Tag: lupine

2023 Flower Gallery

In 2018 we began a tradition of posting a collection of the variety of flowers that we encountered during the years hikes. It’s always a bit shocking to see just how many different varieties we actually saw over the course of the year. It appears that the total in 2023 was between 300 and 350. We are still learning to identify the flowers and are a long way from being able to tell some of the different species apart. That doesn’t take away from our ability to enjoy the flowers though, so with that in mind here are some (but not all) of the flowers we saw this past year. (Any IDs provided are best guesses and any corrections or additional IDs are greatly appreciated.)

The first wildflowers we spotted were snow queen during a March 11th hike at Fitton Green Natural Area near Corvallis.

Here are the others in no particular order. I’ve tried to identify non-natives as well as indicate if this was our first time (that we know of) seeing a particular flower. Locations are all in Oregon unless noted as WA.

Allumroot – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Alpine pennycress – 5/4/23, Forest Road 011, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

American saw-wort – 8/14/23, Main Eagle Creek Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Anemone – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Serpentine arnica – 5/4/23, Eight Dollar Mountain Boardwalk, BLM Grants Pass Resource Area

Arnica – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Arnica – 7/31/23, Garfield Peak Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Spear-leaf arnica – 7/31/23, Garfield Peak Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Arnica? – 8/16/23, Tombstone Lake Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Avalanche lilies – 7/15/23, Plaza Trail, Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness

Fawn lily – 4/13/23, Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge, Rickreall

Henderson’s fawn lily – 5/2/2023, Sterling Mine Ditch Trail System, BLM Medford District

Checker lily – 5/4/23, Forest Road 011, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Azalea – 5/4/23, Eight Dollar Mountain Boardwalk, BLM Grants Pass Resource Area

Rhododendron – 7/15/23, Tumala Mountain, Mt. Hood National Forest

Ball-head waterleaf – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Pacific waterleaf – 5/2/2023, Sterling Mine Ditch Trail System, BLM Medford District

Balsamroot – 5/27/23, Metolius Preserve, Camp Sherman

Hoary balsamroot – 6/15/23, Buckhorn Lookout, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Silky balsamroot – 5/4/23, Little Falls Trail Loop, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest (first time seeing)

Deltoid balsamroot – 5/2/2023, Sterling Mine Ditch Trail System, BLM Medford District

Beargrass – 7/4/23, Rockytop Trail, Santiam State Forest

Bigelow sneezweed – 10/7/2023, Sturgis Fork Trail, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Field bindweed (non-native) – 6/14/23, Eureka Bar, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Bindweed (non-native) – 8/26/23, Old Growth Cedar Trail, Rockaway Beach

Biscuitroot – 5/4/23, Little Falls Trail Loop, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Biscuitroot – 5/13/23, Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, Sherwood

Biscuitroot – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Bistort – 7/31/23, Castle Crest Wildflower Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Blanket flower – 6/14/23, Eureka Bar, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Bleeding heart – 4/29/23, Canemah Bluff, Oregon City

Blue dicks – 5/1/23, Rogue River National Recreation Trail, BLM Medford District

Ookow – 6/3/23, Buck Creek Trail, Husem, WA

Large-flower tritelia – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Bluebells of Scotland – 7/15/23, Sheepshead Rock, Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness

Tall bluebells – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Scouler’s bluebell – 7/4/23, Natural Rock Arch Trail, Santiam State Forest

Blue-eyed Mary – 5/2/23, Cathedral Hills, Grants Pass

Giant blue-eyed Mary – 4/29/23, Canemah Bluff, Oregon City

Bog orchid – 7/31/23, Castle Crest Wildflower Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Phantom orchid – 6/3/23, Buck Creek Trail, Husem, WA

Bolander’s yampah – 6/15/23, Nee-Mee-Poo National Historic Trail, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Broad-leaved pepperweed (non-native) – 6/11/23, Hat Rock State Park, Hermiston

Brown’s peony – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Buckwheat – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

Buckwheat – 7/31/23, Garfield Peak Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Buckwheat – 7/30/23, Crater Peak Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Buckwheat – 6/3/23, Nestor Peak, Husem, WA

Wickerstem buckwheat – 9/3/23, Threemile Canyon, BLM Burns District

Bunchberry – 7/4/23, Santiam State Forest

Buttercups – 4/29/23, Canemah Bluff, Oregon City

California darlingtonia – 5/4/23, Eight Dollar Mountain Botanical Area, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

California gromwell – 5/4/23, Eight Dollar Mountain Botanical Area, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Western stoneseed – 5/27/23, Metolius Preserve, Camp Sherman

California groundcones – 5/3/23, Dollar Mountain, Grants Pass

California harebells – 6/25/23, North Umpqua Trail, BLM Roseburg District

California poppies – 6/13/23, Highway 351, Joseph

Camas – 4/29/23, Canemah Bluff, Oregon City

Death camas – 5/4/23, Eight Dollar Mountain Boardwalk, BLM Grants Pass Resource Area

Mountain death camas – 8/14/23, Main Eagle Creek Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Candy flower – 5/3/23, Waters Creek Interpretive Trail, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Candysticks – 7/8/23, Santiam Wagon Road, Willamette National Forest

Carolina bugbane – 7/15/23, Old Baldy Trail, Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness

Cascade lily – 7/4/23, Natural Rock Arch Trail, Santiam State Forest

Catchfly – 7/4/23, Rockytop Trail, Santiam State Forest

Checker-mallow – 5/13/23, Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, Sherwood

Checker-mallow – 5/13/23, Graham Oaks Nature Park, Wilsonville

Checker-mallow – 6/25/23, North Bank Habitat, BLM Roseburg District

Orange globe mallow – 6/14/23, Eureka Bar Hells Canyon National Scenic Area

Chicory (non-native) – 6/14/23, Imnaha Trail, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Chokecherry – 5/30/23, Riley Ranch Preserve, Bend

Mallow ninebark – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman

Cinquefoil – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Shrubby cinquefoil – 8/14/23, Main Eagle Creek Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Clarkia – 6/3/23, Buck Creek Trail, Husem, WA

Elkhorn clarkia – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Tomcat clover – 5/13/23, Cooper Mountain Nature Park, Beaverton

Clover (possibly Beckwith’s?) – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Twin clover – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest (first time seeing)

Large-head clover – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Wooly-head clover – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Owl’s clover – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Clustered broomrape – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Naked broomrape – 5/1/23, Rogue River National Recreation Trail, BLM Medford District

Coast flat stem onion – 5/4/23, Jeffrey Pine Loop Trail, BLM Medford District

Swamp onion – 8/14/23, Main Eagle Creek Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Tolmie’s onion – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Coltsfoot – 4/15/23, Enchanted Valley, Siuslaw National Forest

Columbian lewisia – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Threeleaf lewisia – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Columbine – 7/4/23, Rockytop Trail, Santiam State Forest

Yellow columbine – 8/17/23, West Eagle Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Coneflower – 8/16/23, West Eagle Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Pacific Coralroot – 7/15/23, Plaza Lake Trail, Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness

Spotted coralroot – 6/3/23, Buck Creek Trail, Husem, WA

Crater Lake collomia – 9/9/23, Cliff Lake Trail, Sky Lakes Wilderness

Grand collomia – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

Variable-leaf collomia – 6/24/23, Rogue River National Recreation Trail, Wild Rogue Wilderness

Tiny trumpet – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest (first time seeing)

Creeping wirelettuce – 7/29/23, Stuart Falls Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Currant – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Red flowering currant – 4/14/23, Minto-Brown Island Park, Salem

Cusick’s speedwell – 8/15/23 Bear Lake Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Daffodils (non-native) – 4/13/23, Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge, Rickreall

Dalmation toadflax (non-native) – 6/16/23, Copper Creek Day Use Area, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Deer vetch – 7/22/23, Shut-In Trail, Deschutes National Forest

Idaho milk-vetch – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

Rogue River milk-vetch – 5/2/2023, Sterling Mine Ditch Trail System, BLM Medford District

Woolly-pod milk-vetch – 5/2/2023, Sterling Mine Ditch Trail System, BLM Medford District

Vetch – 5/13/23, Cooper Mountain Nature Park, Beaverton

Vetch – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Pea (non-native) – 6/24/23, Rogue River National Recreation Trail, Wild Rogue Wilderness

Del Norte iris – 5/1/23, Rogue River National Recreation Trail, BLM Medford District

Tough leaf iris – 5/13/23, Cooper Mountain Nature Park, Beaverton

Iris – 5/4/23, Little Falls Trail Loop, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Diffuse-flower evening primrose surrounded by blue-eyed Mary – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Drummond’s anemone – 7/30/23, Crater Peak Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Western pasque flower – 7/8/23, Sand Mountain, Willamette National Forest

Western paque flower (seedheads) – 7/31/23, Garfield Peak Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Dwarf ceanothus – 5/3/23, Limpy Botanical Trail, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Elegant brodiaea – 6/24/23, Rogue River National Recreation Trail, Wild Rogue Wilderness

European centaury (non-native) – 6/25/23, North Bank Habitat, BLM Roseburg District

Fairy slippers – 5/3/23, Limpy Botanical Trail, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Mountain lady slipper – 6/3/23, Buck Creek Trail, Husem, WA

