Sunshine, early blooms are intoxicating

N.S. NOKKENTVED

Originally published Tuesday, March 5, 2002

Man, I have a bad case of spring fever.

On a recent sunny day, I skipped lunch and went for a walk around Capitol Lake -- actually ate my lunch at my desk after the walk.

The bright sunshine was a welcome surprise on a day the newspaper had predicted clouds and rain. I noticed the big buds on many trees, the catkins on the alders and some bushes already leafing out.

The Canada geese are pairing up -- honking, chasing each other and generally raising a fuss.

Everywhere new green things are cropping up. Crocuses -- or is that croci? -- are showing the color of their blossoms.

And looming over it all, the white-clad Olympic Mountains stand tall and proud, beckoning, teasing.

A light breeze ruffles the deep blue water.

It all gave me pause to think about all the new things I've done in the past year here in Olympia, and the promise of adventures to come.

There was salmon fishing in the ocean at Westport, steelhead fishing on the Satsop River and boat-hopping trying to cover the Toliva Shoal Race. I recall taking in the view from Hurricane Ridge, and the hot pools at Sol Duc.

I walked among the delicate wildflowers on Mount Rainier and hiked among the massive giants in the Olympic rain forest. And there was even time for canoeing on the Black River and McAllister Creek and once in Chambers Lake.

Not that I haven't been active over the winter, but warm, sunny days in February always inspire a case of cabin fever in me. Somehow the promise of warmer, sunnier days, and especially of less rain, is intoxicating.

And I drank deeply.

I was ready to load up the canoe and paddle somewhere -- mingle with the ducks -- instead of going back to the office to write this.

Of course, I fully expect it to rain on the weekend. Seems like an immutable law of nature that nice days during late winter are always followed by rainy, windy, snowy -- or all of the above -- weekends.

Despite the rain that followed, that window of good weather left me with a sense of urgency to get the gear of summer ready. Maybe put a new set of tires on the bike, and the rails of the canoe need a coat of oil, and somewhere in the garage my tent is buried.

Nothing like the changing of the season to wake me from the gloom of dark, soggy days and long winter nights. I am always invigorated when the lengthening day seeps in my windows, spreading the promise of long nights and outdoor adventures ahead.

N.S. Nokkentved covers the outdoors for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5445 and at nnokkent@olympia. gannett.com.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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