Deep in the Duwamish Greenbelt on an unimproved trail it was hot and sticky today. No breeze to cool me down as I climbed down into the ravine and then back out.

When I got to the bottom, I decided it was too steep to go down to the creek. There was water at the bottom enticing me that I had to resist.

However, it was so steep someone had put a strap for climbing up and down. This girl decided it was not worth the risk of a broken bone here in the suburban wilderness.

So, I turned around, put my mace away and started trucking up the trail back to civilization. Mace you ask? Here in the city of Seattle not likely I would meet a bear.  I carry it when I go off main trails due to the homeless and other odd folks one might stumble upon.

It was hot going up hill. Figure it to be in the mid 80s plus dang humid too. When I got back to my car I realized it was only in the low 70s there.  The off-path route was so deep into a ravine it had heated up more than the surrounding forest.

I stopped for a drink of water and to rest a bit when I saw a flash of little birds dancing through the bushes. They were singing in a tinkley way as they went. It was a mixed flock of bushtits, chickadees and kinglets flying from bush to tree to branch.

Then they stopped in a grove of oceanspray. There they were hanging upside down and sideways to nibble on the flowers that were going to seed.  Oceanspray which is also known as Ironwood has white flowing flowers that appear in the early summer.  It has been hot and dry here in the Pacific Northwest so this area’s bushes had turned pinky.

This short video of one of the bushtits bebopping around this pinky warm paradise is worth more than all the words I have. Enjoy how sweet the encounter was.