Fiddleneck – 5/2/2023, Sterling Mine Ditch Trail System, BLM Medford District

Field chickweed – 5/4/23, Forest Road 011, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Fireweed – 6/25/23, North Umpqua Trail, BLM Roseburg District

False hellebore – 7/31/23, Garfield Peak Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Dipping into fleabanes, asters and/or daisies, possibly the hardest to differentiate. These are my best guesses but I could be way off.
Desert yellow fleabane – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

Sub-alpine fleabane – 10/7/23, Forest Road 600, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Fleabane? – 6/14/23, Eureka Bar, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Fleabane? – 6/11/23, Hat Rock State Park, Hermiston

Not even going to guess, could be a non-native. – 5/13/23, Graham Oaks Nature Park, Wilsonville

Diasy? – 7/4/23, Niagra Heights Road, Santiam State Forest

Hairy golden aster – 6/14/23, Eureka Bar, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Oregon sunshine – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

Oregon sunshine – 6/3/23, Nestor Peak, Husem, WA

Sunflower – 9/3/23, Threemile Canyon, BLM Burns District

Foam flower – 8/5/23, McGee Creek Trail, Mt. Hood Wilderness

Foxglove (non-native) – 7/4/23, Natural Rock Arch Trail, Santiam State Forest

Fringecup – 5/13/23, Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, Sherwood

Gentians – 8/16/23, Tombstone Lake Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Gold stars? – 5/2/23, Cathedral Hills, Grants Pass

Goldenrod – 7/22/23, Metolius River Trail, Deschutes National Forest

Grass-of-parnassus – 9/9/23, Pacific Crest Trail, Sky Lakes Wilderness

Gray sagewort (among others) – 8/14/23, Main Eagle Creek Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Groundsel – 6/3/23, Buck Creek Trail, Husem, WA

Groundsel – 7/30/23, Plaikni Falls Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Heatleaf spring beauty – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Hedgenettle – 7/22/23, Shut-In Trail, Deschutes National Forest

Honeysuckle – 5/13/23, Cooper Mountain Nature Park, Beaverton

Honeysuckle – 6/25/23, North Bank Habitat, BLM Roseburg District

Twinberry honeysuckle – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Utah honeysuckle – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Twinflower honeysuckle – 7/22/23, Metolius River Trail, Deschutes National Forest

Horkelia – 7/22/23, Metolius River Trail, Deschutes National Forest

Houndstongue – 6/13/23, Iwetemlaykin State Heritage Site, Joseph

Pacific houndstongue – 5/2/2023, Sterling Mine Ditch Trail System, BLM Medford District

Jessica’s stickseed – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Hooker’s Indian pink – 5/3/23, Dollar Mountain, Grants Pass

Hooker’s fairy bells – 4/29/23, Canemah Bluff, Oregon City

Huckleberry – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Indian plum – 4/13/23, Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge, Rickreall

Mountain snowberry – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman

Salmonberry – 4/8/23, Minto-Brown Island Park, Salem

Salal – 6/25/23, North Umpqua Trail, BLM Roseburg District

Oregon grape – 4/8/23, Minto-Brown Island Park, Salem

Serviceberry – 5/13/23, Cooper Mountain Nature Park, Beaverton

Strawberry – 4/29/23, Canemah Bluff, Oregon City

Thimbleberry – 6/3/23, Buck Creek Trail, Husem, WA

Large-flower hawksbeard – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

Golden Paintbrush (Castilleja levisecta) – 5/13/23, Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, Sherwood

Hairy Indian paintbrush (Castilleja tenuis) – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman

Paintbrush – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman

– 6/3/23, Buck Creek Trail, Husem, WA

Cobwebby paintbrush (Castilleja arachnoidea) – 7/31/23, Rim Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Yellow Wallowa Indian paintbrush (Castilleja chrysantha) – 8/15/23, Lookingglass Lake Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Rosy paintbrush – 8/16/23, Tombstone Lake Trail, Eagle Cap WildernessFph

Indian warrior (Pedicularis densiflora) – 5/2/23, Cathedral Hills, Grants Pass (first time seeing)

Inside-out flower – 7/4/23, Natural Rock Arch Trail, Santiam State Forest

Jaccob’s ladder – 8/16/23, West Eagle Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Larkspur – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Larkspur – 5/1/23, Rogue River National Recreation Trail, BLM Medford District

Red larkspur – 5/1/23, Rogue River National Recreation Trail, BLM Medford District (first time seeing)

Tall mountain larkspur – 8/14/23, Main Eagle Creek Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Dwarf lupine – 7/8/23, Santiam Wagon Road, Willamette National Forest

Miniature lupine – 5/2/2023, Sterling Mine Ditch Trail System, BLM Medford District

Lupine – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

Lupine (non-native colors) – 5/13/23, Graham Oaks Nature Park, Wilsonville

Flax – 5/30/23, Riley Ranch Preserve, Bend

Coiled lousewort – 8/16/23, Tombstone Lake Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Sickletop lousewort – 8/16/23, West Eagle Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Sea blush (plectritis) – 4/29/23, Canemah Bluff, Oregon City

Longhorn plectritis – 5/30/23, Riley Ranch Preserve, Bend

White mariposa lily – 8/14/23, Main Eagle Creek Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Sagebrush mariposa lily – 6/14/23, Eureka Bar, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Mariposa lily (possibly a white sagebrush) – 6/14/23, Eureka Bar, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Sub-alpine mariposa lilies – 6/3/23, Buck Creek Trail, Husem, WA

Tolmie’s mariposa lily – 5/3/23, Dollar Mountain, Grants Pass

Manyflower tonella – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman

Small-flowered tonella – 4/29/23, Canemah Bluff, Oregon City (first time seeing)

Lewis monkefylower – 7/30/23, Plaikni Falls Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Monkeyflower – 5/1/23, Rogue River National Recreation Trail, BLM Medford District

Monkeyflower – 6/3/23, Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Trout Lake, WA

Milk kelloggia (Kelloggia galioides) – 7/31/23, Garfield Peak Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Monkshood – 7/30/23, Plaikni Falls Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Moth mullein (non-native) – 6/14/23, Imnaha Trail, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Mountain heather – 8/5/23, Timberline Trail, Mt. Hood Wilderness

Mock orange – 7/4/23, North Santiam Park, Mill City

Mountain ash – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Showy milkweed – 6/14/23, Eureka Bar, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Western clematis – 6/16/23, Trail 1890, Hells Canyon Wilderness

Western blue clematis – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Nightshade (non-native) – 6/14/23, Imnaha Trail, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

A knotweed? – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman

Shasta knotweed – 7/31/23, Rim Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Nettle-leaf giant hyssop – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman

Nuttal’s linanthus – 8/15/23 Bear Lake Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

One-sided wintergreen – 7/29/23, Stuart Falls Trail, Sky Lakes Wilderness

Wintergreen – 7/30/23, Plaikni Falls Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Orange agoseris – 7/15/23, Sheepshead Rock, Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness

Partridgefoot – 7/31/23, Garfield Peak Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Pearly everlasting – 7/29/23, Stuart Falls Trail, Sky Lakes Wilderness

Granite prickley-phlox – 7/31/23, Garfield Peak Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Phlox – 5/4/23, Little Falls Trail Loop, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Showy phlox – 5/4/23, Eight Dollar Mountain Boardwalk, BLM Grants Pass Resource Area

Slender phlox – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Phlox – 7/31/23, Rim Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Phlox? – 6/14/23, Eureka Bar, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Penstemons is another genus that I have a really hard time telling apart.
Woodland beardtongue – 7/4/23, Rockytop Trail, Santiam State Forest

Globe penstemon – 8/15/23 Bear Lake Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Royal? penstemon – 5/30/23, Riley Ranch Preserve, Bend

Finetooth? penstemon – 6/3/23, Buck Creek Trail, Husem, WA

Shrubby penstemon – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Wilcox’s? penstemon – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Scabland penstemon – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Unknown penstemon – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman

Glaucous? beardtongue – 7/4/23, Niagra Heights Road, Santiam State Forest

Silverleaf phacelia – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

Threadleaf phacelia – 5/30/23, Riley Ranch Preserve, Bend

A phacelia? – 8/16/23, Tombstone Lake Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Pinedrop – 7/22/23, Metolius River Trail, Deschutes National Forest

Prairie smoke – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman

Prickly pear cactus – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman (first time seeing)

Prince’s pine – 7/8/23, Santiam Wagon Road, Willamette National Forest

Pussypaws – 7/8/23, Santiam Wagon Road, Willamette National Forest

Pussytoes – 7/30/23, Crater Peak Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Rosy pussytoes – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Queen’s cup – 7/15/23, Old Baldy Trail, Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness

Ragwort (non-native) – 8/26/23, Fort Yamhill State Heritage Area, Grand Ronde

Wild rose – 6/3/23, Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Trout Lake, WA

Rose campion (non-native) – 6/16/23, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, Wallow-Whitman National Forest

Rough eyelashweed – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

Sagebrush false dandelion – 7/30/23, Crater Peak Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Sandwort – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

A saxifrage – 7/4/23, Niagra Heights Road, Santiam State Forest

A saxifrage – 7/15/23, Sheepshead Rock, Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness

