Columbia Hills Nature Preserve

On our recent eastern Gorge trip to Rowena (April 29), we also crossed the river at The Dalles to visit the Columbia Hills Nature Preserve. It's a 3500 acre preserve operated by the Washington State Parks. The Dalles Mountain Ranch park is also within the preserve, so it makes for an interesting destination - especially this time of year, as the wildflowers are in peak bloom.

Sharon and I walked up the preserve's gravel road, which is the only real trail. A gate about a mile beyond the ranch marks the "trail head." The trail starts at 1250 ft and goes up (it was ALL up!) about 2.5 miles; along the way we noticed several flora changes as we gained elevation. The top of the mountain (Stacker Butte) has several radio/cell towers, but the views are very good.

We saw quite a bit more balsamroot and lupine on the lower hillsides. Going up the trail, we discovered a few new things as well.

Columbia Milk Vetch - Astragalus succumbus - native

Milk Vetch close up

Sharon ponders the vistas about 1/2 way up.

Dagger Pod - Phoenicaulis cherianthroides - native

Dagger Pod flower clusters

Giant Head Clover - Trifolium macrocephalum - native

These are about the size of a golf ball!

Hood's Phlox - Phlox hoodii - native

Bare-stemmed Desert Parsley - Lomatium nudicaule - native

Cliff Paintbrush - Castilleja rupicola - native

These flowers are about 1 inch wide and  in perfect form!

I could not find these white trees in any of the guidebooks...

Recent News about Columbia Hills Park