I think I might move to Oregon.

For good. Now perhaps my view of the area is skewed because its been 70+ for the first four days I've been here, and its spring, when everything is at its best. But Willamette Valley is beautiful and Iwanttolivehereforever. Especially if I stop getting lost all the time. (I didn't get lost yesterday, it was amazing!)

The fact of the matter is that I did not explore nearly enough while in Port Angeles, and so have decided to treat my time here like a tourist. Thursday I went to Silver Falls State Park, Friday Cape Kiwanda on the coast, Saturday Ankeny NWR right near Salem, and today Opal Creek Wilderness where there is an old growth stand. Time to live up to the name of this blogalog! Prepare yourself to be bombarded with photos, Latin names small factoids and wild speculations!


The hike here focuses on waterfalls. Therefore there are lots of cool flowers. And waterworks.
PLANTS

 Oxalis oregana, is a little different from the wood sorrel variety we saw in northern California, primarily because it's blossoms are white with purple-pink veins whereas the others were a dark pink-purple.

Viola sempervirens the evergreen violet. (There was also Viola glabella, stream violet, around) At first I was excited to see a few scattered here and there. Then for at least a mile there was a continuous stream of them along the path. They  turned out to be pretty ubiquitous on the trial I was following, but excitement ensued nonetheless. Who doesn't like violets?

Maidenhair ferns (Adiantum pedatum) are one of the coolest ferns. They're just so delicate and... eye catching. A lot of them look rather wimpy and wilty when they're unfurling, and some of them look downright intriguing.

 Having decided not to get my hopes too high for seeing orchids, I was delighted when I found one, two, three (!) species in full splendor. Granted only one of them was particularly conspicuous but, you just have to  know where to look.
These are both Twayblades; the pure green one I don't know, the pinky one is Lesser twayblade (Listera cordata) I think.

 

 That's right, Fairy slipper orchids (Calypso bulbosa)are blooming! A guy walked passed me and in my excitement I accosted him to look at the flowers with me. He didn't seem particularly impressed. Oh well!

There were lots of little seep areas in this park (not surprising being a park known for its waterfalls...) where these itty bitty monkey flowers were growing. It's the chickweed monkeyflower (Mimulus alsinoides) and its damn cute. 

Trilliums here are white. Except for the super rare ones that are purple... Don't be fooled, to the right is an uncommon Trillium ovatum, instead of white it's maroon. This I just learned today, on occassion T. ovatum can be this color... Mutant!

Oregon grape (Mahonia nervosa) and white fawn lily (Erythronium oregonum) in their glory.

This is your trivia question for the week: What is this? I don't know, kind of hoping someone else would so I won't have to drag out the key...

Hooker's fairy bells (Disporum hookeri) just opening and bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) doing their thing.

See those white things...?

They're all fawn lilies. Hundreds of them all squashed on top of these two big boulders  in the middle of the creek. Makes you wonder how long ago they were colonized.

This was another plant new to me. The leaves looked like bleeding heart leaves and sure enough they're in the same family (Papaveraceae/Fumariaceae depending on the date of the key you're using), and are called Scouler's corydalis (Corydalis scouleri).

WATERFALLS (and stuff)

I have since forgotten which waterfall is which, so here are some pretty water displays.

ANIMALS

 A colorful snail!

 Above are some Blues (family Lycaenidae, sub family Polyommatinae). Male butterflies gather around puddles and other substances (such as bird droppings...) rich in minerals that they might be able to add to the semataphor (sp?) they give to the female they mate with. This is a very broad generalization, but it explains why you see little flocks of butterflies vying for position on mud puddles.
This wonderful creature is known as the Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa,family Nymphalidae). It sat here lapping up something until I, in an ill thought out plan to make it spread its wings, blew on it and it flew away. Later a mourning cloak, perhaps the very same one, flew into my forehead twice in what I believe was an attempt to drink my sweat (electrolyes man...). Nothing like a butterfly with a ~3 inch wingspan slapping you in the face.

This is a silly Steller's jay. It would like to say hello, and have a marvelous week!

PS: Sorry if the spacing is odd at times, I do my best to make things flow...