“The Outlier.” A black biscuit of basalt amidst a rainbow-colored deposit of glacial flood cobbles in the Spokane River
Some favorite beings (minus the wings)
Short of nearly stepping on a rattlesnake (which has happened more than once) nothing induces an adrenaline rush than encountering a moose in the wild. Met this fellow in mid-winter, west of town, and you can see that he had only one half of his rack intact. The cold air, the snow, the muffled light; the sounds of a 1,000-plus pound animal making its way through the brush. That’ll make your day.
At the other end of the scale, at least in size and weight, is the red squirrel (below). Note the distinctive white, eye-ring. Talk about charisma. They’re territorial, and curious, and so comically high strung (at times) you may think they’re electrified.
At least once a year I meet a porcupine and they remind me, somewhat, of the sloths I used to encounter in the jungle in Panama. They’re slow, and covered with hair (and quills), and they’re surprising at home in trees. Met this one just last week.
Walk around the scablands long enough and you’ll eventually see an American Badger, like this one photographed in a basalt alcove near Lamont in western Whitman County.
.One of the magical experiences of my fatherhood was swimming with my then-five year son in Latah Creek when a young river otter started body surfing in a riffle next to us. This photo, from earlier this year, is called “The Otter Scale,” courtesy of a pack of river otters I encountered in a creek near the ocean at Pacific Beach.
The mule deer are back on their winter range in Riverside State Park, where these photos were taken in the past couple weeks, A chin-scratching buck and, below, a doe keeping an eye on me and a nearby yearling.
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Can we talk snakes? These are two of my favorites, the sleek, olive-gray racer on the left and the much larger gopher snake (some call it a bull snake) on the right, both native to the inland Northwest. I do have an arresting photo of our native Western rattlesnake with its purple, forked tongue and pit viper head. It is rarely aggressive if unprovoked (the last I checked, there has not been a human rattlesnake bit fatality in Washington this century) but it does freak some of my friends (and readers) out, and we’ve all been through a lot lately. I’ll save the photo for another time. I enjoy encountering snakes, the gopher snake can be aggressive but it’s not venomous. The smaller racer is also non-venomous but should not be trifled as it has a powerful bite nonetheless. Gorgeous to look at that though, at least by my lights.
As some of you know, I visit the Spokane River on a near daily basis between June and mid-October, swimming with and photographing native, redband trout. This is one of my favorites, of a young adult redband hunting in the rapids about a half mile downstream of the TJ Meenach bridge.
I have a favorite moose, his name is Brian, and he regularly visits the river not far from where I launch myself into the water. He enjoys cooling off in the river, so I actually remind myself to look up while I’m swimming near the bank. A good rule of thumb with any moose is no surprises.
One of Spokane’s casual nicknames is Marmot Falls, so—besides the deservedly celebrated native redband trout—here’s our terrestrial mascot, the Yellow-bellied marmot, grazing in mid-spring.
—tjc