A saxifrage – 7/31/23, Rim Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Silvery raillardella – 7/31/23, Rim Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Scarlet gilia – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Scenic Area, Wallowa-Whitman

Scarlet fritillary – 5/2/2023, Sterling Mine Ditch Trail System, BLM Medford District

Siskiyou fritillary – 5/3/23, Limpy Botanical Trail, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Self-heal – 6/25/23, North Umpqua Trail, BLM Roseburg District

Shooting star – 5/2/23, Cathedral Hills, Grants Pass

Scouler’s woollyweed – 7/29/23, Stuart Falls Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Silvercrown – 5/3/23, Dollar Mountain, Grants Pass

Skullcap – 5/2/23, Cathedral Hills, Grants Pass

Skunk cabbage – 4/15/23, Enchanted Valley, Siuslaw National Forest

Douglas spirea – 10/7/2023, Sturgis Fork Trail, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Mountain spirea – 7/4/23, Niagra Heights Road, Santiam State Forest

White spirea – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Spreading dogbane – 7/22/23, Metolius River Trail, Deschutes National Forest

St. John’s wort (non-native) – 6/14/23, Imnaha Trail, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Solomonseal – 5/27/23, Blowout Arm, Detroit Lake

Star-flower solomonseal – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Star flower – 5/13/23, Cooper Mountain Nature Park, Beaverton

Sticky purple geranium – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Tasselflower brickellbush – 8/14/23, Main Eagle Creek Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Tiger lily – 7/4/23, Rockytop Trail, Santiam State Forest

Leopard lilies – 7/29/23, Stuart Falls Trail, Sky Lakes Wilderness

Toothwort – 4/15/23, Enchanted Valley, Siuslaw National Forest

Trillium – 4/15/23, Enchanted Valley, Siuslaw National Forest

Giant white wakerobin – 5/2/23, Cathedral Hills, Grants Pass

Twinflower – 7/8/23, Santiam Wagon Road, Willamette National Forest

Thistle (wavy-leaf?) – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Thistle (Palouse?) – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Snowy thistle – 6/24/23, Rogue River National Recreation Trail, Wild Rogue Wilderness

Thistle (Canadian? if so non-native) – 6/25/23, North Umpqua Trail, BLM Roseburg District

Stonecrop – 7/30/23, Crater Peak Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Stonecrop – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Stonecrop – 8/16/23, Tombstone Lake Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Valerian – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Goosefoot violet – 5/27/23, Metolius Preserve, Camp Sherman

Hookedspur violet – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Marsh violet – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Violet – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Violet – 4/15/23, Enchanted Valley, Siuslaw National Forest

Violet – 6/3/23, Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Trout Lake, WA

Violets – 5/4/23, Little Falls Trail Loop, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Wedgeleaf violet – 5/4/23, Eight Dollar Mountain Boardwalk, BLM Grants Pass Resource Area

Wallflower – 5/30/23, Riley Ranch Preserve, Bend

Western meadowrue – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Western snakeroot – 8/16/23, West Eagle Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

White-stemmed frasera – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Woodland-stars – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Yarrow – 6/14/23, Eureka Bar, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Youth-on-age – 4/29/23, Canemah Bluff, Oregon City

Common bugloss (non-native) – 6/14/23, Eureka Bar, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

White campion (non-native) – 6/14/23, Eureka Bar, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Unknown – 7/4/23, Rockytop Trail, Santiam State Forest

Unknown – 8/5/23, McNeil Point scramble trail, Mt. Hood Wilderness

Best guess is a popcorn flower but? – 6/3/23, Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Trout Lake, WA

Unknown, possibly non-native – 6/15/23, Nee-Mee-Poo National Historic Trail, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Unknown, possibly non-native – 6/13/23, Iwetemlaykin State Heritage Site, Joseph

Unknown, probably non-native – 6/14/23, Imnaha Trail, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Unknown, probably non-native – 8/26/23, Old Growth Cedar Trail, Rockaway Beach

The last flower we saw was a non-native in December.
Unkown. probably non-native – 12/16/23, Mt. Tabor Nature Park, Portland

Tags California darlingtonia, hiking, Indian warrior, larkspur, lily, lupine, Oregon wildflowers, paintbrush, Washington, wildflowers

Central Oregon Hiking Oregon Trip report

Criterion Tract – 05/28/2023

Post author By yunckrunner
Post date June 1, 2023
2 Comments on Criterion Tract – 05/28/2023

Knowing that trails would be busy over the holiday weekend we looked for an option that might provide some solitude and turned to another Matt Reeder hike at BLM managed Criterion Tract (BLM map). Reeder features this hike in his “PDX Hiking 365” guidebook and lists April as the best time to visit. His reasoning is that April to early May is the usually the peak wildflower blooms. With this years blooms running a couple of weeks late we hoped that Memorial Day weekend wouldn’t be too late. I couldn’t find any information other than the map linked above on the BLM website but in addition to Reeder’s entry there is a route featured in the Oregonhikers.org field guide and Sullivan features a route starting along the Deschutes River in his 2022 “100 Hikes Eastern Oregon” guidebook (not the edition we are using for our quest of his featured hikes).

While there are several possible access points we started at the Criterion North Trailhead.

Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams from the trailhead which is the high point of the hike.

Mt. Hood

The “trails” here consist of old jeep tracks that are closed to motorized use (other than BLM administrators) and not maintained so some have become faint. We passed through a green gate and onto what the Oregonhikers.org map shows as Criterion Crest Road.
Cattle sometimes graze in the area and the combination of their hooves with the unmaintained roads makes for some pretty rough surfaces.

Reeder has you follow this road for nearly four miles before turning downhill through a gate at a faint 4-way junction. He doesn’t mention any other markers along the way but the road passes under a set of power lines, followed by another gate, then the power lines again, a third gate, and passes an abandoned trailer before reaching the 4-way junction. Mountain views stretched from Mt. Bachelor to the South to Mt. Adams in Washington to the North. We saw plenty of wildflowers and a lot of birds as well as deer and elk sign, but we didn’t see any hooved mammals (including cows thankfully).

Rough-eyelashweed. There was a lot of this blooming along the road.

A couple of lomatiums.

Howell’s milkvetch

Idaho milkvetch

Western meadowlark

A buckwheat

Carey’s balsamroot

Mt. Bachelor, Broken Top and the Three Sisters

Lupine

Bumble bee on Howell’s milkvetch

Lark sparrow

We spent a lot of time heading toward Mt. Hood.

Sparrow?

Mt. Adams

Mt. Hood

We were a little too late for the large-head clover.

Western meadowlark giving a performance.

The third gate with Mt. Hood in the distance.

Yarrow

Phlox

The Deschutes River winding through the valley below.

Rough eyelashweed and lupine with Mt. Hood behind.

Caterpillar

Lupine with Mt. Jefferson in the background.

Horned lark

Mt. Jefferson behind the abandoned trailer.

Mt. Jefferson was hidden at times but this gap in the hills provided a nice view.

Oregon sunshine

Skipper

Mt. Jefferson and Olallie Butte (post) behind the lupine.

A small watering hole.

Leaning toward an Acmon blue but not sure.

Another in the Lycaenidae family.

Large marble on a fiddleneck.

The fourth gate at the 4-way junction.

Mourning dove

We took a short break by the gate before passing through. As we descended on the jeep track we came to a split where the clearer track curved to the left while a faint track headed straight downhill through a field of balsamroot. Reeder’s map showed his route was along the fainter track so we stayed straight.
The more “obvious” jeep track curving left.

The fainter track angling slightly right.

We were a couple of weeks late for the peak balsamroot bloom, but there were enough remaining blooms/petals to color the hillside yellow.

Ochre ringlet on rougheyelashweed.

We soon rejoined the other jeep track where we turned right.

The terrain had leveled out and we continued on the track watching for Stag Point, a knoll with a post on top, which was Reeder’s turn around point.
Zerene fritillary

Zerene fritillary on salsify

We thought we spied the post and used the camera to zoom in and confirm.

This was the only knoll with a juniper as well as the post.

Largeflower hawksbeard

Paintbrush

To reach Stag Point we had to go cross country, so we looked for the most gradual looking climb.

Mt. Hood from Stag Point.

The Deschutes River from Stag Point.

The view was good from Stag Point, but we were hoping to see more of the river and decided to do a little more cross country exploring by heading SE along the rim from Stag Point to a promising looking rock outcrop.
Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams from Stag Point.

Looking back over the route we’d come down.

Ladybug and an Oregon swallowtail.

Desert yellow fleabane

Heading out to the rock outcrop.

Mt. Hood and Stag Point from the outcrop.

A better view of the Deschutes.

Mt. Hood beyond the cliffs.

A buckwheat

Satisfied now with the view we took a short break on the outcrop before heading back. We made our way back to the jeep track by angling back toward the rim where we’d descended. Once we’d reached the track we simply followed it back uphill to the gate at the 4-way junction.
Stink bug

Silverleaf phacelia

Back on the jeep track.

Lupine and balsamroot

The cows had really chewed this section of the jeep track up.

The gate ahead.

Horned lark guarding the gate.

After passing through the gate we retraced our route back to the trailhead. Butterflies were now out in force and we spotted a couple of lizards.
Mt. Jefferson and Olallie Butte

Grand collomia

Time for some sun.

