Cactus Country At Beezley Hills Preserve

The Hedgehog on the north of Quincy will get your attention, if it doesn’t get your toes. The smallish are less than a foot in height and easy to miss on the three-mile path. One false step in a pair of could easily ruin your day.

The hilly, shrub-steppe landscape on has more to see than . Known for its wildflowers, the short, pleasant hike through a preserve offers wide views of the Columbia Basin.

With three inches of for over the weekend, last Thursday’s trip to was part of the to get into the high country. There’s still too much snow in the mountains to get deep into the mountains without or snowshoes. The trip came about a month too late, however. Most of the flowers, including the smallish , had already bloomed and blossomed. Most of the sulphur lupine and balsamroot have retired for the year, but there is still plenty of sweet-smelling sage, thymeleaf and rock buckwheat and to look at.

The trail itself is an old double-track . It’s barely distinguishable in places, but impossible to get lost since you can see for miles and miles. It starts at a 2,900- and heads down a ridge before petering out about halfway down the hillside. There’s no boundary sign or fence at the bottom, so you could conceivably walk into downtown Quincy, seven miles to the southwest.

would have come in handy. The ground is covered in prickly foliage and .

For someone accustomed to hiking in the forest, is a of pace. It’s a little intimidating being in such a vast area. Good thing it was a cool day on Thursday because there isn’t a tree — or water — for miles.

The area is protected and owned by the Nature Conservancy. The upper path is blocked from the by a with an opening at the trailhead near a communications tower.

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Monday, June 9th, 2008

Landscaping Idea No Comments

Yosemite park’s 100million construction plan stopped by court

FRESNO, Calif. Yosemite National Park must halt more than $100 million in planned construction projects because the developments threaten the park’s fragile ecosystem, a federal appeals court panel has ruled,

Work on moving campgrounds, rerouting a key and upgrading hotel rooms on Yosemite Valley’s floor had been temporarily barred since a U.S. District Court ruling last year.

The decision Thursday by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means the repairs must stop until September 2009, when the agency is due to produce a new plan to manage the federally protected River.

The river courses alongside the valley’s cherished granite walls and glimmering waterfalls.

Yosemite officials said they feared the ruling could push the park service to cap the number of people allowed through the gates each day in order to safeguard Yosemite’s natural resources.

“The implications here for Yosemite and all national parks are huge,” park spokesman Scott Gediman said.

The two small conservation groups that filed suit in 2000 had long argued that the government’s plan to manage the California black oaks, delicate wetlands and bat species that thrive near the riverbanks was inadequate.

“This is really more about preserving everyone’s access to the park than it is about denying access,” said Bridget Kerr, a member of Friends of Yosemite Valley. “I have always had hope, but I have even more hope now that the American citizens will have a voice in protecting Yosemite.”

After the flooded in 1997, park officials drew up an ambitious remodeling project to move campgrounds and fix roads destroyed by the river. The plan would have blasted part of the river canyon and felled nearby oaks.

Friends of Yosemite Valley and Mariposans for the Environment and Responsible Government sued, saying the park’s plans would allow rampant commercial expansion that could degrade the valley’s health.

Thursday, the court said the park service had broken federal law “by not requiring a response to environmental degradation until after it already occurs,” Judge Kim Wardlaw wrote.

