NICE HABIT: HEADING SOUTH!

Hooray for my 3 "girl"(we are young at heart)  cousins, and hooray for our being able to have our 4th annual Cousin Capers at one cousin's home in St. George, Utah!  Even if we can go 10 more years, we will never get enough of this stunning area.  Each year we have chosen different hikes and destinations.

This year, our first hike was in the "White Rocks"wilderness area in Snow Canyon.

Early on  the trail: 

Going ever upwards.  I loved making this photo of the dark, dead tree against the crinkled white rock, showing opposites of textures and colors: 

Higher yet:

Valiant blooms:

Lucky were we to catch this echinopsis, which blooms only at night, and very rarely:

To me, the dead and dried "blooms" have beauty too:

Red rocks adjoin the White Rocks in stunning duet, and again, I wanted to make a photo with a dead and brittle tree: 

We spent a day up at Pine Valley.  This area is desert also, but the panorama looks refreshing:

Another hike was in the Chuckwalla wilderness area.  This is a perfect example of the terrain, where any kind of a "trail" is hard to find:

We spent our long day scrambling over areas like this:

And we were rewarded with exceptionally varied scenes, close at hand: (next 4 pics)

Lucky me!  I could take my morning walk  from my cousin's front door right in Snow Canyon.  

My walks were in the cool of each morning, and the rising sun made highlights and shadows of different views:

It rained one day, but was not a negative, as I still got photos in the morning:

FAITH AND BEGORRAH!

Is there a place so green as the Pacific Northwest?

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, this blog will

wear the greenest of nature's green.

I made these photos on the lower part

of the Twin Falls Hike, and

I do not enhance my photos to saturate color.

One could almost hear this soggy clump breathing!

 The bark on this tree has been stripped to the cambium layer,

showing why it is called "Red Cedar":

Red Cedar's bark stil intact:

The trailside was full of mini waterfalls that are not usually there, as if it were a sponge being squeezed:

Nothing greener, really!

THE LAND OF MANY WATERS

I am posting this the middle of March, and we have already received

twelve inches of rain just this month! Normal waterways are rushing and gushing, 

and homes with sloping yards are now on "lakefront property"!

Snoqualmie Falls: can it get any more impressive?

Along the Snoqualmie River, I came across this old tree where

it is obvious the Sapsucker was OCD!

Greenery on a trail looks like leaves on a deciduous tree, but it is actually

what is called "tree ivy", which is a parasite growth: 

Part of the trail was in shade, and I liked the effect of ferns backlit by 

sun on shaded trees:

I scoped this out as a great place to take the youngest granddaughters this summer when

we seek shade and cool-ness.  Here is a sandy

little beach. 

HALLELUJAH CHORUS

Crocus are among the first bulb flowers to burst with color,

sun or no sun, announcing spring.

You just can't hold them back!

I love these little stalwarts with their brush-stroke petals:

In the shade of an old-growth fir, and trying to partner with

the crocus, was this single anemone.  I'd say it's doing pretty well on its own:

All together now! the Crocus Chorus: 

"WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES"

Just this past week-end our area had an ice storm

Everything was encased in ice, and though treacherous, it was lovely.

Here is our yard's dogwood tree, ice covering the buds:

The next day the rains came.

Torrential and unrelenting.

I heard that The Falls had suddenly become enormous from snow-and-ice-melt run-off.  

Where only recently they were tight with ice, now there were 270-feet of crashing, pounding power:

A more delicate set of catkins were also water-logged and elongated in their sogginess:

Even though I could not see The Falls from where I made this picture, the ground under my feet was shaking from the power of the swollen, tumbling water, and I would not have been able to hear anyone's voice next to me, because of the roar.

What a difference compared to the photos I made and posted "on the brink" a couple of posts previous:

This photo shows the river mist rising nearly up to the brink of the Falls and shows a peek of the river on the right:

And river mist snagged by evergreens.  An old RR trestle is in the distance.  I love all the varieties of green:

QUALIFYING AT THE NISQUALLY

Driving home from visiting friends in south-central Washington, the weather was ideal, being our first sunny and somewhat warm day this year.  I had to stop at the Nisqually Delta where there is a wildlife refuge.  

This is how great the weather was: 

I walked for  more than a couple of hours with my camera:

Looking way up, I spotted nature's own "Dream Catcher":

What luck!!  These little guys, looking like 3 baby monkeys in a row are actually triplet

owlets!  Last year at this same time there were two baby owls.   I hadn't realized the perfect timing of my stop yesterday. I was so excited, I made this photo before even setting up my tripod, in case it would be the only opportunity I got.  I was wishing they would turn around, and then I realized that they were facing the sun, feeling the joy of it for maybe the first time in their lives:

They were surprisingly  active.  Rather, I was surprisingly patient to stay there long enough to watch them move about a few times:

They stretched and fluffed and fluttered their wings, practicing to fledge, already an impressive spread:

This little guy on the left looks about to topple backward:

Their breast feathers looked so very soft, especially tousled by the wind: