Family Outdoor Hour Challenge Archives

Posted on August 16, 2017 by Barb — 2 Comments

Crater Lake National Park – July 2017

Crater Lake National Park

Revisited in July 2017

We took the short drive from our new home down to Crater Lake bright and early on a Monday. We were hoping this would be a good time to see the park without the crowds. It worked out! We arrived at the North entrance and headed straight to Watchman Overlook. They were working on the parking lot but we were able to park alongside the road.

The view was spectacular! There were still patches of snow along the road, on the edge of the lake, and in shady spots in among the trees throughout the park. The water was a deep aqua blue as it shimmered in the morning sunshine.

Lichen on rocks at Crater Lake — Such beautiful lichen on the rocks

We then went over to the Sinnott Memorial Overlook right behind the Rim Village Visitor Center. There were a few more people here but still very enjoyable to take the walk out to the overlook and see the lake in all its glory.

After that, we drove down to the Steel Visitor Center so we could watch the movie about Crater Lake and how it was formed. We all really enjoyed this and learned a lot about the natural history of this amazing spot on Earth.

Wildflowers were next on the list of things to see in the park and we headed to the Castle Crest Wildflower Trail which was a short drive from the visitor center. Overwhelmingly beautiful!

There were so many flowers in bloom of all shapes and colors. There is a creek running down the hillside which provided the background soundtrack of babbling and rushing water. There were many, many insects including a hummingbird moth that we observed for some time.

I was super excited to discover a “new to me” wildflower growing in abundance along the trail. The White Bog Orchid was so delicate and beautiful! I’m hoping to add it to my nature journal soon.

Our last stop before heading back home was Plaikni Falls. This is on the east side of the lake and it’s a very easy two mile round trip hike on a fairly flat trail. The falls themselves are a cascading series of falls that you can hike to the base of and then look up to the top. We sat on some rocks and let the cooling mist get us a bit damp. People were taking off their boots and soaking their feet in the icy water. I was glad we had saved this for the rather hot afternoon.

I know we’ll be making more trips here in the future since it is an easy hour’s drive from home.

You can read my previous entry for Crater Lake Here: Crater Lake National Park Tips and Images

Posted on March 15, 2017 by Barb — 2 Comments

Outdoor Mom’s Journal – March 2017

Outdoor Mom’s Journal

March 2017

We have had so much rain that the thought of traveling somewhere warm and more on the dry side was very appealing. My daughter and I had started planning this trip way back in August because she lives in New York where the winters are far too long for that California girl.

One of my favorite places to be warm and beachy is on the Big Island of Hawaii. It made sense for all of us to rendezvous there for a winter escape. The added bonus was this year our friend was able to round out our group to make it more fun. This was her first time traveling to Hawaii so we got to see all of the things through her eyes and enjoy sharing our favorite places.

We have been to Hawaii several times but never during the month of February so that part was new to all of us. What a treat! We were able to see whales just off the coast as they breached and spy hopped out of the water.

Snorkeling just about every day gave us plenty of opportunity to see the colorful fish and sea turtles in abundance. I love the feeling of just floating around in the water and watching the turtles as they feed off the coral. One afternoon we boarded a boat and did some serious snorkeling in Kealekekua Bay. The conditions weren’t perfect, but we still saw plenty of interesting things including a puffer fish.

The day the weather was gray and a little misty, we ventured to the Hilo side of the island.

We hiked to Akaka Falls which are amazing and the walk down to them is lined with all sorts of interesting plants.

Later that day we made it over to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The internet has been full of images of the lava lake and the lava spilling over into the ocean so we were hoping to see this in person. We were able to see the actual lava lake in the caldera of Kilauea but we weren’t prepared for the 8 mile round trip hike to see the lava “fire hose” going into the ocean. The weather was turning rainy too so we decided we would be satisfied with the lava that we could observe from the museum’s lookout. Totally worth it!

We visited an actual Kona coffee farm for a tour and tasting. The experience was even more special because we saw cardinals singing and a chameleon hiding in an orange tree.

I never thought I would see a chameleon up close like that and they are amazing creatures.

