Saturday, March 31, 2018

Note: Watch for ticks and poison oak if you hike here.

Greg and I headed out to Coyote Wall to do a loop hike there. We hit the trail at 9:15 under chilly overcast skies. If you hike here, please note that dogs must be on-leash:

We saw this group at the beginning of the hike and later on as well. The dog was never on a leash:

We trekked down old Highway 14:

The desert parsley was going gangbusters. We saw lots of it.

At 0.4mi we passed the trail where we would come out later:

Further along at 0.7mi we picked up our trail and started climbing up.

Columbia Desert Parsley:

Despite the clouds we managed to get a view of Mt. Hood:

The river was glassy calm:

There was popcorn flower EVERYWHERE:

Avalanche Lilies:

Yellow bells:

First balsamroot sighting of the season!

The sun started to break through a bit as we hiked down:

By this time we were encountering huge numbers of people. And we were witnessing plenty of bad hiker behavior: picked wildflowers left on the trail, off-leash dogs, dog poop bags left behind, and adults, kids, and dogs wandering through the meadows, trampling the wildflowers. It was discouraging, and we were glad to get back to the trailhead. Still, despite all that, it was a great hike. Here are all the wildflowers Greg noted seeing on this loop. 6 miles, 1100′ elevation gain.

Saturday, March 11, 2018

What a gorgeous day! Greg was out of town so I did a solo hike at Tracy Hill, which is in the Catherine Creek area in the Columbia River Gorge. My start point was just a short distance east down the road from the main Catherine Creek trailhead.

The trail starts out on an old jeep track. On this crystal clear day I started getting views of Mt. Hood right away:

There were still a few grass widows around:

I also saw plenty of gold stars:

I love the ponderosa pines here:

At 0.8 mile there is a junction where I went straight. The jeep track from the left would bring me back here at the end of the hike. I continued hiking uphill, then the track turned into a trail and emerged into a huge sloping meadow:

As I got higher, the views got better. The snowy bump at center is Lookout Mountain:

And Mt. Hood was glorious!

1.9 miles into the hike I reached the top of the meadow where someone has made a makeshift bench. It’s a great spot to stop and enjoy the views, which is exactly what I did.

I loved the gnarled branches on this old oak tree:

I spotted a lizard in this hole. See him?

How about now?

The trail passes through an oak forest:

And emerges into another meadow with yet another view of Mt. Hood:

I passed an old cattle pond that is fed by a spring:

I wanted to get further up the hill and pick up another old jeep track so I left the trail and cut up through the meadow, although it turns out if I had stayed on the trail a bit further I would have intersected a path that headed uphill. I found said path as I got higher:

The trail connected with another old jeep track:

Which entered a very pleasant forest:

At the three-mile mark I came to a more developed-looking road:

This spot was also the site of some logging:

I made this my turnaround point. Back out in the open meadows I put down my sit pad on the trail and sat down to enjoy the view for awhile:

I had a good view of the Columbia Hills to the east. Great place to see balsamroot in about six weeks!

After soaking up the sunshine for awhile I continued on. The trail descended down into the canyon of Catherine Creek:

A peek at the Columbia River as the trail descends:

I picked up another jeep track:

Which connected me back to the original trail where I returned to my car. It was a 6.5 mile loop with 1,700′ elevation gain. Great hike!

Here is my track:

And here is the video: