{"id":4187,"date":"2015-06-14T19:02:12","date_gmt":"2015-06-14T19:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/?p=4187"},"modified":"2022-04-16T19:31:21","modified_gmt":"2022-04-16T19:31:21","slug":"views-and-wildflowers-on-hawk-mountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/2015\/06\/14\/views-and-wildflowers-on-hawk-mountain\/","title":{"rendered":"Views and wildflowers on Hawk Mountain"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was on my own yesterday since Greg and a friend headed off to Tanner Butte. I really wanted to see the beargrass display up there, but I know my limitations and I know I cannot do that many miles in one day. My legs and feet get VERY sore after about 10 miles.<\/p>\n

So I went in search of beargrass elsewhere. Remembering that we had just missed the peak of beargrass at Hawk Mountain on July 14 two years ago, and knowing that everything is 3-4 weeks early this year, I headed there today with my fingers crossed.<\/p>\n

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I went there via Detroit and came home via Estacada. I stopped to gawk at the alarmingly-low level of Detroit Lake. I heard a boater describe this as sad. I think it’s not sad, but scary, and a sign of the very dry summer we have ahead of us.<\/p>\n

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Once I hit the trail it was immediately apparent that this is NOT a good beargrass year up there. Here is 2013:<\/p>\n

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This year:<\/p>\n

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When I got home I looked it up and beargrass blooms in 5-7 year cycles, so I was three years too early. However the pentstemon were doing their best to make up for the lack of beargrass:<\/p>\n

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The trail leaves the meadows and meanders through the trees for awhile before launching up to Hawk Mountain. I actually saw signs of recent trail maintenance. Thanks, trail crew!<\/p>\n

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At the summit there were four guys packing up and heading out, so I ended up having the place to myself. I sure enjoyed the in-your-face views of Mt. Jefferson:<\/p>\n

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From this angle the mountains to the south are all bunched together (Three Fingered Jack, the Three Sisters, and Mt. Washington):<\/p>\n

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There were plenty of wildflowers blooming on the summit, including lupine, paintbrush, Oregon sunshine, cat’s ears, and sedum.<\/p>\n

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The obligatory garbage-in-the-fire-ring shot:<\/p>\n

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The cabin here is the old living quarters for the fire lookout that once stood here and is now gone. I love before and after shots. Here is Hawk Mountain in 1936:<\/p>\n

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And in 2015:<\/p>\n

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I lingered on the the summit for over an hour, enjoying the sunshine, views, and wildflowers. Such a gorgeous day! There are no north-facing views from the summit, but from the trail you can sort of see north a bit and I took a peek on the way back down:<\/p>\n

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I love this hike. It has a great mix of views and wildflowers. It’s unfortunate that it’s a two-hour drive from Portland because you end up spending more time in the car than on the on the trail. But it’s definitely worth the trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was on my own yesterday since Greg and a friend headed off to Tanner Butte. I really wanted to<\/p>\n

Continue readingViews and wildflowers on Hawk Mountain<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[166,159],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4187"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4187"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4189,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4187\/revisions\/4189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}