it's mostly dark and seems to show nothing at all. See the NASA photo below...

From the NASA website referring to the “pale blue dot”…
A recent photo from the Cassini spacecraft shows the mighty planet Saturn, and if you look very closely between its wing-like rings, a faint pinprick of light. That tiny dot is Earth bustling with life as we know it. The image is the second ever taken of our world from deep space. The first, captured by the Voyager spacecraft in 1990, stunned many people, including the famous astronomer Carl Sagan who called our seemingly miniscule planet a "pale blue dot" and "the only home we've ever known." http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/starsgalaxies/dotf-20061101.html

All images & illustrations courtesy of NASA. Be sure to check out the Clint Black 'Galaxy Song' video below...
While not a scientist, I realize this plae blue dot we call Planet Earth is nothing short of fascinating. We know in the staggering vastness of our universe there very well may be another planet harboring life. Yet the sheer challenge of finding that ‘needle-in-a-hay-stack’ is an incredible task. On the other hand what science is showing us about our own planet is how absolutely unique it, and consequently, we are. Consider the ‘Pale Blue Dot’ image of our planet earth above. Now the words of the late astronomer Carl Sagan:

“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every 'superstar,' every 'supreme leader,' every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”
Lets start to draw this to a close with the lyrics to the GALAXY SONG (there's a video link of Clint Black doing this song embedded at the end of this post). And - Yes, the math is real...

Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown,
And things seem hard, or tough,
And people are stupid, obnoxious, or daft,
And you feel that you've had quite enough,

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour, it's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
Around a sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
Of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'.

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.
It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,
But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.

We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.
We go 'round every two hundred million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.

So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space, '
Cause there isn't any down here on Earth...

Here is a link to the NPR Pale Blue Dot story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123614938&ft=1&f=1001

The 'Wolf Moon' of January has just peaked...

Amongst many North American native tribes the January moon is said to be called the Wolf Moon as wolves pack & hunt in the bright winter light of a full moon reflecting off a landscape of white snow.


The below image of the "Wolf Moon" of this January 2010 is titled:
WINTER'S WOLF MOON IN THE PINES

Lets not forget the Wolf appears in human history beyond North American tribes: the wolf is with the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. Legend has it that the two brothers were raised and suckled by a she-wolf.

In Norse mythology, the Wolf is a symbol for victory when ridden by Odin and the Valkyries upon the battlefield.

As a Celtic symbol, the Wolf was a source of lunar power. Celtic lore states that the Wolf would hunt down the sun and devour it in the evening twilight allowing the power of the moon to come forth.

In Asia, the wolf guards the doors that allow entrance to heavenly, celestial realms. The Wolf is also said to be among the ancestry of Genghis Khan.

The Wolf is a complex creature communicating with touch, body movements, eye contact and complex vocal expressions – they are expressive both vocally and physically. Further, the Wolf possess a high intellect, and have been observed using strategies about hunting, habitat and migration.

Here is a poem I found on-line - the author was listed as 'Werewulf14'...

Howl to the moon
Run the windswept moor
Come dance with me under starlight
In this place of myth and lore

Run like the wild river
through the trees of pine
I am a child of the night
And this wilderness is mine

So come, grow claws of onyx
And flashing teeth of white
I roam the woods at dark
And sleep while it is light

Throw on your pelts of gray and dun
of black and snowy white
And run with me my friend
For all the moonstruck night

So howl with me to the moon
Run with me through the pine
I love the wood and moon and stars
And all I love is mine

Want more? Check out FULL MOON NAMES & THIER MEANINGS on the Farmers Almanac link below:
http://www.farmersalmanac.com/full-moon-names/

Or Wikipedia's WOLF MOON page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_moon

Above image of howling wolf found on-line, artist unknown.