North of the Lemon Tree

Peonies in the front garden. Eagles stalk the fishermen and take the carcasses. Things are getting crazy at our bird feeder. The neighborhood bear tried to break into my car. Salmonberry jelly and Salmonberry seed paste. Alex and Zach heading out to meet a friend. This eagle let me get right to the base of the snag. Chum salmon returning via the fish ladder.

Suicide Basin, created by a glacial dam, released, causing Mendenhall Lake and Mendenhall River to flood. Phil, Mady and I returned to the lake to inspect the flooding. The area in the forefront of the picture is usually swampy, but not like this.  The beach by Nugget Falls is underwater. There were many little icebergs in the lake. This bear was sleeping beside the trail. She was in an area surrounded by the boardwalk and on the high ground from the flooding. The water created this island.

Zachary was invited to go camping with the Boy Scouts.  The older Zigmund boys are also in the Troop. Since three of the boys would be camping Wednesday night, the Thursday hike was in need of adjustment. After dropping the boys off at camp, Mady and I joined the rest of the Zigmunds for a couple of short adventures. First we took a quick loop around the Shrine of St. Therese. This is typically a hot spot for whale watching, but we didn't see any whales.  There were a bunch of marmots on the rocks though. Next up, we drove out to Eagle Beach. This was a nice trail in the woods, along the river.  We didn't make it all the way to Eagle Beach, but found a wide spot along the river to run and play.

Treadwell Ditch and Mine Ruins This trail system is behind the ice rink, so I have spent many hours wandering through the ruins. There is a gate across the path at the top of one of the hills and since I am usually alone, I've never gone beyond the gate. Today we took safety in numbers and journeyed down the other side of the hill.  The beach is more rocky on this end, and littered with old steel pieces from the mine. We found ourselves trapped on the far side of the cave in pool, and the kids found a "path" up from the beach to the mail trail.  The path was narrow and steep, but it did lead us back.

This week we planned to hike to the Dan Moller Cabin . It's a longer hike, so we packed sandwiches and headed out. The trail started out fairly steep and continued along a boardwalk through the meadow. When we came to a T in the road, our map said to continue up to get to the cabin. Unfortunately, we did not see a trail continuing up and decided to go south instead.  The southern trail led back to the neighborhood below.  We decided to take our lunches to the beach and try this trail another day. Many of the kids decided to wade in the water.  And of course hang out on the beach.

Happy Birthday Zachary! Zachary started his birthday off with cinnamon rolls and his trustworthy companion Vines.  An indoor party is still not possible, so we planned an gathering at the park. We planned snacks that were individually wrapped invited just a few close friends.  Even though it was rainy, Zach had a great turnout and the boys seemed to enjoy seeing each other again after being in hunker down mode for so long.  For dinner Zach chose Sushi/Chinese takeout Red velvet cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting and a last minute attempt at a space theme.  Zach was shocked that I took this picture, but I just have to include it. I love the goofiness of it.

This one doesn't qualify for the SHC since the boys didn't join us. Mady, Phil and I went out to Nugget Falls.   Mady joined the rock cairn building craze. She created 4 different cairns, this is her first and favorite.  The variations in the water color are amazing.  Just resting of the side of the cliffs.

Happy 4th of July! No parade this year, but we did find some sparklers. Even at 9:30 it wasn't really dark enough to get the full effect.

Or possibly the same bear. See her on the sidewalk? Blocking traffic. The next pictures are from our front door. Walking Phil to work, and this bear came around the car to say good morning. Fortunately she was more interested in the garbage can than us.

Tolch Rock and Mendenhall Lake. Hmm, I didn't really get any pictures from this hike, but I wanted to note that it happened. We took a couple of detours before actually finding the right trail to the rock. Then the loop described in the trail book didn't materialize, and a huge porcupine was blocking what we thought was the trail. Better heads prevailed and we turned back. The kids spent some time wading in Mendenhall Lake.