We did lots of beach walking in Waikoloa where we were staying but you need to put aside your preconceived idea of what a “beach” is to do that. These are not white sand beaches but rather black lava rock with coral washed up on the shore. It was fun to do beachcombing and we nearly always saw whales off shore and sea turtles sleeping on the beach.

I squeezed in some nature journaling time while there and I have a short list of things to research and record now that I am home. I will be sharing my journal entries in a separate post next week!

Sometimes taking a trip is not really a vacation but this one allowed me to relax, spend active and quiet time in nature, and enjoy the company of my family and friends.

Just a Note about the Cost of Traveling

We make our trip fit our budget by taking advantage of air miles for free tickets, researching condos for the perfect location and amenities, cooking almost all our own meals, and then planning activities that are within our financial reach. Also, traveling with other family members and friends allows us to split costs like food, gas, and the condo. Our condo had snorkel gear, chairs, beach umbrella, and boogie boards for us to use while we were there, so check into that benefit if you are thinking about booking a condo on the islands.

Read more about my experiences: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

How Do You Join?

Answer all or just one of the prompts in a blog entry on your own blog or right here on my blog in a comment. If you answer on your blog, make sure to leave me a link in a comment so that I can pop over and read your responses.

During our outdoor time this week we went….
The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about)…
In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting….
I added nature journal pages about….
I am reading…
I am dreaming about…
A photo I would like to share…

You can use the free monthly newsletter along with the Handbook of Nature Study book for your nature study. Adding a membership gives you access to the Ultimate Naturalist Library’s ebooks and printablse which provides members with even more in-depth studies each month.

Read more about it!

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Barb — 9 Comments

Burdock Nature Study

Here is our burdock nature study entry..so happy to have had a chance to see it in person!

Hiking in Utah we saw an area with these plants that had HUGE leaves. I was intrigued and took a photo so I could later look it up in my field guide. I had no idea that what I was looking at was first year burdock!

Later on in the hike, we spotted these blooming plants and I was pretty sure what we were seeing was burdock. I had read all about this plant when I was writing the current ebook and was sort of on the lookout for it in our travels this summer. I apologize for the blurry photos but it had started to rain and we were moving quickly off the mountain.

Here is a closer look at the leaves.

And here is the underside of the leaf. It is much whiter than the top of the leaf.

Here are a couple more images we took to document our discovery.

In reflection, the plants and flowers are much larger than I anticipated.

The flowers look like prickly balls with purplish color. The flower is ringed with spiny hooks all around.

We noted that the first year leaves are large and wavy looking while the second year plant with the flowers are much smaller and less wavy.

This was a case of preparation in identifying a wildflower/weed…reading up on things and then looking for them when you are out for your Outdoor Hour Challenge time creates such a sense of satisfaction. Since the Handbook of Nature Study was written for a specific region, many of the topics are not found naturally in California. This never stumbles me since I view the time reading and researching topics for future use a very valuable tool in learning more as I go through life.

Did you find some burdock this week?

But, guess what? We found something right alongside our walking trail that looks remarkably like burdock. We snapped some photos and made some observations.

Doing some additional research online, we found out that this plant that looks like burdock is a the cocklebur plant!

Both the cocklebur and the burdock plants are in the asteraceae family…which is probably why they have some of the same characteristics.

What a great find and discovery!

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Barb — 7 Comments

Family Weed Study (No Teasel Here)

Teasel New York Trip — The first teasel I ever saw was in New York at Anna Botsford Comstock’s cottage on Cayuga Lake.

This week’s Outdoor Hour Challenge was to look for and observe some Teasel. We were not expecting to see any teasel this week and we didn’t…not too disappointed and we didn’t let it stop us from taking some hikes to see some other weeds with prickles and interesting flowers.

We observed something with prickles….Yellow Star Thistle. This is a menace in our neighborhood and I immediately pull it out by the roots if I see it in my yard. We have friends that have a honey business and they insist that star thistle honey is the best. It is very light tasting and is one of my favorites.

We also observed some Curly Dock. It is so colorful in the landscape right now. (More information on Cal Flora.)

