Deer Ridge Hike & Nature Lessons

The agenda this weekend was to hike up to Deer Park. Starting at Slab Camp our group of 4 took the Deer Ridge Trail 5.2 miles to the camp ground making a 10.4 mile round trip hike. During the summer months you can easily drive up and camp here, but where’s the adventure in that!? Of course the road was still closed until July, not that we wanted to drive it anyways. 

View from the bench

We hiked a gruesome 2.75 miles of what seemed like never ending uphill, it’s a good conditioning hike…or to get your butt in gear after taking it easy for a while! We took it slow and steady and eventually we got to a nice overlook complete with a bench to relax for a quick snack to re-energize ourselves. The trail went another 2.45 miles along Deer Ridge all the way to Deer Park. Too bad the view consisted of fog, mist, and more fog. On a nice day I have no doubts there are breathtaking views! Two in our group had done this hike before and assured me that the views were, in fact, incredible.  

Trail entering the park boundaries.

Frozen Goat's Beard

At 3.6 miles we crossed into the Olympic National Park; dogs are no longer allowed here which is why we, unfortunately, had to leave behind Bailey, Jason’s loyal 4 legged hiking companion! Once we hit the park boundary it started hailing…or so we thought. At a closer look it turned out that all the frozen droplets hanging off the trees and goat’s beard* were falling! I’ve never experienced that before, it was pretty neat. You could see where the droplets broke off the moss/trees and were still in little clear droplet form. There was not much snow left on this trail until you get closer to Deer Park, where you can see the leftover snow in the avalanche chutes. We crossed only a few small snow fields, no need for any special snow gear. The trail description mentions some of the best views in this area of the Olympics. I might have to conquer this one again later this summer…or maybe drive up to the campground and putz around on the trails? Haha yea right, views are much better when you earn them!

*Goat’s Beard: (a yellowish-green hair-like lichen that hangs from trees and shrubs…like a beard!)

Trail leading into the Deer Park camp ground.

Wildlife:

We saw a few deer and a bunny. None of them ran off really fast, the deer grazed above us on the trail and the bunny startled us when it hopped away when we were almost right on top of it. It watched us a little bit then went on its way, that bunny sure had some long legs! Maybe to help it get through the snow?

See the deer up above?

Thumper!

 Wildflowers 101

The hike wasn’t too interesting this time because of how foggy it was, so I took this as a chance to learn! I figure if I am going to spend so much time outdoors I should know a little more about my surroundings. I used to look at a flower and think “Oh that’s pretty” but now I want to know the name of everything that catches my eye! The description of the Deer Ridge Trail mentioned many flowers, with the weather we had I didn’t expect the hills to be a colorful garden, but I was surprised with how many flowers were actually blooming. I am so very lucky to have such  seasoned hiking friends now, they have taught me so much already and I sure hope they will want to keep putting up with all my questions for a while more! 

Here’s what I have learned, what I remember at least, about the flowers on today's hike:

Fairy Slipper Orchid. I looked this up and the real name is the Calypso Orchid…I like Fairy Slipper better, wouldn’t you? Once I knew the name of it I could definitely pick out the slipper shape of the flower! It’s a beautiful little purple flower and we saw them around the trail in quite a few areas. 

Fairy Slipper Orchid

Avalanche Lily: Or Fawn Lily, I’m not sure if we decided which one it actually was. When I looked them up they look exactly the same to me! I think we decided they really were Avalanche Lilies. They are cute little white lilies that bloom shortly after the snow melts away. (For some reason I did not take a picture of these lilies.)

Chocolate Lily: We only noticed 2 of these plants, but for a brown little flower they were quite pretty!

Chocolate Lily

Chocolate Lily

Juniper: This is common enough and I’ve often seen it around, though I really paid no attention to it. Just a shrub with little berries on it, I learned that they make gin out of juniper. If only it was easy enough to make while out on the trail. ;) (I did not take a picture of the Juniper)

Smooth Douglasia: Now we didn't go over this one, but I thought they were pretty and took a picture of them. When I got home I looked it up and compared it to the list of wildflowers that were listed to find on this hike and these sure look like phlox flowers. I'm not 100% sure if I'm right...but I think I'm close.  I was wrong...this flower is actually Smooth Douglasia! Thanks Kelsie! I probably won't remember this one, we'll work on it next time. :)

Phlox Flowers?  Smooth Douglasia

Stonecrop: This is my favorite. I’ve seen it on a lot of hikes and always in higher elevations. It reminds me of a smooth little cactus and it’s so colorful and bubbly looking, like a Dr. Suess plant!

Stonecrop

Paintbrush: The pics of these flowers do not do it justice. They are so vibrant and stood out so nicely in a world of fog. 

Paintbrush

Paintbrush

 

A couple more things that I’ve learned from previews trips:

Dipper: A little gray bird that you see around the river. It “dips”! I suppose that’s how it got its name. I learned about these when I went on my very first overnight with my friend, Kelsie, and we saw them down in the river as we gathered water. These cute little things bob up and down in the river looking for food. They are easy for me to remember because their name fits them perfectly!

Oyster Catcher: The first time I noticed these birds was when my friend, Jayne, and I were hiking the Dungeness Spit. We saw these black birds with bright red beaks and eyes. We asked the keepers staying at the lighthouse if they knew what they were called but they must not have been bird watchers because they had no idea what we were talking about. I have since then learned that they are Oyster Catchers! Maybe I should get into bird watching.

Chicken of the Woods: This is not another bird, in fact it’s a mushroom! It’s easy to identify because it’s bright orange shelfy appearance. I mean shelfy (IDK if that’s even a word) as in it’s the kind of mushroom that grows on the sides of trees and stumps and it looks like a shelf. It’s edible but better cooked, so I’ve heard. When I looked it up it mentions being a good substitute for chicken dishes so I think if I find this next time I go camping I will have to try it out. I’ll let you know how that goes!