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Sunday, March 30th, 2008

Landscaping Rock No Comments

Subminute man back to give it a go

The third edition of the popular motorsport event will take place in Bluff on Saturday and with entries still being received the field is already a good one.
Last years winner, Glenn Frew of Outram, is back in his 450-horsepower Mitsubishi EVO with which he became the first to climb the 1.6km Bluff Hill in under 1 minute last year.
Frew arrived at last years event earmarked as a dark horse and proceeded to set the pace. His first run last year was just shy of the record set by 2006 winner Ross MacKay of Ashburton. Two more runs followed that were tantalisingly close to the 1 minute barrier before he blasted up the hill on his fourth and final run in 59.895 seconds, the winning time and so far the only sub-minute run up the hill.
One of his chief rivals this time around at the Bay View Hotel Pub Charity-sponsored event will be last years runner-up, Kaitangata driver Duncan McCrostie.
McCrostie drove a 2-wheel-drive Nissan Bluebird Turbo in 2007 recording an impressive time of 1 minute 03.218 seconds to head off everyone except Frew. However McCrostie has a new car this year — an ex-Emma Gilmour Mitsubishi EVO built specifically for Race To The Sky. McCrostie has adapted to the new car very quickly and finished runner-up to Gore driver Andrew Graves at the recent Kaitangata Promotions Bob Scott Memorial Hillclimb.
Frew was third at that event.
The result of the Kaitangata event is extremely significant as it was the first round of the Southern Twin Peaks Challenge of which Bluff is the second and final round. The competitor who records the fastest time when their best effort from both Kaitangata and Bluff are added together will win the challenge which carries with it a cash prize.
McCrosties best time at Kaitangata was a 55.802 seconds while Frews was a 56.681. The other major contenders for the Twin Peaks Challenge prize are Gore driver Craig Abernethy and Dunedins Brian Scott both in EVOs. Abernethy finished fourth at the South Otago event while Scott was sixth. This will be the first attempt at the Bluff event for both.
Joining Frew, McCrostie, Abernethy and Scott in Class D for 4-wheel-drive cars is Gordon Beeby of Temuka. Beeby, who won the Southern Sprint Series in the early 1990s, is bringing a supercharged Subaru Impreza WRX to the hill.
Reigning champion Frew is typically laidback when asked about defending his title.
%26quot;Ill give it a go,%26quot; he says.
%26quot;Duncan (McCrostie) will be hard to beat. To win the Southern Twin Peaks Challenge I would have to beat him by nearly a second.%26quot; Others entered at this stage include Invercargill driver Steve Heffernan in his Van Diemen RF92.
The event is a joint project between Bluff Promotions assisted by the Eastern Southland Car Club and the Southland Sports Car Club. The road to the summit will be closed from 9.00am untiI 6.00pm for the event while the first high-speed runs will begin at 11.00am. Each competitor will make four runs during the day with their fastest time establishing their overall result.

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Friday, January 25th, 2008

Garden Landscaping No Comments

Saint Edward State Park trails

Location: Kenmore.

Length: More than seven miles of trails.

Level of difficulty: Flat-to-rolling plateau trails; moderately steep dirt/gravel trails down to Lake Washington (muddy after rains). Paved limited- curves around the seminary building for an accessible route.

Setting: In 1926, Archbishop Edward John O’Dea bought this property with his personal inheritance and donated it to the Diocese of Seattle. In 1931, the Saint Edward Seminary building was completed (another nearby seminary building built later is owned by Bastyr University). The seminaries closed in 1977, and the diocese sold 316 acres, including Saint Edward Seminary, to the state for use as a park.

Several trails traverse the upper park plateau, and others plunge down through an open conifer and deciduous forest to a trail that runs along 3,000 feet of undeveloped, low-bank, Lake Washington shoreline. Some trails down to the lake are steeper than others check the trail maps at the parking-lot kiosk or posted throughout the park to note their degree of difficulty.

The area along the shoreline is an old, formerly submerged terrace exposed in 1916-17 when the lake was lowered almost nine feet with the creation of the Lake Washington Ship Canal. Off the southwest corner of the park lies a submerged yet upright forest of conifers. About 1,000 years ago, a massive landslide dumped a forested chunk of hillside into the lake. The trees once extended above the water, posing a threat to navigation, and were dynamited to remove their tops.

Highlights: Last year the historic building and grounds of the park were added to the National Register of Historic Places. The park is in the midst of a land-use planning project, which is examining various plans to develop the seminary building (see Web sites below). A 25-yard, indoor heated swimming pool next to the seminary building offers year-round swimming for the public.

Facilities: Restrooms, fabulous huge playground, phone and water fountain (shut off in winter; behind administration building).

Restrictions: Leash and scoop laws in effect; bikes on designated trails only.

Directions: From Highway 522 (Northeast Bothell Way), near the north end of Lake Washington, turn south on 68th Avenue Northeast, which becomes Juanita Drive Northeast. In about 1.5 miles, turn right at the park sign, and turn right at the fork.

For more information: 425-823-2992 or www.parks.wa.gov or www.c4sep.org. For information, call 425-823-6983.

Cathy McDonald, Special to The Seattle Times

Renton-based freelancer Cathy McDonald, a former geologist, has written about science and nature travel for 20 years. She’s currently a travel guidebook editor at Rick Steves’ Europe Through the Back Door. Contact her: nwwriter@hotmail.com.

