In early June, I camped by Lily Lake in Goat Rock Wilderness. I wanted to see how the lake changes as light passed through sunset to twilight. Red cedars, Douglas firs, and western hemlocks lined the shoreline of the lake. A wide band of alders extended out into the lake. It looked like a trail extended through the alders that made me wonder if lake level drops as the summer progresses. I looked for a place that I could climb farther out into the alder band and get a good view across the lake. I discovered a place along the north shore that I could squeeze around a cedar trunk and walk a few feet out on small mound to have a nice view. I decided to return here later in the evening to watch. As I turned to return to my campsite a cascade frog jumped into the water, maybe I will hear them calling tonight?
I returned around 8 pm to watch and listen as light decreased in the forest. Two common mergansers flew into the lake right when I arrived at my perch. Song sparrows were singing loudly on either side of me and one hoped through the bushes in front of me. A varied thrush whistle penetrated the forest from behind me, and a Townsend warbler’s buzzy song drifted from the canopy above me. After about 20 minutes, the cascade frogs began to call and clearly there were a lot of frogs. Their calls grew and declined repeatedly. It seemed that if one began to call then all the rest attempted to over shadow their neighbor. After a few minutes of full call, they would quite down until the next male started it all over again. Just before 9 pm, a very small bat began flying back and forth over the alders in an erratic flight pattern as it tried to grab insects from the air. I hoped it might come closer to me because the mosquitos were a little annoying.
The sun was off to my right and I could not see it. The clouds above the far ridge changed color as the sun gradually set below the horizon and the lake shifted from yellow-green to having a blue cast as the sun dropped below the horizon. A little after 9 pm, I turned to work my way back to my camp and listening to the frogs calling as I drifted to sleep.
