July 30, 2011: On a birthday trip to Oregon, I picked a hike at relative random due to its location and length. I neglected to consider elevation.
It's the Cascade Head Trail, a Nature Conservancy Trail in OR. It started relatively innocently, although for me, the mere suggestion of an incline is enough to wind me.
There were a lot of old and drying cow parsnip (Heracleum lanatum) around, with their giant, almost comic umbrels. Which I did not get a proper picture of as I was focused on how pretty they look in close-up.
I'm not even trying to learn mushrooms right now so don't ask. I will say they all sort of look like the SS Enterprise drawn by that Botero guy.
Lots of foxglove about. (Digitalis purpurea)
Mah jongg tile interiors
Pretty sure those bowling ball-looking things are false lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum dilatatum) berries. Apparently edible, but per Pojar, "they were seldom highly regarded by food" by the native folks who (apparently grudgingly) ate them.
I thought this slug was the victim of some kind of slug abuse but it turns out that hole is supposed to be there. Per wikipedia: "The pneumostome (or breathing pore) is a feature (the respiratory opening) of the external body anatomy of an air-breathing land slug." This dude's was wide open so maybe he, too, was struggling up an incline while out of shape.
Not sure what this little fellow is but they were everywhere. (Later determined, I believe, to be hedge nettle.)
So after a walk in the forest (which was still challenging to me, my knees and my lungs), things got more real. Again, I know for people who climb stuff all the time, this is probably nothing, but I am not you.
Fortunately the promise of a spectacular view helped, as you exit the forest into a meadow with this hint of what was to come.
And it just got better...seriously, we have to deal with some stuff here in the Pacific Northwest - the general prickly fuss-budgetry of the populace; the earnest virtuousness that creates a cloud of intolerance for the messiness of life; the chilly politeness that takes a newcomer a while to realize is NOT the same as friendliness; and the grayness, of course, that goddamn grayness - but then you have days like this in a place like this and remember "Oh, right, I live in magical heaven of prettiness."
But I was only at the lower viewpoint, and I really wanted to see what was up there, 700 feet above at the upper viewpoint. So I trudged...
...occasionally collapsing on the corner of a switchback. Fortunately, with my camera, I could pretend I was just lying down to better shoot this here wild cucumber aka manroot or bigroot (Marah oreganus). Not edible, but can be dried out to make a loofah OR used as a decoction for veneral disease. Either way it will get you clean. Rimshot!
So after all the trudging and collapsing, I made it to the top, where, I have to say, the view was NOT actually much better, but it came with pride so that's something.
High enough up to be in the clouds. I tried to make a GIF of my photos to show how fast the clouds were moving, but it didn't quite work. Next time.
This Nature Conservancy area is a habitat for an endangered butterfly called the Oregon silverspot, and when I chased this guy down to take a picture, I thought maybe this was the one. It turns out it's a West Coast Lady (Vanessa annabella).
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Red-Cross Shield Bug (Elasmostethus cruciatus)
Ok I do know this one mushroom. Turkey tail (Trametes versicolor)
Thimbleberries on the way out.