Cross-country trip

By November it was determined I could be helpful to my family in NH, and I was willing to go.  I spent my 2 evenings in the Olympia hostel reading Google maps and plotting a course across the country.  WA to the NE corner of Oregon to Idaho to Utah to WY to CO to NM to TX to Louisiana to AR to SE corner of MO to KY to Ohio to PA to the SE corner of NY  to CT thru MA to NH.  It would take 2 weeks. 
      Washington is highly volcanic.  Mt Rainier and the Cascades were formed from ancient volcanoes.  I took this photo along Hwy 12 as Tieton River is flowing east to meet the Yakima River. Basalt columns are easy to see on this mountainside.
     I continued east across Washington, clipped a corner on Oregon, and drove Hwy 84 thru Idaho.  Utah's Great Salt Lake was a wonderful bonanza of birds in August.  It was nearly empty on the day in November I stopped to look.  I took Hwy 80 across windy Wyoming, and Hwy 25 thru Colorado and into New Mexico. 
    Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico is the wintering location for many 100's of Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese.  It is a spectacular sight to see the flocks flying and resting. 


Dawn flight out.

contemplating take-off

Snow Geese look up from preening or sleeping.

Much of this lake's surface is covered with Snow Geese.  The numbers of Snow Geese here is astonishing.






I continued east across New Mexico into Texas, driving past Capitan, NM site where the "Smokey the Bear"  story began in 1950.
Texas is a big state and it took me a few overnights to cross over.  I decided to take a southern route to avoid winter storms in the northern tier states. 
     Arkansas has the dubious distinction of being the last of the  Lower 48 states for me to visit.  I stayed overnight in Little Rock, and went birding the next morning at Two Rivers State Park.  This photo was taken in the park.
     Continuing north and east, I drove a corner of Missouri and halfway across Kentucky before turning north again into Ohio.  By now the weather maps were showing an ominous snowstorm moving from Minnesota going east.  As much as I wanted to go check out the birds on Lake Erie, I decided it would be safer to stay south.  I picked up Hwy 84 in Pennsylvania and drove to northern Connecticut.

Washington forests

My time at Mt Rainier National Park completed at the end of October.  My sister came to visit and we toured the Olympic Peninsula for a week.  Not long enough.  We found some very good birds, she took photos.  Rain continued off and on during the week creating some challenging photography conditions.  We found that the plastic shower cap from a motel room worked very well to cover the high-tech camera she was using.  All too soon the week was over and I needed to take her back to the airport.
      These 2 pictures show typical of Washington rainforest,  moss and ferns grow everywhere.  Vine Maple, in the photo to the right,  turns red in the Fall.
      Before leaving the rainforest region, I hiked at McLane Creek Park, south of Olympia.  Wildlife viewing signs were posted at the trailhead.  The  "wildlife"  was

fish !!   Spawning Salmon.  I really admire
these Salmon for swimming the long distance from the ocean to their natal streams to spawn and die.  I watched them wiggle up and over log jams, and between rocks.  In gravel like this a shallow scrape is made and the female deposits her eggs.

a pond surrounded with dense forest leaving only a small bit of space for reflections.

old tree stump covered with moss, Salal bushes, and other plants.

trail thru the forest of Cedars, Big-leaf Maples, and Hemlock.