Wednesday 4th September 2019
We managed to get a bit of good hiking on the back side of Mount Rainier National Park and were happy it was not crowded. A prior day trip to the main flower area on the other side of the park had been a dead loss. The flowers were mostly done and the trail was packed.
Mount Rainier still had quite a bit of snow.
Ahh! back to flowery goodness.
That’s more like it. The lupines were covering the hillsides and had such a delicate scent.
Another day we hiked in the Goat Rocks Wilderness. We never saw any goats but the flowers were prolific. That’s Mount Adams in the background.
As usual Dean found a comfy spot for his nap after the huge hike up the mountainside.
I love the Pasqueflower when it’s gone to seed.
We had just passed a fairly green area and thought the flowers were done but this lovely display was on the other side of the mountain.
The water was so pretty in this caldera.
My last view of the flower hillside. Such a great day.
Our campground had an abundance of blackberry bushes. They were delicious on our cereal and…
a few pounds made it into my jam jars.
Mount St. Helens is always a fun place to hike. Many parts are finally greening up after the massive volcano erupted and flattened the whole area in 1980.
The area around Spirit Lake still looks barren.
There was plenty of water flowing down the mountain from melting glaciers but the high pumice and ash content of the soil made it hard for any vegetation to get a foothold in this area.
Thank you Washington. We had a great time hiking in your lovely mountains. On to Oregon.
THE BUS STOPS HERE 
Looks like another great stop! I would be happy to take a couple of jars of the blackberry jam off your hands if you have trouble finding a place to “pack” it in the motorhome!
That jam is pretty tasty. Pop out west and I’ll give you a couple of jars.
Hi Rose snd Dean, Wish we could have seen you! Actually, we have been chasing our tails as we sold our house quite quickly. 4 days! Kevin in Vista California with his father. His mother passed in January. We returned from Hawaii enroute to Oz to be with her and help her pass. We camped in Escondido for over s month.
We are going to fly to Ohio for a memorial for a dear friend late this month so all needs to be done and dusted by then as we return to only 4 or 5 days until our on October 7.
Selling a lot but not all. 10 by 30’ space in Port Orchard. Keeping 92 Saab in it as well. Rest for few PCs furniture and boxes. Maybe we dump it all at some point? We do hope to meet up with you in the road somewhere sometime. Australia beckons as does Molokai, Hawaii. We shall see.
What are your thoughts on all these shootings? Seems Canada and Australia much better. I have Aussie citizenship…Kevin applying for Australian partner visa!
Write soon! Hope you receive this reply.
Janell and Kevin
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Sounds like you have been having a crazy busy summer. We are heading to Palm Springs area for winter. For sure we will meet up again. Not much to say about the needless violence. My motto is keep calm and carry on.
Thank you again for sharing in your adventurous hikes the views are majestic. I hope your adventures bring you south this year. It’s been a few days since you have graced us with your presence. Your rig should still fit nicely in our drive. We can crank up the music and enjoy each other’s company for a few days. See you soon M&M
Hey guys
We are in Oregon now and heading down to southern California for the winter. Gotta stay away from that eastern winter. Come see us.
Your mountain hikes are very aspiring, but age is catching up. Going south, but any plan in coming years to come this way? I remember your homemade wine in SOMERSET. Now blackberry jam. It’s mouth watering.
I sure used to pick a lot of blackberries. I must say I really enjoyed making the blackberry wine. When we lived in southern Oregon I used to pick enough blackberries to make at least 20 gallons of wine a year.
Not sure when we might be back in the south east but it sure would be lovely to see you both sometime.
Hope you were not affected by the hurricane. Stay safe.
Beautiful pics. The flowers are gorgeous. Very surprised to see lupines in bloom. Ours were finished 2 months ago??
We hiked to a new spot here at Minaki a couple of weeks ago. We saw some new plants we had never seen before. Apparantly they are some sort of flycatcher. They store water in little “vases” at the base of the plant, which is scented to attract insects. The insects drown in the water and are absorbed by the plant. I only got pics of the flowers. We will go back later so I can get pics of the vases that store water. Added a couple of pics of our flowers as well….. [Image]
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Not sure if we told you already, but we are off to Bali, Australia, and New Zealand for the winter. Leaving at the end of Oct, and back in mid-April. Getting excited!
Cheers.
Tom & Jan
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The flowers were only blooming at the higher elevations of 6000-8000 feet.
We are envious of your upcoming trip. It sounds fabulous. Sure want to have a heads up the whole thing. It might be something we could copy.
Oregon has a State Natural site dedicated to the Darlingtonia plant. The boys always loved visiting that place to watch the bugs flying into the traps. I pasted the description below. Your pics did not transfer so you might have to send via email.
What visitors see in this little garden of multi-colored horrors (for insects), is a plant with yellowish green hooded leaves that form erect, 10 to 20-inch-high hollow tubes. On top, the leaves are often purplish to reddish mottled with transparent areas. A hidden opening into the stalk is bordered by a large, green, mustache-shaped appendage beneath the curved hood of the leaf. Nectar inside the plant’s hidden opening attracts the insects. Once inside, an insect becomes confused by the transparent areas that appear like exits. It’s all “downhill” for the insect from that point as it eventually drops into the lower part of the tube, is trapped by downward-pointed hairs and falls into a pool of water at the bottom of the stalk. Bacteria in the water decompose it into nitrogen that is then absorbed by the plant.
We found out the plants are called purple pitcher plants. They are carnivors, one of about 30 carnivorous plants in Canada. The pitcher part of the name is for the “vases” that store water (to drown the insects they “eat”). Kind of cool.
Tom & Jan
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Don’t you just love nature. I really enjoy taking close up pics of flowers. So many have intricate insides that look neat when I can see them on the big screen.