Miller Woods

We've been holed up this winter trying to get ourselves back outdoors, but it has been a struggle with life just seeming to get in the way. We still don't have the dog situation figured out to let us hike further afield, so we're having to make do locally, hence our return trip to Miller Woods which is 10 minutes or so from the house.

We made the 4.5-mile loop on a day that was overcast, about 42 degrees, with a nippy wind in the exposed areas. It hasn't been all that wet this winter, so for the most part, the paths were passable with minimal mud.

Distinctive Form of Oregon White Oak, Quercus garryana

Serenaded by a California Scrub Jay, Aphelocoma californica

Willows Blooming by Creek

Much Hiking Through Planted Trees

There are no leaves on most plants now, giving us much better sight lines that when we were last here in October. Despite the lack of leaves, spring is starting to spring with a few flowers here and there, a lot of buds, and an overall greening. I'm on a steep learning curve about western flora and fauna now. Everything looks similar, but at the same time, very different. We're no longer in Virginia.

Slender Toothwort, Cardamine nuttallii

Methuselah's Beard, Usnea longissima

Striking Indian Plum Blooms, Oemleria cerasiformis

Deer. There must be deer everywhere here if the vast quantities of tracks are to be believed. Annie, who always walks ahead of me, scared two small does back in my direction. I barely had time to get the camera around on them as they came pogoing by, like some big jack rabbits. I am guessing that these are blacktail deer, an offshoot of mule deer, not so much from the not-so-diagnostic black tails without the bounding white flag of the whitetail, but more so from the way that they tried to escape us, bouncing and shifting course with each bounce just like a scared mulie.

Blacktail Deer Starting to Bound

Blacktail Deer in Full Bound

Pretty Good Deer Habitat, Tracks Everywhere

Didn't Know Hills Had Official Summits

Lovely Dwarf Oregon Grape Foliage, Mahonia nervosa

Drifts of Naturalized Daffodils

Spring!

The Little Pond Near the Parking Area

Here's a case in point in the whole feeling like an alien on the west coast thing. It's very early spring and in boggy ground, I expect to find skunk cabbage. What I don't expect is bright yellow blooms. On the east coast, the local skunk cabbage has a mottled cranberry pitcher plant-like bloom.

Skunk Cabbage in Bloom, Lysochiton americanus