Monday, June 19, 2023
During a trip to northeast Oregon I visited the Zumwalt Prairie Preserve, a Nature Conservancy property.
The weather felt just like home on the other side of the state: overcast skies with low gray clouds and no sun in sight. I parked at the Duckett Barn:
Then I set off on the loop hike on Patti’s Trail:
Shortly I reached the start of the loop and headed to the right:
Several spots along this trail require getting over fences via these step-ladder things:
There were numerous wildflowers blooming along this trail:
One of the most abundant wildflowers was prairie smoke, which has a very different (and cool) look when it goes to seed. You can see how it gets its name:
I passed this fenced-off area where Camp Creek flows:
See the elk on the hill in the distance?
I got some shots with the long zoom on my point-and-shoot:
Hiking onwards:
Final stretch back to the barn:
The Nature Conservancy says this is a 2.3 mile hike. My Gaia app measured 2.5 miles.
After that I drove north to check out the Horned Lark Trail:
The trail starts high and loses elevation, following an old jeep track for awhile:
I didn’t take as many wildflower photos on this hike, but there were plenty to see:
At the bottom the trail passes this fenced pond/wetland area:
Then the trail sets off across the prairie to loop back to the trailhead:
Again, lots of Prairie Smoke:
On the last stretch back to the trailhead I totally lost any semblance of a trail. Fortunately it’s difficult to get lost out here, and it was easy enough to navigate my way back to the car.
The Nature Conservancy says this is a 1.9 mile hike and Gaia measured it at 1.7.
Beautiful area! I wish it hadn’t been such a gloomy day, but thankfully it wasn’t crazy windy either.
