We went camping for my birthday, at this awesome campsite called Pine Flats, on the east side of the cascades. We picked that one because it had a group campsite you could reserve. Only a few people were able to make it out camping with us – Noah, Amy, and Andrew – but I had a great time. It was just a beautiful site, very warm, and it didn’t rain at all while we were there.

The group site at Pine Flats was awesome, and it would’ve held way more people than we had. It had trash cans, a water pump, lots of parking, and a huge fire pit surrounded by logs for sitting. The whole area was covered by lodgepole pines, one of my favorite trees. It was totally quiet except for the Mad River, on which it is right on the banks. I loved having the river noise as background. I didn’t do much except lounge about and walk around. It was very relaxing.

The first morning, Colin and I slept in late, and when I got up to eat some breakfast, I discovered a piece of our firewood on the table with some scrawlings on it. At first I thought it might have been left over from a previous camper or something, but then I noticed a word that looked like “river” and a word that looked like “rock”, and I started trying to piece together if it could be a map of our campsite area. Then I heard some sounds down by the river. I picked up the firewood and followed the map down to the “dam” by which there was supposedly going to be a “me”. Sure enough, there was Noah. He had found a logjam partially spanning the river and spent a good amount of time trying to get a log to span the last portion of the river, so that he could climb the hill on the other side. The logs kept getting picked up by the current and carried downstream, though.

He had seen a crazy sight that morning. A bat had been out, in broad daylight, skimming the surface of the river, presumably for bugs. The bat dove under the water, then came out and sit on a rock to dry for a while. Then it seemed to cling to the rock upside down and drink out of the river! I wish I had seen it.

We saw all kinds of crazy animal life. On our drive in Friday night, Colin and I saw a skunk crossing the road. Colin said he didn’t think he’d ever seen one live. Colin and Noah got a glimpse of a Great Horned Owl, sitting in a tree, being harassed by smaller birds, like the bat another strange daytime sighting! I saw it flying away. I’ve never seen an owl before, so it was really exciting, although I wish I’d gotten a better look. It was pretty neat/strange-looking in flight. On the same hike the next day, we saw a mink, slinking along the steep bank across the water! We didn’t know what it was at the time, but googled different weasel-like mammals when we got home until we found it. There were Cedar Waxwings all around the campsite. I’ve never seen the before! On a walk by the river we watched them dive and swoop over the water, catching insects. We also saw Western Tanager. So many things I’ve never seen before, and all on a short car-camping trip!

The area was a really deep river valley, so there were incredibly steep hills all around that Noah and Colin climbed in occasion. They always came down hot, red, sweaty, and exhausted.

Amy and Andrew showed up on Saturday and stayed the night, even though Andrew hasn’t done much camping. It was fun hanging out with them!

Unfortunately, the drive and the camping somehow messed up my back pretty badly, and I ended up lying in bed for the next week unable to even get up and email :(. I have to say, though, I think that it was almost worth it! I just love being out there in the woods.

Mammals

  • Striped Skunk – Mephitis mephitis
  • Bat
  • American Mink – Neovison vison

Reptiles

  • Snake (2 kinds)
  • Lizard

Birds

  • American Robin – Turdus migratorius
  • Western Tanager – Piranga ludoviciana
  • Great Horned Owl – Bubo virginianus
  • Cedar Waxwing – Bombycilla cedrorum

Mushrooms

  • Cryptoporus volvatus
  • Wolfbane Lichen – Letharia columbiana

Plants

  • Western Red Cedar – Thuja plicata
  • Douglas Fir – Pseudotsuga menziesii
  • Douglas Maple – Acer glabrum
  • Ponderosa (Lodgepole) Pine – Pinus ponderosa
  • Thimbleberry – Rubus parviflorus
  • Red Twig Dogwood – Cornus sericea
  • Ocean Spray – Holodiscus discolor
  • Bracken Fern – Pteridium aquilinum
  • Oregon Grape – Mahonia nervosa
  • Fireweed – Epilobium angustifolium
  • Blackcap Raspberry – Rubus leucodermis
  • Yarrow – Achillea millefolium
  • False Solomon’s Seal – Smilacina racemosa

Arthropods

  • Water bug
  • Ants (at least 2 kinds)

Mollusks