257

I gotta say, the new Blogger is a lot better and easier to use.  I might actually keep up on my posts since it is so fast and I don't have to screw around with the pictures and formatting as much!  Today we went on a hike up along Beauty Creek near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.  I have done a lot of stomping around up there but never on this trail.  It's a big mountain bike trail but since it was midweek we only saw 3 of them.  The chick smelled strongly of perfume and deodorant.  BEAR BAIT!!!  Sometimes people forget they are in the wild when they are so close to a city, but in this part of the country it does not matter.  At any rate, I did not see a bear or any sign of one.

A highlight was the number of flowers and fungus that we saw.  We went without any dogs which I realized gave me a chance to look around a lot more at stuff.  I was able to take a bunch of flower pictures.  Nancy and I were talking about how we both, in the past when we would see flower and bird geeks out on nature walks, we would sort of giggle because it was so nerdy.  As I am posting this, Nancy is looking through flower and fungi books.  Lifespan changes are really quite amazing.

The trail is well defined and hooks up to other trails in the area but I am not sure where all of them go.  I tend to not remember trails by their number but rather their name, like "Caribou Ridge" which hooks up to 257.  Before we went I tried to find the trail on the topo map but it is not there.  I will keep looking though.

We decided to spend some time this summer hiking in this area because it is so close.  If we can actually swing it we are planning on a hiking trip to Utah in October so we decided to start some training.  We are going to the Escalante which is a pretty harsh environment.  But enough of my blah, blah. blah.  Here are some pictures that may or may not be identified.

Nancy crossing Beauty Creek.  We were both too scared to walk on the top log.

The trail heads up quickly

Some sort of lichen or fungi thingie

Pore fungus (maybe)

Probably some kind of lichen

I read recently that humans are never more than 10 feet away from an arachnid.  I was a bit closer than that.  Her web was amazing.  The web was in the shape of a bell with multiple levels and varying patterns to the structure.  Totally weird.



Tons of these little guys.  He actually had a small insect on him.  His antenna are so cool.



Tons of these guys too.  We figured they were some sort of invasive creature responsible for the destruction of the Northwest forests.

Trillium

Lovely stream



Fairy Slipper: a type of orchid (Calypso bulbosa...since Nancy just looked it up)



Wood anemone...I think

False Solomon's seal

Dunno

Chrysanthemum sort of thing

Mock orange

Dunno

Wild strawberry