Fauna of South Sister, Oregon

South Sister from the south

Here's my collection of fauna from my trip to the top of South Sister in Oregon. I didn't have a lot of time to take pictures of wildflowers and plants along the way as the hike was a long one and we had limited time.

Enjoy the pictures. The plants pictured below were very common along the trail. These plants are only a few of the vast amount of fauna around South Sister. 

Alpine Buckwheat
Eriogonum pyrolifolium
If you take the time to smell this plant's flowers you'll know why the common name is 'dirty socks'

Paintbrush
Castilleja
I'm not sure which species of Paintbrush this is. If you know please let me know.

Dwarf Mountain Lupine
Lupinus lyallii

Possibly....
Sulphur Buckwheat
Eriogonum umbellatum

Partridgefoot
Luetkea pectinata

Tolmie's Saxifrage
Saxifraga tolmiei

Davidson's Penstemon
Penstemon davidsonii

Not sure what type of grass this is but i found it above 9,000 ft

I'm guessing here...
Mountain Arnica
Arnica latifolia
If eaten this plant will cause a rise in body temperature.If applied on skin it is an antiseptic. Europeans and North Americans used Arnica in herbal remedies.

Can you find the frog?

Can you find the ground squirrel?

Common names, scientific names and all info for each plant was taken from "Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast" by Pojar and Mackinnon

Birds of Discovery Park Seattle, WA

It was a beautiful winter day in Seattle a couple weeks ago so i spend an afternoon at Discovery Park.
Seattle's biggest park it sits magically on the Puget Sound. I've spent many sunny days at discovery park as it offers biking, hiking, walking and running trails. It also provides Beach combing, tidal pools, birding viewing, a lighthouse, native plant life etc. My goal was to learn how to capture some time lapse videos but as you can see below i also captured some bird life!
If my I.D. any birds is wrong please let me know!!!


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Chestnut-Backed Chickadee
Poecile rufescens

Black-Chinned Hummingbird
Archilochus alexandri

Black-Chinned Hummingbird

Black-Chinned Hummingbird

California Sea LionZalophus californianus

Male Bufflehead
Bucephala albeola

Female Bufflehead

Female Bufflehead

Female Bufflehead

Male Bufflehead

Glaucous-Winged Gull
Larus glaucescens

Red-Necked Grebe

Red-Necked Grebe
Podiceps grisegena

Female Common Goldeneye

Male Common Goldeneye
Bucephala clangula

Climbing Young Charity (South Sister, Oregon)

Representing all of us crazy seahawk fans at 10,000 feet!!

South Sister is a behemoth of a mountain. It is the third tallest mountain in Oregon and also has the largest glacier in Oregon, the Prouty Glacier. It also claims the highest lake in Oregon, Teardrop pool, which is just below the summit. Presiding at 10,358 ft this massive cascade volcano is actually pretty tame when it comes to peak bagging. That's just what we imagined doing, peak bagging South Sister!!
Eastern Oregon is beautiful and vast with South Sister along with North and Middle Sister being a prominent feature. South Sister is the youngest of the three volcanoes. Early settlers name the three peaks from N to S Faith,Hope and Charity. Its a perfect mountain as it's non-technical, moderately strenuous and is high in elevation. Its mountaineering at its easiest, not that it's easy but just one of the easiest high mountains to summit while being superbly enjoyable!!
We weren't the only ones attracted to the mountain. It was a typical sunny summer day with droves of hikers and backpackers climbing the mountain.

Lake Moraine, near our campsite

We arrived early evening at the trail head and backpacked up to Lake Moraine. Most campsites at Lake Moraine have South Sister in full view thanks to the dry open volcanic forest lands of Eastern Oregon.Campsites were numerous but almost all taken. Make sure to pack your headlamp. Once darkness sets in grab your headlamp and head to the lake to experience a horde of salamanders in the shallow waters along the shoreline. I have never seen so many salamanders before, too many to count.
Night crept on. Soon enough we unzipped our warm air filled sleeping bags to tackle our goal. With headlamps wrapped around our  beanies we were suddenly lighting the trail into the wee hours before sunrise. Which is the best time to hike, predawn!! 

From the lake trail to the summit trail conditions go from easy to mild rock scrambling to loose scree. Your hiking boots are guaranteed to get dirty. Tighten those laces up as small pumice and lava rock will try to make their way into your boots.
With no rocks or plenty of rocks in your shoes either way the summit views are worth it. To the north Middle and North Sister were prominent with Mt Washington , Three Fingered Jack and Mt Jefferson in the far distance. To the south Broken Top and Mt Bachelor were prominent with Diamond Peak and Mt Thielsen in far view. The summit has a huge crater in the middle filled with snow. We walked across is to access the true summit. The crater is very wide and the snow makes it relatively flat. I now want to go back play a game of flag football or ultimate Frisbee 10,000 up on the compact snow!! 

Looking north at Middle and North Sister from the summit of South Sister

There's plenty of room on the summit for lunch. Make sure to relax for lunch then explore the whole crater area 
At the summit we weren't alone. There was a group of young families who were entering the Mazama Club. They made it to the top with their elementary kids!! Therefore if kids can conquer South Sister so can you!! You wont regret it!

Glimpses of South Sister

Summer blooms

Looking back to where we started, with Mt Bachelor on the left

The summit block and 

South Sister's summit crater

A Clammy Sunset: Discovery Park Seattle, WA

I recently visited Discovery Park in Seattle, Washington to catch some brilliant sunset scenery with my camera. Upon reaching my destination to snap some pictures I realized the tide was going out and what seemed like water being projected up from out of the recently uncovered shoreline. 
I investigated and to my amazement i realized that clams were the culprit for what seemed like water being spit from the ground.
Instead of taking pics i quickly tried my best to take a time lapse video of the sunset with the clams doing there thing!
Enjoy this amateur video!!

Links:
Some info on shellfish
Washington state shellfish
Discovery Park