A butterfly and fly.

Three butterflies and a fly.

Busy bee

This swallowtail was a little rough around the edges.

Another horned lark on lookout.

Nothing brings fritillary butterflies together like a good pile of scat.

We had been trying to figure out where the Oregonhikers loop had veered off Criterion Road and as we were discussing it on the way back it donned on us that it must follow the powerlines for a short distance. Neither of us had noticed another jeep track leading off around the powerlines but it made sense because there is almost always an access road below lines. Sure enough when we arrived at the power lines there was a jeep track clear as day.
Another option for another time. We were just happy to have solved that mystery.

The Radio Towers on the hill were right next to the trailhead.

The Three Sisters (from this angle it looks like two)

Three butterflies and a beetle on buckwheat.

Another mystery was where did the trail from the South Trailhead (just on the other side of the radio towers) connect. We’d missed the track on the right on our first pass, another question answered.

Lizard with half a tail at the trailhead.

This mountain bluebird was acting odd when we arrived at the gate. It was flying back and forth with something in its mouth. (Mt. Adams is in the background.)

It turned out to be a grasshopper that it was waiting to feed its young who were apparently in a nest in some nearby rocks.

After we passed by we heard the chicks calling and watched it fly into the rocks with their meal.

This turned out to be an excellent choice for the holiday weekend. We only encountered one other person, a trail runner we passed on our way back to the 4-way junction from Stag Point. The late wildflower season played to our advantage and the weather was good. It can get really hot and/or really windy there but on this day a reasonable breeze kept the temperature down without blowing us around. The rough tread was really the only downside to the hike, but that wasn’t too bad overall.

Our hike came in at 10.6 miles with roughly 700′ of elevation gain.

We definitely plan on returning to try Sullivan’s route from below someday and possibly trying to follow the Oregonhikers loop sometime as well. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Criterion Tract

Tags balsamroot, blm, Criterion North Trailhead, Criterion Ranch, Criterion Tract, Deschutes River, hiking, horned lark, lark sparrow, lupine, mountain view, Mt. Hood, Oregon, Stag Point, Western Meadowlark

Hiking Mt. Adams Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Sleeping Beauty & Foggy Flat Backpack Day One- 08/01/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 6, 2020
5 Comments on Sleeping Beauty & Foggy Flat Backpack Day One- 08/01/2020

Our first backpacking trip of the year was over Memorial Day weekend (post) but since then we hadn’t had an opportunity to break out our tent. Sleeping Beauty, a 3 mile featured hike in Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington” (4th edition), gave us a reason to put the tent to use again.

It wasn’t because the hike to the top of Sleeping Beauty was backpackable, but rather the 2:45 drive time to the trailhead was too long for this to be a stand alone hike for us. To make the trip worth the drive we decided to continued to nearby Mt. Adams and do a hike to Foggy Flat from Matt Reeder’s “PDX Hiking 365” guidebook.

We began our trip by driving to Trout Lake, WA then continued on to the Sleeping Beauty Trailhead.

The trail climbed steeply up through a green forest for a mile to a forested saddle. Most of the flowers had passed but a few lingered and the pearly everlasting was getting started. Thimbleberries weren’t quite ripe but we did find a few strawberries to snack on.

Beardstongue

Pearly everlasting next to thimbleberry bushes.

Not quite ready yet.

Near the saddle we got our first look at the rock feature that is Sleeping Beauty from the trail (it is visible on the drive).

The trail bends to the right (ignore a fainter trail heading left) at the saddle continuing through the trees.

Another bit of climbing brought us beneath the rocks.

The trail switchbacked its way up amid the rocks up stonework ramps gaining views of the surrounding Cascade mountains along the way.
Mt. Adams

Goat Rocks (post) to the left beyond Mt. Adams

Looking down at some of the switchbacks.

Mt. St. Helens in the distance.

The top of Mt. Rainier.

Mt. Hood to the South.

IMG_2431_stitch Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, Goat Rocks and Mt. Adams.

Indian Heaven Wilderness

It was fairly windy up on the rocks, just windy enough to make us a little nervous when we got to the saddle near the top as we had to push back a bit against it. Luckily the top is fairly wide and there was a least one place behind a rock where the wind was non-existent.
Looking east over the top of Sleeping Beauty.

20200801_084405_HDR Looking west to the true summit where a lookout once stood.

We were hoping to see a mountain goat as they do live here but alas we only saw some fur on a rock and a couple of bushes. The views would have to do and they did just fine. I scrambled over to the former lookout site after deciding it looked safe enough while Heather waited at the saddle.

Mt. Hood from the foundation of the former lookout.

After a good long time exploring the area and enjoying the views we headed back down. We passed several groups of hikers heading up (just about everyone had a mask) so we were once again glad we’d gotten the early start to have the top to ourselves.

From the trailhead we drove back to Trout Lake and turned left onto Mount Adams Road aka Forest Road 23. (Google would have had us continue on the forest road we had been on to reach the Killen Creek Trailhead, but Google doesn’t always know the condition of the Forest Roads and I don’t either so we played it safe.)

We then followed Reeder’s direction to the Killen Creek Trailhead stopping along the way when Heather spotted a nice waterfall on Big Spring Creek.
Sign at a pullout along FR 23.

These were huge yellow monkeyflowers.

Big Spring Creek

After the brief stop we drove on. The final 9 miles on FR 23 was gravel but wide and not too bad. We turned off of the gravel onto the narrow, paved FR 2329 which was a nice break, but beyond the turn for Takhalakh Lake Campground this road also turned to gravel. It was not in the best condition and was fairly narrow and busy which made for a bit of a tedious final 6 miles to the Killen Creek Trailhead.

After attempting some gear repair (a hole in some clothing) we set off and quickly entered the Mt. Adams Wilderness.

This was only our third visit to the wilderness with our first having been a hike from the South Climb Trailhead to Iceberg Lake in 2014 (post) and the second an overnight stay at Horseshoe Meadows in 2017 (post). (Apparently this is an every three year thing.)

The Killen Creek Trail climbed through the forest where we were pleased to find quite a few flowers were blooming. Little did we know what was coming.
Lupine along the trail.

Arnica

Lousewort

More lupine along the trail.

Partridge foot and lupine.

Lupine, paintbrush and valerian.

Lupine along the trail which sees a good amount of equestrian use.

Mountain heather.

As we continued to climb the number and types of flowers we were seeing kept increasing.
Yellow buttercups mixed in with the lupine, paintbrush and valerian.

Beardstongue, arnica and lupine.

Beargrass

Approximately 2.5 miles up the trail the flowers really started to explode as the trail began to level out a bit.

Over the next mile we gained views of Mt. Adams and crossed a small alpine stream all while being mesmerized by the flowers.

Lousewort

Elephants head near the stream.

Elephants head and a shooting star.

20200801_125034 Mountain heather

Phlox

As we gained elevation we also began to get glimpses of Mt. Rainier to the NW.

The views and flowers just kept getting better as we went.

False hellebore amid the lupine.

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Paintbrush framed by trees.

Woolly pussytoes

After a little over 3.25 miles the Killen Creek Trail ended at the Pacific Crest Trail.

We had been to this junction in 2017 when we had hiked the PCT north from Horseshoe Meadows. We had continued a few hundred feet before realizing that Killen Creek was still almost a mile away. This time we would be hiking beyond Killen Creek and so we turned left on the PCT and continued on.

Where the Killen Creek Trail was heading for Mt. Adams the PCT was bending around the mountain. This made for more up and down hiking as opposed to steady climbing. Mt. Adams occasionally made an appearance over our right shoulders and the flowers continued to be amazing.

20200801_131817 Cinquefoil

White and pink mountain heather, paintbrush and lupine above the PCT.

Shooting star

Violets

Coming in for a landing on groundsel.

Aster

The Goat Rocks was soon fully visible between us and Mt. Rainier.

IMG_2746_stitch Goat Rocks

A little under a mile from the Killen Creek Trail junction the PCT began a descent to Killen Creek Meadows.

Aster and white seed heads

There were a couple of small ponds still holding water in the meadows and we noticed a lot of ripples in the water as we approached.

It turned out to be pollywogs, and a lot of them.

Spirea

The PCT crossed Killen Creek on a footbridge just above a waterfall.

Killen Creek and Mt. Adams.

There was a steep path down on this side of the falls but it looked like the PCT might have a good view of it on the other side of the creek so we opted not to head down. We figured the worst case scenario was that there wouldn’t be a view and we could just go down on the way back out.

As we started to cross the bridge we noticed something in the creek nearby, it was an ouzel.

There wasn’t a great view of the waterfall on the other side.
The waterfall from the PCT.

The PCT descended to a lower meadow where a trail led out to a campsite and another possible vantage point for the waterfall but the view was obscured so we put it on the to do list for the next day.

From Killen Creek it was .2 flower filled miles to a junction with the Highline Trail.
Highline Trail ahead.

Here we left the PCT as it continued on its way to Goat Rocks and beyond and turned up the Highline Trail. Not far from the junction we arrived at an unnamed lake with a reflection of Mt. Adams.

The wildflowers had been impressive thus far but the Highline Trail took it up a notch.

Yellow arnica along the trail.

Beargrass in full bloom.

