Hiked June 20, 2009 by Tim and Valerie
We wanted to give this trail a try for birding, as Tim's birding forum says that this is the place to be. Unfortunately, what we had wasn't perfect weather for birds, but much better weather for mosquitoes and blackflies. Still, we arrived around 8:30AM on Jefferson Notch Rd and headed out into the clouds. There wasn't a breath of wind all day.
We spotted this Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher and he sat still for us for quite some time.
We believe that this is a female Black-backed Woodpecker. We saw the male on our last trip up this trail.
When we arrived at "Pothole Rock", the view was rather limited. Still, Tim managed to find a couple warblers sitting amongst the treetops. We could see them with the binoculars, but couldn't get a picture of them with the camera. The rock is named for the fact that there are big glacial potholes in it, filled with rainwater most of the time. You can see a couple of them at Tim's feet in the picture below. The view towards the summit of Mt Jefferson was completely obscured.
Just past "Pothole Rock", we turned onto The Link. We didn't have any destination today - just wandering till we thought it was time to turn around. The clouds really seeped into the woods. We joked together about how neither of us have been to the Pacific Northwest, but this sure looks like Vancouver... We've watched too many X-Files episodes, I guess. This was a nice trail for the mile-or-so that we took it. Mostly a pine needle base - not *too many* rocks. Mainly flat, with some small ups and downs. We were moving very slowly and stopping every few feet, so it took us a long time to go that mile.
This beautiful, big chunk of quartz looked like snow!
We believe this is Wood Sorrel, but no flowers yet.
The trail looked elfish with all the moss on the rocks and the "old man's beard" hanging in the trees. A White-throated Sparrow sat for a picture. So did some fungus. This waterfall was running beautifully due to all the rain.
By the time we returned to Pothole Rock, the Gray Jay family was there and hungry. The adults were looking a little muddy from the recent weather. We also got a picture of one of two fledglings. They've got much more dark gray than the adults do.