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Monday, January 14th, 2008

Landscaping Rock No Comments

Kubota Garden walk

Location: Seattle (Rainier Beach).

Length: Over a mile.

Level of difficulty: Level to moderately steep dirt/gravel trails and access roads.

Setting: The original home of the famed Kubota landscaping family, this 20-acre Seattle city park is a little-known treasure. (Founder Fujito Kubota designed the gardens on the Seattle University campus and the Japanese Garden at the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island). Although the “good bones” of this garden make it lovely year-round, the end of March finds it exploding with spring growth %26#151; check the info kiosk at the entrance to see what’s blooming when you visit. Mature trees and dominate the sectors of the garden, which is carefully landscaped with ponds, waterfalls, benches, bridges and boulders. Don’t miss the “Mountainside,” a hillside climb along a ribbon of pools and waterfalls.

Highlights: The garden harbors vegetation seldom seen in the Northwest, including tall red and black , which were the signature plants of the Kubota Gardening Co. Although trees are artfully pruned and the grounds are sculpted, this is not a stuffy formal garden. As a Kubota Foundation newsletter says, the garden’s “roots are Japanese, but it has a free and spontaneous spirit inspired by the Pacific Northwest.”

Facilities: Portable toilet.

Restrictions: No bikes; leash and scoop laws in effect.

Directions: From Interstate 5 heading south, take Exit 158 and turn left on Ryan Way. Turn left on 51st Avenue South, turn right on Renton Avenue South, and then turn right on 55th Avenue South. From northbound I-5, take Exit 157, and get in the far right lane to turn right on Ryan Way, and then follow as above.

For more information: www.kubota.org or 206-725-5060. Free tours at 10 a.m. every fourth Saturday, through October. Call to arrange a tour for groups of eight or more. Plant sale May 3, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Cathy McDonald is coauthor with Stephen Whitney of “Nature Walks In and Around Seattle,” with photographs by James Hendrickson (The Mountaineers, second edition, 1997).

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Thursday, December 27th, 2007

Hillside Landscaping No Comments

Kubota Garden walk

Location: Seattle (Rainier Beach).

Length: Over a mile.

Level of difficulty: Level to moderately steep dirt/gravel trails and access roads.

Setting: The original home of the famed Kubota landscaping family, this 20-acre Seattle city park is a little-known treasure. (Founder Fujito Kubota designed the gardens on the Seattle University campus and the Japanese Garden at the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island). Although the “good bones” of this garden make it lovely year-round, the end of March finds it exploding with spring growth %26#151; check the info kiosk at the entrance to see what’s blooming when you visit. Mature trees and dominate the sectors of the garden, which is carefully landscaped with ponds, waterfalls, benches, bridges and boulders. Don’t miss the “Mountainside,” a hillside climb along a ribbon of pools and waterfalls.

Highlights: The garden harbors vegetation seldom seen in the Northwest, including tall red and black , which were the signature plants of the Kubota Gardening Co. Although trees are artfully pruned and the grounds are sculpted, this is not a stuffy formal garden. As a Kubota Foundation newsletter says, the garden’s “roots are Japanese, but it has a free and spontaneous spirit inspired by the Pacific Northwest.”

Facilities: Portable toilet.

Restrictions: No bikes; leash and scoop laws in effect.

Directions: From Interstate 5 heading south, take Exit 158 and turn left on Ryan Way. Turn left on 51st Avenue South, turn right on Renton Avenue South, and then turn right on 55th Avenue South. From northbound I-5, take Exit 157, and get in the far right lane to turn right on Ryan Way, and then follow as above.

For more information: www.kubota.org or 206-725-5060. Free tours at 10 a.m. every fourth Saturday, through October. Call to arrange a tour for groups of eight or more. Plant sale May 3, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Cathy McDonald is coauthor with Stephen Whitney of “Nature Walks In and Around Seattle,” with photographs by James Hendrickson (The Mountaineers, second edition, 1997).

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Sunday, December 16th, 2007

Hillside Landscaping No Comments

Access Road Opens To Helton Drive Businesses Landscaping Services

said the new runs from Tune Avenue, parallel with Florence Boulevard Landscaping , until it turns north and follows the old route of Helton Drive. Services It then connects with Lawrence Avenue.At that point, the road would be lacking the surface layer, which would most likely not be applied until next spring. (more…)

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Monday, October 22nd, 2007

Landscaping No Comments


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