Subalpine mariposa lily

After a total of 1.7 miles on this trail we arrived at another junction. This time it was the Muddy Meadows Trail.

Look more lupine that way.

We continued on the Highline Trail another mile before reaching Foggy Flat, a wet meadow near an unnamed creek.
Still tons of flowers.

Frog near Foggy Flat

Mt. Adams from Foggy Flat

Frog in a little stream at Foggy Flat.

Zoomed in

We walked along the meadow to the far end where the creek was located looking for tent sites. There was one occuppied site along the trail across from the meadow but that was about all we saw at first.

The Highline Trail crossed the creek on a footbridge but then launched steeply uphill so we turned around and decided to check around the meadow more thoroughly for a suitable site.

Gentian

Elephants Head

We are fairly picky about our campsites. We do not like to camp on any vegetation, especially in meadows and we do our best to maintain a proper distance from water and trails. Unfortunately we are in the minority and it was obvious from the fire rings and smashed grasses that many others aren’t as selective (not to mention the TP – come on people). We finally managed to find an acceptable spot tucked into some trees.

With camp established we took our daypacks out put our essentials plus dinner and the stove into them and set off across the creek on the Highline Trail. Reeder described the trail beyond Foggy Flat as having “incredible views” but also “difficult creek crossings”. Our plan was to go as far as the Muddy Fork crossing and unless it looked really easy turn back there.
Monkeyflower and willowherb along the creek.

The climb up from the creek was indeed steep and we were happy to just have our daypacks on.
Mt. Rainier behind us.

20200801_161001_HDR

The trail dropping steeply behind us on one of the steeper sections.

We passed several nice campsites as the terrain became more level at the edge of a lava flow. A couple of the sites were occupied. Despite the rockier conditions due to the lava flow the flower show continued.
Can you spot the yellow paintbrush?

Shortly after crossing another little creek we found ourselves in the lava field with an excellent view of Mt. Adams. We had been waiting for the clouds to break up all day and now they were starting to oblige.

Buckwheat

We continued to follow the Highline Trail through the lava and past snow fields.

The lava also provided great views of Mt. Rainier and Goat Rocks.

Goat Creek falling from Goat Lake.

IMG_2955_stitch Red Butte and Mt. Adams

Red Butte, a neat looking cinder cone.

Flower amid the rocks.

We did indeed stop at Muddy Fork. It was a little more of a crossing than we wanted to tackle at that point.

We backed track a bit to rise where we had seen a great looking spot for dinner (or a tent). We cooked our dinner there and then explored a bit on the ridge above the spot where we found a few flowers amid the rocks and more amazing views.
Paintbrush

Cutleaf daisy

Dwarf alpinegold

IMG_3003_stitch

20200801_175828

We eventually headed back to Foggy Flat under the watchful eyes of the locals.

We were momentarily distracted below one of the snow fields as we watched a stream forming in front of our eyes.
Water in the upper portions of the snowmelt stream.

The same stream 3 minutes later.

When the water reached a large hole that would take some time to fill we managed to pull ourselves away and continue back to our campsite. We stopped at the creek to get water for the next day and turned in fairly quickly. There were just enough mosquitoes about to be a nuisance making the confines of the tent that much more appealing.

Combining this hike with our previous two visits we’ve managed to cover quite a bit of the trails that wrap around the mountain. The east side of Mt. Adams is on part of the Yakima Indian Reservation and is largely trail less. Special permits are required to enter the Reservation with the exception of Bird Creek Meadows on the SE side of the mountain.
Mt. Adams Tracks

From every angle that we’ve seen it Mt. Adams continues to impress us. It’s truly a special place. Happy Trails!
20200801_191051_HDR

Tags backpacking, Foggy Flat, Goat Rocks, Killen Creek Meadows, Killen Creek Trail, Killen Creek Trailhead, lupine, Mt. Adams, Mt. Adams Wilderness, Mt. Rainier, Muddy Fork, Pacific Crest Trail, Red Butte, Round-the-Mountain Trail, sleeping beauty, sleeping beauty trail, wildflowers

High Cascades Hiking Oregon Three Sisters Area Trip report

Four-In-One Cone – 8/14/2019

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 19, 2019
6 Comments on Four-In-One Cone – 8/14/2019

The third hike of our vacation was another repeat (this time only partially) of a viewless outing. In 2012 we had embarked on “the hike that shall not be named” (post) It was an ambitious hike that went wrong in a couple of ways. First I misunderstood the guidebook and turned a 15 mile loop into an 18.6 trudge and second the persistent low cloud layer denied us of virtually any views. Our plan to hike to Four-In-One Cone would cover part of that hike.

We chose the Four-In-One Cone portion of that hike for two reasons. First Four-In-One Cone is a really cool volcanic feature and second much of the remainder of that loop passes through the Obsidian Limited Entry Area for which we didn’t have a permit nor were any available. We started the hike at the Scott Trailhead located along Highway 242 (17 miles from Highway 126 or 20.3 miles from Highway 20).

The Scott Trail briefly follows along the highway before crossing it and entering the Three Sisters Wilderness.

A third of a mile from trailhead we came to a somewhat familiar junction.

Neither of us quite remembered it looking like it did now (for one thing the trail sign was missing) but the right hand fork led to the Obsidian Trailhead and had marked the final .6 miles of THAT hike. We forked left and began to climb via several switchbacks which we had no recollection of. We also passed a viewpoint at one of the switchbacks.

After the viewpoint the trail continued to climb but more gradually as it passed through a mixed forest.

Pinesap

A very blurry deer spotted through the trees.

Three miles from the trailhead we arrived at the first of two short lava flow crossings. A large western toad was in the trail here and there was also a squirrel nearby which seemed like a suspicious combination.

20190814_085527

The lava crossings are separated by an island of forest that escaped the flow.

North Sister

Middle Sister

More spies watching us.

Beyond the second lava crossing we spent a little time back in the forest before once again entering a volcanic landscape as we came around the south side of Four-In-One Cone.

Unlike our previous visit the Cascade Mountains were visible.
North and Middle Sister behind the Little Brother.

Mt. Jefferson beyond Four-In-One Cone

Mt. Hood over the right shoulder of Mt. Jefferson.

Mt. Washington’s spire behind the cone with Three Fingered Jack and Mt. Jefferson.

The route up Four-In-One Cone is just under 1.5 miles from the first lava crossing and is marked by a signpost.

Before going up the cone we decided to continue another .8 miles to the Pacific Crest Trail in Scott Meadow. We had of course been to that junction during our loop in 2012 but we’d also visited it in 2013 from the north on the PCT from South Matthieu Lake (post). Lupine is said to bloom profusely from mid-July through August but we hadn’t seen much in 2013 (2012 was late September) so we thought we’d give it another try. Prior to reaching Scott Meadow we did pass a couple of hillsides with a decent amount of lupine but I don’t know that we considered it profuse

Scott Meadow

There wasn’t any lupine at all around the PCT junction but the view of Little Brother next to the North and Middle Sisters is nice.
IMG_6358_stitch

After a short break and pointing a group of trail runners toward Opie Dilldock along the PCT we turned around and headed back for Four-In-One Cone.

Four-In-One Cone is just that, four cinder cones which erupted at different times but are joined together creating a .4 mile long ridge.

To the SE the North and Middle Sister are closer than the Cascades to the NW the position of the Sun made the view of the further peaks a little clearer.
North Sister, Middle Sisters behind Little Brother and The Husband.

North Sister with Collier Cone in front and South Sister behind Little Brother.

The Husband

Scott Mountain (post) beyond the lava flows of Four-In-One Cone.

One of the craters.

After visiting the southern end of the cones we made our way to the northern end.
Mt. Washington, Three Fingered Jack, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Hood, and Black Crater (post)

Looking back south.

Belknap Crater (post)

Mt. Washington beyond Little Belknap Crater with Three Fingered Jack behind.

Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Hood

After fully exploring the cones we returned the way we’d come capping off a 12.3 mile, 1750′ elevation gain hike. We were happy to have finally gotten to see what we’d missed back in 2012. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Four-In-One Cone

Tags Belknap Crater, Collier Cone, Four in one cone, hiking, lupine, Oregon, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, Scott Meadow, Scott Trail, Three Sisters, Three Sisters Wilderness, Western Toad

Columbia River Gorge South Hiking Oregon Trip report

Memaloose Hills & Wygant Viewpoint

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date April 30, 2018
6 Comments on Memaloose Hills & Wygant Viewpoint

We officially kicked off our 2018 hiking season with a pair of hikes toward the eastern end of the Columbia River Gorge. We started our day off by driving east of Mosier on I84 and parking at the Memaloose Rest Area. At the western end of the rest area a gated service road serves as the trailhead.

We followed the forested old road uphill past some old structures.

Arnica

20180428_070754 Fairy slippers

As we climbed the forest began to give way to an oak grassland.

The old road passed by the Memaloose Pinnacles, a group of basalt towers.

Just over a half mile from the rest area the trail left the old road. Here a small viewpoint looked across the Columbia River to the Coyote Wall/Catherine Creek (2016 trip report) areas of Washington.

We turned uphill to the left climbing up toward the Memaloose Overlook.

