Bald Hill Evening Walk

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Heather and I went on a walk up Bald Hill this evening.  The sun was shining, it was the perfect temperature for a walk, the grass was green, and the trees were just leafing out.  Perfection!

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The old Bald Hill Farm.  The Greenbelt Land Trust is trying to buy the property so that it does not get developed.  This is a double-edged sword.  While it is good for the town to have a greenbelt, it is also bad for the town in that the greenbelt almost completely encircles Corvallis, effectively limiting all future growth and expansion.  At least current home owners know that their property values will always increase?

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Many flowers were blooming along the trail through the wet meadows and fields owned by the farm.

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Heather enjoyed a bench while I took photos of flowers.

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On top of Bald Hill looking toward Marys Peak.  Not a cloud in the sky today!


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On top of Bald Hill.

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Looking out toward Corvallis.

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These are special trees.  I have never seen larger madrones anywhere.  The trunks of this cluster of madrone trees each span 5-8 feet making them some of the largest on the west coast.

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They reach toward the sky in the midst of a grove of relatively young douglas fir trees.

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Heather standing next to one of the smaller trees for size comparison.

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The old barn on the north shoulder of Bald Hill.

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Such a great grass field to roll around in!

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The sun has set.

IMG_6724Heather looking out toward Corvallis and the nearly full moon.


IMG_6734The full moon and Corvallis behind us.


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Goodnight Wednesday!

Beaver Dam Sabotage in Corvallis?

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The Dunawi Creek Wetlands behind Heather’s apartment has been full of water the last few weeks.  Today when we walked through the wetland we noticed that the water was much lower than normal.  At the upstream end of Starker Arts Park we found the beaver dam.  It appeared that someone had busted the dam open.

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Among the beaver and duck tracks, there were also a couple of human boot prints.

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This pile of sticks next to the hole in the beaver dam doesn’t strike me as something that a beaver would do when opening up their own dam to lower water levels.  Especially the shovel scoops of mud on top… that looks a bit suspicious.

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Did someone break apart this beaver dam or did the beavers do it themselves?  Is it a crime to destroy beaver building projects and hurt protected wetlands?

IMG_6683The scene of the dam breach.