Sometimes you just need to go with whatever subjects present themselves.

We are experiencing the King wildfire in our area which is a little scary. Each day we looked at the smoke and clouds and wondered how far it would come our way. Some of our friends were evacuated but so far we are safe here at home. The drought conditions in California are so severe and those dry conditions coupled with heat and windy afternoons make for perfect “fire weather”. This is from the bottom of my road.

This is from yesterday in town looking towards the fire. They call those clouds above the smoke “pyrocumulous“.

Yikes.

We are all praying for the fire to be contained and for all those evacuees to be allowed home to their homes. My husband is working on this fire but is in management with a job behind the scenes at base camp. He is tired but doing okay…this is what they do and they are accustomed to being under stress in emergency situations.

Hope you had a chance to get outside and look for some teasel or other weeds this week!

This Outdoor Hour Challenge is included in the new Autumn Nature Study Continues ebook. It is only one of fifteen nature study topics included along with notebook pages and coloring pages. If you have an Ultimate or Journey level membership, you will find this ebook in your library!

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Barb — 3 Comments

Family Salvia Flower Study

We were so excited to start the new series of Outdoor Hour Challenges this week with the Salvia Flower Study.We even went out and purchased a new type of salvia to begin our study with.

I was interested in researching more about salvia and the name “scarlet sage” as listed in the Handbook of Nature Study lesson.

We tried to observe a bee in our salvia but not this time. We did talk about how the bee needs to duck inside to reach the nectar wells.

Now that I am looking at these images in a large format on my computer, I can see the fuzziness of the salvia which is just like the sage we have in our front yard.

The leaves on our two different salvia plants are completely different.

Our autumn flowers have been a little slim pickins this year. But there have been some surprises around the yard, including this sunflower that came from a seed that fell from the birdfeeder right into a pot on my back deck. I wasn’t sure it was going to actually bloom but here it is!

It is gorgeous and we enjoyed watching the bees visit it…no wonder! There is so much pollen coming from this sunflower that they can actually just bathe in it as they fly in and out.

Look at that pollen!

These zinnias are from my dad’s garden…he had saved seeds from last year and sprinkled them in his flower bed a few months ago. Now, they are blooming like crazy with a variety of flowers that dazzle the eye.

He also has a bank next to his driveway that he has filled with different colors of lantana. This one is my mom’s favorite color and the hummingbirds and butterflies love it too. This is a great plant to have in your garden to attract birds and insects for observation. (Note to self…plant lantana when we can have a garden again.)

Our little explorers were more interested in watching birds this week and not going on a flower hunt. Maybe next time….

We also looked at ants this week since there was a whole nest of them under a rock we turned over to look for insects. Can you believe all the leaves that have fallen already in my backyard?

I forgot to take photos of their flower drawings but here is mine.

Here is a sketch that one of the boys did of a black widow spider. He had seen one in his garage and decided to draw it using a book I have on how to draw insects.

It was a really great week observing flowers as the autumn season starts. We will continue to keep our eye on flowers as we work through the next few flower challenges.

Posted on June 19, 2014 by Barb — 11 Comments

Our Summer Tree – Mystery Continues

I am continuing our study of the mystery tree…our year-long tree study that we began in springtime. I am frustrated about its identity and have spent lots and lots of time scouring my field guides and the internet for just what kind of tree this is in our yard. I know it is not a native tree which only complicates matters.

Here is the leaf.

Here is the bark.

Not much to go on since it doesn’t currently have flowers, seeds, or pods.

I got excited when I found this tree, the Hardy Rubber tree. It looks like the right bark and leaf but the rubber tree doesn’t turn color in the fall like my mystery tree.

Here is a link to our spring entry: Our Spring Tree – Officially Starting a New Tree Study.

Something I recently learned about another tree in our yard, the tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera). It is a host tree for swallowtail butterflies! I love that I have a great habitat for the caterpillars right in my front yard among my other butterfly, bird, and bee habitat. Read more about hunting for swallowtail caterpillars in this post over at Beautiful Wildlife Garden.

