Month: July 2012

  • Lookout Mountain

    Everytime I’m up on Grandmother Mountain, I look to the east and see the bald dome of Lookout Mountain rising over the Marble Creek drainage and I long to stand on top and look down from the other side. Finally, with my parents and sister visiting, I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to try out this trail. There are several mountains in northern Idaho named Lookout. This is not the ski area on the Idaho-Montana border off of I-90. This is not the peak in the Selkirks north of Sandpoint of the same name. This is in the…

  • Publications

    I don’t usually like to gloat about my accomplishments, but sometimes a little self promotion doesn’t hurt. I’ll start with the announcement of my first publication, which officially rolled off the presses last month. Last year, our lab was contacted to write a book chapter in a methods and protocol book on assessing anxiety behaviors in Zebrafish. So Barrie, Maia, Mary, and I set out to publish our behaviortyping protocol for assessing observer preference, depth preference, and feeding latency for high-throughput experiments. Robison, BD, MJ Benner, ML Singer, ME Oswald. A High Throughput and Inexpensive Assay for Anxiety Related Behaviors…

  • Wallowas

    The final chapter in the visit of the in-laws consits of a visit to one of my favorite mountain ranges. There are many spectacular mountain ranges in the country, but I happen to have a fondness for the Wallowas in northeastern Oregon. Perhaps its because they’re the closest mountains of their kind, or because they truely are a spectacular gem. I’ve always wanted to bring people to the Wallowas, but there aren’t really a whole lot of day hiking opportunities. All of the lakes and the peaks are just far enough away that the trips would be better done as…

  • Return to Freezeout

    Any time someone visits us, their stay would not be complete without a trip to Elk River and Freezeout Saddle. We were limited in our acitivites because one of our guests were not fit for any major hiking, but luckily, we have options for that. So Sunday, we took an easy morning and headed out mid-afternoon for some local adventure. In Elk River, we stopped at the general store for huckleberry ice cream and then headed out to see the giant cedar, which always amazes anyone who has never seen big trees.* The allure of Freezeout Saddle is that it’s…

  • Backpacking: Seven Devils’ Lower Cannon Lake

    My father-in-law and his wife have been visiting us since last Wednesday. Before coming out, he had asked if we could go on a little male bonding trip into the backcountry for a night. So, I set about looking for a short and easy hike to a spectacular place. I figured he had probably never spent the night under the rocky peaks next to a glacial tarn, and the high lakes are also one of my favorite places to spend a night, but most of the lakes around here are either fairly strenuous hikes, long hikes, or take nearly all…

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    Aurora, part II

    Well, I made my last post a bit too soon. After spending the evening on Freezeout Ridge (story and photos to come soon), Erin reminded us that the aurora might still be occuring and that we could possibly see it tonight. Clarkia isn’t the best place to test this hypothesis because its surrounded by tall mountains in all directions, so as we passed through Bovill, I noticed a glow on the northern horizon. At this point, it was only 10:00, still early enough that the glow could be residual light from the sun. I pulled the car over and set…

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    Aurora

    We got alerts that a solar flare could cause an aurora that would be visible into the middle states. So, last night, I checked the sky and luckily it was clear to the north. I saw a faint glow on the horizon and set up the camera. Sure enough, there was an aurora. The excitement didn’t last too long. I wanted to view this one from Steptoe Butte, one of the best places around for viewing auroral activity. So, we got in the car and started driving west. Unfortunately, the sky was overcast over much of the Palouse, and by…

  • Freezeout

    The heatwave has hit the northwest. Today’s temperatures on the Palouse rose into the high 90’s, and tomorrow it may break 100. I wanted to hike so I can get in shape for backpacking next month, so I thought I’d take the dogs up to Freezeout Saddle and hike to Grandmother Mountain. But when I got up there, it was also hot and somewhat muggy, so we didn’t make it very far. I brought the camera, but got no pictures on this trip. The summer wildflowers are starting to bloom: beargrass was in its early stages, and the lupine had…

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    Fireworks in the Mountains

    A garden update from the last post: I’m happy to announce that the lettuce that the chickens ate down to the soil is growing back quite nicely and will be ready for consumption within a few days. And now on to the main post: Elk River hosts an annual Independence Day celebration they call “Fireworks in the Mountains,” but they don’t necessarily hold it on the 4th of July, but on the weekend before or after if the 4th happens to be mid-week. The event attracts a lot of people and the general store stays open late to sell its…

  • Gardening

    I can’t believe it’s July already. Time is flying by this summer. June has been a mixture of hot and dry with cold and rainy, and that has been good for my garden. Last year, I built two raised beds, each 8′ x 4′, but I only got one bed filled with dirt. It yielded some nice tomato plants that I had started from seed, until the goat got in and ate them down. This year, I got the second bed filled with dirt and built two more 8′ x 2′ beds which I filled with strawberry plants. The two…