Our pace was slowed as we searched the grassland for different wildflowers. It felt good to get reacquainted with our old friends some of which we hadn’t seen in quite some time.
20180428_072117 Paintbrush

20180428_072134 Desert parsley

20180428_071825 Larkspur

20180428_072234 Vetch

20180428_072416 Lupine

Broomrape

20180428_072846 Shooting star

20180428_072906 Manroot

We arrived at the overlook a mere .8 miles from the rest area.

The overlook is along Highway 30 which makes it a possible alternate trailhead.

There was a large patch of fiddleneck near the overlook.
20180428_073421

20180428_073259

After admiring the view from the overlook we crossed the highway and continued uphill.

The flower show not only continued but it picked up as we climbed.
Prairie star

Balsamroot

Even some of the seed heads were photogenic.
20180428_073806

The forecast had called for a chance of showers but the showers weren’t materializing and instead we got some nice sun breaks.

With all the flowers we had been discussing there were some we had yet to spot. One such flower was the chocolate lily which we suddenly began seeing with some frequency.

The star of the hike though was the balsamroot which was thick in areas.

The trail crossed a small stream which we hopped across.

Not far from the stream crossing was a four-way junction. The right hand path would have eventually led to the top of 957′ Chatfield Hill which on a clearer day would have offered views of Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood along with wildflower meadows. The left hand path would have led to nowhere in particular. We went straight and headed up 822′ Marsh Hill.

As we began our climb a pair of hawks flew overhead engaged in an aerial duel. I did my best to capture some of it but it’s not easy with a point and shoot camera.

Much of Marsh Hill was covered in yellow balsamroot with purple lupine and white large-flowerd triteleia scattered about.

From the hill we could make out part of Mt. Hood to the south through the clouds.

To the east the grassy southern slope of Tom McCall Point (2015 trip report) was easy to identify.

The green hillsides of the Washington side of the gorge rose above the blue waters of the Columbia River to the north.

To the west was nearby Chatfield Hill.

We stuck around on the summit for awhile hoping that there would be enough of a break in the clouds for Mt. Hood to pop out but it soon became clear that wasn’t going to happen. We decided to save Chatfield Hill for another year given the clouds weren’t going to let the mountains come out and play. We returned the way we’d come. We only saw a few other hikers, no rattlesnakes (they are prevalent here), didn’t notice any ticks, and stayed out of the poison oak.In addition to the dueling hawks we did see countless smaller birds.

This first hike came in just under 4 miles which is why we’d had a second stop planned. That next stop was at the Mitchell Point Trailhead. The order in which we chose to do these hikes proved inconvenient from a driving perspective as both trailheads are only accessible by eastbound traffic on I84. In addition neither trailhead provides access to westbound I84 so in order to reach the Mitchell Point Trailhead from the rest area we headed east on the interstate to the Rowena exit (76) where we could get back onto the interstate headed west. We then had to drive by Mitchell Point to the Viento State Park exit (56) where we again exited the interstate only to immediately return heading in the other direction. After driving up and down I84 we arrived at the trailhead right around 10am.

There are a couple of trails that start from the Mitchell Point Trailhead. The Mitchell Point Trail climbs to the top of Mitchell Point in just over a mile and the Wygant Trail which leads to the top of Wygant Peak. Our trail for this visit was the Wygant Trail although our goal was not the view-less peak itself which is 4.2 miles from the trailhead. We were headed for the last good viewpoint along the trail which was only approximately 3 miles up the trail.

The Wygant Trail is located to the west of the parking area and begins along an abandoned section of the Historic Columbia River Highway.

We followed an old road bed for a quarter mile then followed a trail sign when the road veered left.

We soon rejoined the road for another half mile before turning left at another sign.

The Trailkeepers of Oregon have been working on this trail which was one of the earlier trails to reopen after the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire. The fire didn’t reach this particular trail but it had been closed none the less. A work party from TKO had been out the day before working on the trail and their efforts did not go unnoticed.

There is a lot of poison oak along the majority of the trial so a big thank you to the volunteers that have been clearing the brush. The difference between the sections that they had worked and those that had not was huge.

After a mile we spotted a sign for the abandoned Chetwoot Loop to the left of the trail.

Soon after the sign for the Chetwoot Loop we arrived a ridge above Perham Creek.

We chose not to follow the viewpoint sign here due to the amount of poison oak seemingly lining the trail in that direction so we turned left and headed down to Perham Creek. A footbridge had spanned the creek up until 2016 when a slide washed it out.

Interestingly it didn’t appear that it was the creek that did the bridge in but rather a slide down a small gully on the east side of the creek.

A decent sized log served as an adequate replacement for the bridge allowing us to cross dry footed.

The trail then climbed away from the creek, at times fairly steeply. As we passed through a brushy clearing we spotted a spotted towhee.

We continued on watching closely for the ever present poison oak arriving at a lower viewpoint after a little over a mile and a half. Here we had a nice view of Mitchell Point to the east.

Despite this not being a wildflower hike like our previous stop there were some flowers present, including varieties we hadn’t see in the Memaloose Hills.
Vanilla Leaf

Valerian

Ballhead waterleaf

Trillium

At the 2.5 mile mark a side trail led to a middle viewpoint.

Dog Mountain

This viewpoint was covered in pink plectritis.

Just uphill from this viewpoint we passed the upper junction with the Chetwoot Loop Trail.

From the junction it was just another .6 miles to our goal at the upper viewpoint. It was pretty good climb during which we passed the only other hiker we’d see on this trail. This section of trail had not been cleared yet and was somewhat crowded by the poison oak. I also had picked up a couple ticks which were flicked off. The good news was another TKO work party was planned for the following Friday.

The upper viewpoint had a nice view west down the Columbia River and of Wind and Dog Mountain (2016 trip report) on the Washington side of the gorge.

We were a bit surprised to see what appeared to be a grass widow blooming at the viewpoint.

There was also a couple of clumps of phlox present.

We headed back down to the trailhead dodging the poison oak and keeping an eye out for any more ticks (one did manage to make it all they back home with us before being apprehended). We had briefly considered doing the Mitchell Point Trail before we’d started on the Wygant Trail but that idea had completely left the building by the time we arrived back at the trailhead.

We have plans for that trail at a future date. We did however walk over to the Mitchell Point Overlook before heading home where the forested top of Wygant Peak could be seen to the west.

It was a nice way to start our season. A total of 10.2 miles hiked with a decent, but not insane, amount of climbing to get us started. The views and the wildflowers had been good and aside from a couple of sprinkles while on the Wygant Trail the weather had exceeded our expectations. The difference in the terrain and vegetation between these two hikes was also enjoyable given that they are less than miles apart as the crow flies. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Memaloose Hills & Wygant Viewpoint

Tags balsamroot, Chetwood Loop, columbia gorge, Columbia River, Columbia River Gorge, hiking, lupine, Marsh Hill, Memaloose Hills, Memaloose Overlook, Memaloose Pinnacles, Memaloose Rest Area Trailhead, Memaloose State Park, Mitchell Point, Mitchell Point Overlook, Mitchell Point Trailhead, Oregon, Wygant Peak, Wygant Trail

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Washington Area Oregon Trip report

Mount Washington Meadows

One week after returning from our Northern California trip we found ourselves headed to Bend to drop off some furniture to our Son who had recently moved. It wasn’t going to be a long visit due to his having to work so after a quick tour of his new apartment we were back on our way home.

Our plan was to stop for a hike on the way home along the Pacific Crest Trail near Santiam Pass south to Mount Washington Meadows. We had left Salem at 5am so it would still be fairly early when we hiked. Just after 8:30 we pulled into the PCT trailhead near Big Lake.

We headed south on the PCT which quickly entered the Mt. Washington Wilderness amid trees burned in the 2011 Shadow Lake Fire.

The first two or so miles passed through the burn where despite most of the trees being dead, there was plenty of green and other colors present.

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The lack of living trees did allow for some views of both Mt. Washington ahead and Three Fingered Jack to the north beyond Big Lake, the Hoodoo Ski Area and the flat topped Hayrick Butte.

We could also see two small buttes just to the SW of Big Lake which we had hiked around in 2012 when we visited the Patjens Lakes.

That hike was also done during the first week of August, but less than a year removed from the Shadow Lake Fire. It was interesting to see how the forest was recovering with the passing of several more years.

Patjens Lake Trail – August 2012

Pacific Crest Trail – August 2017

A wider variety of plants including various berries were present now.

We left the burn area where we were able to see what the forest will look like again eventually.

We passed several small meadows and lots of wildflowers as we went.

We had been gradually climbing and when a break in the trees allowed us a view to the north where we spotted Mt. Jefferson over the shoulder of Three Fingered Jack.

It was a bittersweet view as it reminded us that the Whitewater Fire was burning on the west side of Mt. Jefferson and had already burned over portions of several trails leading to Jefferson Park.

There was no real visible smoke but we knew that it was there and those trails would look a lot like what we’d passed through earlier in the Shadow Fire area.

When the PCT began to curve around a ridge to the left the Spire of Mt. Washington came into view.

An open hillside then opened up views to the south were several other familiar peaks were visible.

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These included the North and Middle Sister, Belknap Crater, the Husband, Diamond Peak, and Scott Mountain.