Posted on June 17, 2014 by Barb — 4 Comments

Evening Walk – No Mosquitoes

We set out to look for and observe some mosquitoes (as part of the OHC Mosquito nature study) a couple of evenings this week with no luck. I know…sad to NOT observe any mosquitoes which is a weird thing to say. We even sat by the little slow moving stream where we thought for sure we would find some mosquitoes but there wasn’t a single mosquito to be seen.

Instead, we decided to look at all of the interesting things we could find along the trail and here are a few of our images.

The deer are all coming in close to town because of the drought. This one was peacefully grazing along the trail in a meadow.

The Queen Anne’s Lace is blooming all over the place…not very tall this year but lots of flowers to enjoy.

There are Sweet peas blossoming as well…seen slightly in the background of this image.

Here is a side view of the Queen Anne’s Lace…so very interesting!

The Toyan berry is blossoming right now…this will be covered in red berries come the late fall.

The Manzanita is developing berries…I love the way they look.

I have the privilege of taking care of two little boys this summer…a little each week. We are going to be doing some of the Outdoor Hour Challenges together since they are avid outdoor kids and love anything that creeps, hops, and slithers. I took over some pond water for them and along with the water I also got four little fish in the jar. These boys spent some time finding a little aquarium, cleaning it up and watching the fish. I was not successful in capturing some mosquito larvae like I had hoped but the boys still had a blast with the little fish. It is going to be a fun nature study summer with them.

We have been spending lots of time outdoors in the evenings so maybe we will eventually see some mosquitoes.

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Barb — 4 Comments

Hiking in the Adirondack Mountains- Mount Arab

What a glorious thing to explore a new state, a new trail, and then to top it off…a NEW to me flower.

Our recent trip to New York (via a road trip across the complete United States), gave us an opportunity to take several new hikes in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. My daughter picked the hike to Mount Arab out of the guide book and it was a winner! Just outside of Tupper Lake, NY, this trail is a short hike up the mountain and through a heavily wooded forest. Since it is early spring, the trees were just starting to get their new leaves and there were wildflowers just starting to bloom alongside the trail.

I created a list of wildflowers to look for during our trip, flowers we don’t have in California but are listed in the Handbook of Nature Study. I had a east coast wildflower field guide with me too for reference since most of the flowers are new to me. We actually spotted this variety of trillium (Purple Trillium) right at the beginning of the hike…so pretty and colorful in the brown woodsy floor. (Outdoor Hour Challenge for this flower in the future.)

Then we saw lots and lots of Trout Lilies! This is another one on my list of wildflowers to study and I will now be able to create an Outdoor Hour Challenge for this flower. The abundance of these lilies really created a special atmosphere as we hiked up the mountain.

I read in a guide book before we left that May is “mud season” in the Adirondacks. There were sections of this trail that turned out to be quite muddy but the trail makers had made it easier by adding these board walks to span the muddier parts. The mud created spots for insects to gather and we tried not to stop and get eaten by bugs.

The trail at the top opens up where there are large rock slabs and an incredible view. The weather had been threatening to rain in the morning but we enjoyed sunny skies when we reached the top.

Here is the fire tower at the top of Mount Arab. The wind was blowing really hard which felt like air conditioning after a hot hike up. I am not great with heights but my kids and husband were eager to climb up the stairs and check out the view from the top.

I was a little sunburned…that’s the trouble with fair and freckled skin. I had on sunblock…really. I climbed about half way up the tower and the wind was whipping through up there. I was good with the view from there, I know my limits.

On the way back down the trail, we spied several toads. The above image is a “Where’s Waldo?” sort of photo where the toad is very well camouflaged by the leaves on the forest floor.

We also saw a snake! He was as curious about us as we were about him.

What a great hike! We will remember this one for its trilliums, lilies, toads, snake, and view from the top. I will also try to remember the variety of bird song we heard as we hiked along as a family.

This hike will count toward my Nature Study Goals for 2014…a new hike!

