RHH's photos with the keyword: whatcom county

Anyone want to buy a yacht? The large yacht had a for sale sign on it. The photo was taken near Bellingham Bay in northwestern Washington.

We were in northwestern Washington recently and while there went for a walk in Zuanich Park along the waterfront. This is one of the few photos I took.

This is another shot of the same falls I posted recently, this taken from up near the main falls. This part of the falls drops about 30 feet or 10 meters. There are a few moere smaller sections above and below the falls but this is the most impressive.

I'm finished with photos from Australia, at least for a while and am going to post some pictures from back home in Washington. This is of Racehorse Falls (if you look carefully you can see the outline of a horse's head next to the falls). I was there on October 6 along with a group of school kids exploring and hunting for fossils. The area is littered with fossils of ferns, palms, leaves and other plants embedded in shale and sandstone and that fit well with their earth science studies. The falls are on Racehorse Creek, a tributary of the North Fork Nooksack River and are worthy of a visit apart from the fossils. The inset photos show some of the fossils that can be found there.

Racehorse Falls is in the foothills of the North Cascades, not very far from where we live. It is named for the horse-head shaped opening to the left of the falls, not visible here. We were there in March with a friend who had not seen the falls before and due to an abundance of rain there was more water coming over the falls than I've ever seen. It is quite an adventure getting to the base of the falls when the water is high, though somewhat easier on the other side of the creek. Racehorse Creek is a tributary of the North Fork Nooksack River.

This and the next picture are the last two I'm posting from Slide Mountain and Racehorse Creek. I liked the tones and the light on the water and thought it worth posting for those reasons.

This is Racehorse Creek below the falls shown in the inset picture. This area was heavily overgrown until 2009 when a flash flood caused by a landslide scoured out the area and deposited a lot of fallen timber and boulders in the area.

These are tiny, only an inch or so tall. I believe they are the British Soldier Lichens, Cladonia cristatella. These were photographed on a boulder on Slide Mountain in Whatcom County, Washington.

Here's another shot of Racehorse Falls, a falls on Racehorse Creek, one of the tributaries of the North Fork Nooksack River in Whatcom County, Washington. There is not much of a trail to the falls but they are not far off the North Fork Road and with a bit of scrambling can be reached rather easily, less so when the water is higher. This photo show again the hole in the rock next to the falls from which the falls gets its name. The falls are about 100 feet tall.

Taken at Slide Mountain while hunting for Eocene fossils there. Liked the idea of juxtaposing the fossil with a bit of fern growing nearby. The rock also contains parts of other leaves at the top and to the side of the living fern. Not entirely happy with the photo, though. Wanted more contrast between the imprint of the fossil and the surrounding rock but couldn't get it.

To the left of the falls is reason for the falls' name. The hole in the rock there does resemble the head of racehorse, though the hole is not always visible when there is more water coming over the falls. Interestingly, another falls further up the creek is named Triple Crown Falls. These falls are in the area of Slide Mountain where we went fossil-hunting, though this photo was taken on another visit to the area. The landslide we searched for fossils is further up the stream and above and to the right side of the picture, on the side of Slide Mountain. In fact, when the landslide occurred on January 5, 2009, the creek was temporarily blocked by the slide and when the water finally broke through caused a flood of water, rocks and trees to come down the creek and over the falls, scouring out the area and changing the landscape. The area of the falls was overgrown with trees at that time but was opened up by the landslide and its results and fossils can be found here as well. In fact, a huge fossil of bird tracks found here is now on display at Western Washington University in Bellingham.

I am interrupting my photos of the Canadian Rockies to post some pictures from last Saturday's hike with son Edward. We went fossil hunting in the area of Slide Mountain and Racehorse Creek and found plenty of what we were were hunting. This is a fossil of fern leaves along with other leaves in carbonaceous shale. Another fossil of a palm frond is shown below. This rock is only about a foot across, but the rock below is a huge boulder. The whole area is a fossil hunter's paradise, but these were found in the area of a massive landslide that took place in 2009 (more information with the other picture), uncovering thousands of fossils. Slide Mountain is in Whatcom County, Washington in the foothills of the North Cascades and overlooks the Nooksack River and Racehorse Creek and the formations are referred to as Eocene Chuckanut formations, layers of shale and sandstone.

Last Saturday, November 9, son Edward and I hiked around Slide Mountain and the Racehorse Creek landslide, looking for fossils. The hike was more of a muddy scramble than anything else, but we found plenty of fossils and also met up with some of Edward's co-workers and spent most of the afternoon with them doing some more fossil hunting and exploring. The Racehorse Creek landslide happened on January 5, 2009, after a days of warm stormy weather and rain (what we call here a Pineapple Express). About 500,000 cubit feet of rock and earth slid down the mountain and into Racehorse Creek temporarily blocking the Creek and two days later causing a massive flood of water, rock and timber down Racehorse Creek. The landslide left a 350 foot cliff in the side of the mountain and uncovered thousands of Eocene fossils, mostly of plants, though bird tracks have also been found. The debris field itself is a jumble of boulders and timber and the best place to look for fossils, though it requires some serious scrambling, but the fossils can be found all over the mountain and we looked in several other places as well. The area is layers of soft carbonaceous shale which quickly weathers and crumbles and Chuckanut sandstone. The fossils are found in both with inclusions of coal as well. This is a photo of a whole palm frond and pieces of other fronds in shale. The rock is around four feet long and several feet wide, to give an indication of scale, and many of these fossils are massive.

The eagles are in the area nesting and fishing, and while out today I managed to get a few half decent shots. I didn't have my telephoto lens so they are a bit more distant than I would have liked. The second shot, however, is with a cheap telephoto and was taken a few days previous to the others. Also, if you have time, please take a look at my 17 year old son's photostream at www.flickr.com/photos/8686966@N02/

Edward, Jennifer and I went the annual plowing competition at Berthusen Park this morning. It was a wretched day, dull and rainy, but the horses were beautiful even in the rain.

Was at Clayton Beach in Larrabee State Park for a while yesterday and photographed this young couple walking in the water. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2010/08/larrabee-st...