North & Middle Sister with Belknap Crater

Scott Mountain

As we continued we passed through some increasingly impressive meadows until reaching a large lupine filled meadow below Mt. Washington.

Mt. Washington rose above the meadow where we were able to get a great look at the eroded volcano.

Lupine wasn’t the only thing in abundance in the meadow. There was also a large number of tortoiseshell butterflies who seemed to be overly attracted to me.

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We continued through the meadow where we found a nice display of cat’s ear lilies still in bloom amid the lupine.

At this point we’d gone a little over 5.5 miles, but the level grade of the PCT and the great scenery so far enticed us to continue a little further to see what else the area had to offer. We decided to follow the PCT until it began to lose elevation as it crossed a valley between Mt. Washington and Belknap Crater. We soon found ourselves in another area affected by fire.

We ended our hike as the PCT bent around a ridge end where it would begin the 400′ elevation loss before climbing up to the shoulder of Belknap Crater which was visible across the valley.

From this vantage point we could also make out Little Belknap Crater.

After a short break we headed back through the meadows and returned to our car.

The 12.4 mile round trip had proved to be a lot more entertaining than we’d expected. We hadn’t really known what to expect having selected the hike from the back of our guidebook in the additional hikes section, but it had been a thoroughly enjoyable outing. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Mount Washington Meadows

Tags Belknap Crater, Big Lake, California Tortoiseshell Butterfly, hiking, lupine, Mount Washington, Mt. Washington Area, Mt. Washington Meadows, Mt. Washington Wilderness, Oregon, Pacific Crest Trail, Patjens Lakes, PCT

Columbia River Gorge South Hiking Oregon Trip report

Tom McCall Preserve and Mosier Twin Tunnels

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date April 30, 2015
4 Comments on Tom McCall Preserve and Mosier Twin Tunnels

**Note the 2020 Rowena Fire burned a portion of the Rowena Plateau and the 2024 Microwave Tower burned over the Mosier Twin Tunnels Trail.**

We do our best to plan and prepare for all of our hikes, but we were reminded that now matter how much pre-trip preparation we’ve done things can still happen. For our last hike that meant an extra 4 miles of hiking.

We had headed back to the eastern end of the Columbia Gorge for a combination of several hikes near Mosier, OR. First up was the plateau trail at the Tom McCall Preserve. The trail sets off from the Rowena Crest Viewpoint located along the Historic Columbia River Highway 6.6 miles east of Mosier.

The trail heads out onto the plateau toward the Columbia River passing several viewpoints and lots of wildflowers including our first bachelor button sightings.

The trail also passes a pair of ponds where we had to be on the watch for poison oak.

After approximately one and a quarter miles the trail ends at a viewpoint on the edge of the plateau. Across the river was a train while below on our right were a pair of turkey vultures and on our left a couple of deer down in Rowena Dell.

After returning to the parking area we headed up the second trail at Tom McCall Preserve to Tom McCall Point. The summit of the point had been shrouded in clouds while we were on the plateau trail.

The clouds were breaking up as we began our climb though.

This path was wonderful. There were plenty of views as well as some wooded sections. We also saw several types of flowers that we had not seen along the plateau trail such as paintbrush, broomrape, larkspur, and chocolate lilies.

The clouds finally lifted from the summit by the time we were about halfway up the trail.

We were also high enough to see the entire plateau behind us.

The views from the summit were impressive, but alas the clouds had not broken up enough to reveal either Mt. Hood or Mt. Adams which on a clear day would have been visible.

We had planned one more hike for the day since the two trails at Tom McCall Preserve only totaled 6 miles. The Mosier Twin Tunnel trail set off on the west side of Mosier at the Senator Mark O. Hatfield Trailhead.

The trail is actually a portion of the Historic Columbia River Highway that has been converted to a hiking and biking path. Our plan was to hike out about 2.5 miles to an overlook of Koberg Beach State Wayside to add another 5 miles to the days totals. The path begins amid rock piles that reminded us of the lava flows in Central Oregon. Here the basalt cliffs that are typical of the gorge had broken up leaving the jumble of rocks. A fence separated the path from the rocks to protect pits made by Native Americans, possibly used as vision quest sites. One such pit is visible in the upper left hand side of the picture below.

About a half mile from the start of the trail is the first viewpoint.

Not long after the first viewpoint the trail comes to the first of the twin tunnels.

The first tunnel has a pair of windows carved into the rock wall offering views of the river.

Upon exiting the second tunnel the path continues under an odd concrete structure. Dominique thought it reminded him of being in a parking garage. The purpose of the structure is to act as a rockfall shield able to withstand a 5000lb. boulder falling from 200ft above.

Just under a mile from the tunnels is a second overlook at the county line between Wasco and Hood River counties.

Our planned turnaround point was to be .8 miles from this second overlook at a .2 mile side path. We continued on toward the turnaround but Dominique wasn’t feeling all that well so he eventually took one of the car keys and headed back. It turns out he was only about 100 yards from our planned turnaround point. I was waiting for Heather by a gravel path that led off through a fenced meadow.

This was in fact the path we were looking for, but it ended at the fence where there was no view to speak of and certainly no sign of a beach wayside. On top of that I had viewed the hike on Google Maps and had expected the side path to drop down a bit and this path led up. We also felt like we hadn’t gone .8 miles since the second viewpoint so I checked the Garmin which showed that Koberg State Park was still ahead. We decided this wasn’t it and continued on. We kept walking and talking thinking the viewpoint was going to be just ahead. We began seeing more and more people but it was now after noon and that made sense, but when we passed a couple with a stroller we both began to wonder what was going on. They didn’t look like they had hiked over 2 miles already. Then Heather spotted some signs ahead. There were quite a few and they were big which didn’t make sense for a small side path, then we noticed an RV parked above the trail to the left. Now we knew something was wrong for sure because there were no roads open to vehicles anywhere near our planned turnaround point. Then we saw the parking area, restrooms, and information center at the western trailhead near Hood River. We’d gone nearly 2 extra miles! The good news was they were nice bathrooms and we had spotted a snake and our first California Poppies (while on a hike) in those extra miles.

It turned out that the main portion of Koberg State Park is located across the Interstate from the western trailhead, but a portion of it is also located below the outcropping that the gravel path led onto. There just isn’t anything there to see. We hurried back as quickly as our sore feet would let us. On the way we spotted a bald eagle soaring above the trees and some wind surfers sailing above the Columbia.

At the car we found a napping kid who it turned out had stuck to our original plan better than we had. Happy Trails!

flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/sets/72157652170987082/

Tags Bald Eagle, balsamroot, Columbia River, deer, hiking, historic columbia river highway, hood river, lupine, mosier, mosier twin tunnels, Oregon, rowena crest, rowena crest viewpoint, tom mccall point, tom mccall preserve, turkey vulture

Columbia Gorge North Hiking Trip report Washington

Columbia Hills State Park

Spring came early to the Pacific Northwest and many of the flowers are running a week or two ahead of schedule so I’d been keeping my eye on the wildflower situation in the Columbia Gorge. Recent trip reports from the east end of the gorge showing the flowers out in force, a promising forecast, and a free day at Washington State Parks made for a combination that I just couldn’t pass up. Due to Heather training for the upcoming Corvallis half-marathon she was unable to accompany me this time, but my parents were able to join me for three short hikes in Columbia Hills State Park.

The park is located in Washington just across the Columbia River from The Dalles, OR and encompasses 3,338 acres offering rock climbing, fishing, sailboarding, and many other activities in addition to the hiking trails. We started our day off at Horsethief Butte, a rocky outcrop left over from an ancient basalt flow popular with rock climbers.

Basalt cliffs on the opposite side of Highway 14 from the trailhead.

The trail starts off with a nice view of Mt. Hood over The Dalles.

The trail crosses a short section of flat grassland before splitting with the left fork heading up into a canyon of Horsethief Butte and the right fork leading around the mesa to rejoin the left fork on the far end of the canyon. There were a variety of flowers to be seen along this portion of the trail.

Manroot

Bugloss fiddleneck

Death camas

Prarie star

Large-flower triteleia

Western stoneseed

Larkspur

Desert parsley

When the trail split we took the left hand fork and headed for the canyon. At Horsethief Butte the dirt trail gave way to a short rock scramble up to the canyon entrance. At the top of the scramble the canyon opened up to reveal a good sized slot dotted with yellow balsamroot flowers.

Members of the Mazamas, an outdoor group based out of Portland, were busy setting up and climbing among the rocks.

At the far end of the canyon the view opened to the Columbia River and Mt. Hood.

Here the trail dropped out of the canyon (without a rock scramble) to rejoin the right-hand fork. Before heading back we turned left and continued another quarter mile behind the butte to a viewpoint where poison oak patches were growing.

Poison Oak

We headed back and completed the loop with Mt. Hood looming to our left.

Next we headed to the Dalles Mountain Ranch, a short 4.5 mile drive away. To get there we drove 1.8 miles west on Hwy 14 and turned right on Dalles Mountain Road for another 2.5 miles to a fork. The trailhead for the ranch was to the right about .2 miles. Here an abandoned farmhouse and other buildings sat amid fields of balsamroot and lupine.

We explored the area around the farmhouse first where several pieces of old equipment were on display along with the flowers and views of Mt. Hood and distant Mt. Jefferson.