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Barb — 3 Comments

May Garden Observations: Drought Year

Your Garden in All Four Seasons – taking a look at our spring garden

My garden is coming to life during the month of May. We had an unusual winter so many of the plants didn’t do well without our normal winter rains. Our dogwood barely bloomed this year with perhaps only five or six flowers compared to dozens in past years. Some of our lavender plants did not survive either…perhaps the week of snow and freezing temperatures with the snow left on top made the death blow but no matter the reason, we will be digging them up and replacing them next year.

Come along on a quick trip around my spring garden…welcome to all who are popping in from the Tuesday Garden Party.

We are currently experiencing drought conditions in our part of California and we are under mandatory watering restrictions. This means I will not be planting my traditional garden but trying to keep our drought resistant plants and native plants going with the water we have available. The weird winter didn’t seem to effect the California Poppies at all and we have a beautiful crop of flowers right now in our front yard.

The Spanish Lavender did much better than the English Lavender over the winter and the bees are back in full force. There are lots of spittle bugs and border bugs too.

We have not put much time into the garden yet and it shows. There are lots and lots of weeds all around the garden boxes. The interesting thing is how many oregano, thyme, and sunflower plants there are growing outside the boxes! We also have a pile of wood left from the walnut tree we cut down that needs to be stacked neatly. I am missing my strong teenage boys who usually take care of tasks like this for me.

This is a monster size sunflower growing where the walnut tree was before we cut it down. I think I will leave it to grow in this spot and let the birds enjoy the seeds this summer. I can hand water it if I need to since there are not drips over on this side of the yard.

There are sunflowers growing in several of my deck planters as well. In the past, these volunteer plants seem to be the most hearty of plants and they have great flowers so I will leave it growing here as well.

The Hedge Bindweed is so pretty right now as it grows under the birdfeeder and around the old pine tree stump. There is a lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study for this flower if you have it in your yard too.

There are so pretty and remind me of morning glories. My little patch is growing in a spot that I can let it wander without too much trouble.

There is lots of mullein around my yard…I love to watch the flower stalks grow and the leaves are so pretty and soft.

We have quite a crop of strawberries already which is a little early for our “June” berries. I don’t think they will do well with our restrictive watering rules this summer. I may need to pull a couple of plants out, put them in a pot, and hope that I can keep them going during this drought year.

I found this mystery flower growing among the mullein and I am not sure what it is yet. I know that last year I planted a mix of seeds on this side of the yard but none of them grew. I am wondering if this is from a seed that I planted last year and it is just now growing. I will keep an eye on it.

The Disneyland Rose is gorgeous right now, the whole plant full of blooms. I am filling vases full for the kitchen table and they just keep coming.

The shady part of the yard is filled with Bleeding Hearts…such a fun flower that I love to see when I look out the window. I appreciate that this plant comes back year after year with no fussing from me. I just get to enjoy it.

The Jerusalem Sage is an amazing grower in our garden. It is thankfully a drought tolerant plant and I don’t have to worry about the amount of water it will get this summer. It just keeps on blooming.

The Star Jasmine is filling the air with its sweet perfume. This is another plant that will take the heat and very low amounts of water.

Well, there is a look at our spring garden. I would love to get out and plant some summer veggies but it looks like that is not going to happen this year. Instead of being disappointed, I will focus on the plants and flowers I do have and be satisfied.

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Spring Cattail Observations and Journal Page

Our challenge from last week was to find and observe some spring cattails: Springtime Cattail Observations. We headed over to our local park where we had observed some fabulous cattails last year. Because of the drought, there are not as many as we had noticed during the summer of 2013 and they were much smaller than expected. We are going to mark our calendar to make some summer observations and compare our results.

There was enough water in the pond to see a beautiful reflection of the clouds and there were insects making little ripples and bubbles in the water. We estimated that the cattails were about three feet high and we will compare the height when we return this summer.

When we took a closer look at the water’s edge, we saw an old cattail that had disintegrated into a soft pile of fluff. What a great find!

Using the Nature Journal Topper from the April 2014 newsletter, I created a nature journal page with some of my observations and a simple sketch.

Hopefully, your family will get a chance to find a place with cattails for your springtime observations. If you started a year-long study already, return to your cattail spot to make some comparisons for your nature journal.

Tag: Family Outdoor Hour Challenge