There were also a couple of trail options. I wandered down to Eight Mile Creek through a spectacular field of balsamroot and lupine.

Our final stop was another short 1.4 mile drive up Dalles Mountain Road where a gate marked the end of the drive and the start of the Columbia Natural Area Preserve.

We set off on the 2.5 mile hike up the closed road that would led us to the summit of Stacker Butte. Entire hillsides were covered in yellow from the balsamroot with a smattering of other flowers thrown in.

The total climb was a little over 1100′ but it was never too steep and the sweeping views drew attention away from the climb.

It was interesting to note the change in the mix of flowers as we climbed. Along the lower portion balsamroot and lupine dominated with a few prairie stars mixed in. A little higher up we ran into paintbrush and phlox.

Next came larkspur and big-head clover.

Flowers weren’t the only things we spotted. There were numerous birds and a few deer in the area.

We had lost our views of Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Hood to the clouds, but when we reached the summit of Stacker Butte new views opened up. To the NW Mt. Adams was mostly obscured by a line of clouds, but Mt. Rainier and Goat Rocks were virtually cloud free.

Almost directly below us lay Stacker Canyon where the Klickitat Rail Trail follows Swale Creek toward the Klickitat River, a hike we had done last April. https://wanderingyuncks.wordpress.com/2014/04/27/klickitat-rail-trail-swale-canyon-from-harms-rd/

It was a little too windy (and chilly) to spend much time at the summit so after a quick snack break near an air control wigwam we headed back down the road.

On our way down I got my first butterfly pictures of the year.

Sheridan’s Hairstreak

Blue Copper

With all of the options Columbia Hills State Park has to offer it makes a great place to spend a day outdoors, especially during the spring flower bloom. There are ticks and rattlesnakes in the area in addition to the poison oak so you’ll want to pay attention if you visit, but don’t let that stop you from checking this park out. Happy Trails!

flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/sets/72157649434751593/

Tags balsamroot, columbia hills state park, Columbia River, dalles moutnain ranch, Goat Rocks, hiking, horsethief butte, lupine, Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainier, poison oak, stacker butte, The Dalles, Washington

Hiking Middle Santiam Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Iron Mountain and the Meadows of Cone Peak

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 9, 2014
7 Comments on Iron Mountain and the Meadows of Cone Peak

July means wildflowers in the Old Cascades, the eroded peaks that are now the western foothills of the Cascade Mountains. We were headed over to Bend, OR for the 4th of July weekend so we seized the opportunity to check out a couple of the hikes on the way over and back. On the way over to Bend we decided to revisit Iron Mountain, a hike we had done in 2010 during the final week of July. We missed the wildflower peak that year by a couple of weeks so we hoped we would be hitting the area at a better time this visit.

On our previous visit we did the loop clockwise by starting at the trailhead located on road 15 and heading up Iron Mountain first then through the meadows on Cone Peak. This time around we parked at Tombstone Pass and headed counter-clockwise in order to hopefully have the meadows to ourselves before the trail got crowded.

We took a short detour on the Tombstone Nature Trail that circled around a meadow with flowers and a view of Iron Mountain.

After finishing the nature trail we crossed Highway 20 and started climbing up the Cone Peak Trail. We started seeing flowers almost immediately. It seemed every open area had an assortment of different flowers.
Lupine, Columbine & Thimbleberry

Wild Rose

Columbine

Larkspur

Penstemon & Blue Gilia

Cat’s Ear Lily

Woolly Sunflower

Flower variety

Columbia Windflower

Wallflower

Paintbrush & Larkspur

More variety packs

We’d already lost count of the number of different flower types we’d seen by the time we got to the main meadow 1.2 miles from the highway crossing. In the meadow we found even more types of flowers as well as views of Cone Peak and Iron Mountain.

Cone Peak

Cone Flower

Giant Blue-eyed Mary

Iron Mountain

Scarlet Gilia

We’d been hearing some elk off and on while we were in the meadow and as we were exploring a rocky outcrop Dominique noticed some brown spots in a meadow up on Iron Mountain. There were 7 elk moving through the brush grazing on the vegetation as they went.

We left the meadow and reentered the forest as we wound our way around Iron Mountain to the junction with the Iron Mountain Lookout Trail. There were still flowers everywhere and now we were starting to get views of the snowy Cascade Mountains.

Mt. Hood

Mt. Jefferson

The Three Sisters

At the site of the former lookout is a railed observation deck and bench which allowed for a relaxing rest as we took in the 360 degree view which spanned from Mt. Adams to Diamond Peak.
Mt. Adams & Mt. Hood

Mt. Jefferson beyond Cone Peak and the top of Three Fingered Jack behind Crescent Mountain

Mt. Washington

The Three Sisters, Mt. Bachelor & The Husband

Diamond Peak

The view was so good even a hummingbird took a break from the penstemon to take it in.

We headed back down to the trail junction and continued on our loop passing more flowers, recrossing Highway 20, and returning to Tombstone Pass on the Old Santiam Wagon Road.
Beargrass

Bunchberry & Queens Cup

The flowers had certainly been better than on our previous visit and it looked like they would be pristine for another week or two. It was a great way to start a holiday weekend. Happy Trails!

flickr:https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/sets/72157645515763015/
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Hiking Oakridge Area Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Tire Mountain

**Note the 2024 Tire Mountain Fire burned over a small portion of this hike.**

June wildflowers and a “possible” waterfall were are goal for our recent trip to Tire Mountain near Oakridge, OR. Our guidebook showed a 7.6 mile hike starting from the Alpine Trailhead, linking up to the Tire Mountain trail, and turning around after reaching the summit of Tire Mountain. Looking at the forest service maps of the area I noticed that the Tire Mountain trail continued west beyond the junction with the summit trail to a trailhead on road 5824. Along that portion of the trail was a creek crossing where it appeared there might be a waterfall. Thinking that a 7.6 mile hike was a little short for a 2 1/2 hour drive I thought we could investigate the possible waterfall for a little extra exercise.

The Alpine trail started off uphill on a forested ridge where the path was lined with small rocks. The usual woodland flowers were present including vanilla leaf, solomonseal, candyflower, and bunchberry. We also spotted some wild ginger.

Just a bit over half a mile in the trail entered the first of the meadows. The flowers did not disappoint and as an added bonus several cascade peaks were visible from this meadow.

Diamond Peak

Mt. Bachelor

Broken Top

The flower show continued as we passed through more meadows on the way to the junction with the Tire Mountain trail. Along the way The Three Sisters joined the view.

At the 1.2 mile mark we found the Tire Mountain trail and turned right. We passed through several smaller meadows which were home to a variety of different flowers, some of which were unknown to us.
Columbine

Plectritis & Larkspur

Plectritis & Yellow Monkeyflower

Camas

Paintbrush

Coastal Manroot & ?

Cat’s Ear Lily

Another unknown

Possibly Oregon Sunshine

Giant Blue-Eyed Mary, Plectritis & unknown

Buttercups

Wild Iris

We were amazed at the number of flowers and we could see that there were even more higher up on the hillsides.

After the series of smaller meadows the trail entered the largest meadow of the day. Here balsamroot joined the flower bonanza.

Ookow

Wallflower

Unknown

Blue Gilia

When we left the meadow I remarked that we hadn’t seen any lupine at all. As soon as we hit the next small meadow that was no longer the case.

From this meadow we also got a good view of Tire Mountain and Diamond Peak again.

The trail then entered the forest before splitting. To the left was the 1/2mi path to the summit while the right fork headed down toward road 5824. We headed up to the summit to check out the former lookout site. The trail was nice despite there being a few downed trees to maneuver around.

When we reached the brushy summit we found a number of additional flower types.

Unknown

Fawn Lily

Unknown

Wild onion

Phlox

Buscuitroot

Despite being a former lookout site there was no view from the summit. In fact the lookout had been placed up in a tree in order to have a view of the surrounding area. We explored a bit before heading back down to the trail split and starting our search for the waterfall.

From the split, the Tire Mountain trail descended fairly quickly through a series of switchbacks. Several bridges crossed seasonal streams amid the large trees.

It was a lot further down to the creek I was looking for than I had anticipated and we were all dreading the climb back up. We finally rounded a ridge end and spotted the bridge that crossed the creek I was looking for. There was indeed a waterfall but after seeing it we knew why the guidebook doesn’t mention continuing on to it. It was a pretty sad display lol.

After soaking in the torrent we started our climb. We did our best to focus on the ever present bird song as we trudged along. Grey jays, varied thrushes, and at least one woodpecker flew from tree to tree. The woodpecker was the only one that stayed still long enough for me to get a picture.

The meadows were just as impressive on the return trip. The only real bummer for the day was seeing a layer of smoke over the Three Sisters and Mt. Bachelor. Alas the fire season started early this year with the Two Bulls Fire burning near Bend, OR. 😦

Hopefully it isn’t a sign of things to come. Happy (and fire free) trails!

flickr:https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/sets/72157644669235877/
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Tags alpine trail, Bend, Camas, cat's ear lily, Diamond Peak, larkspur, lupine, oakridge, Oregon, plectritis, tire mountain, two bulls fire, wildflowers, woodpecker