Icicle Ridge via Fourth of July Creek

The Stuart Range from Icicle Ridge

12 miles round trip, 4800 feet elevation gain
Difficulty: Strenuous; steep trail with significant elevation gain and snakes
Access: Paved road to trailhead, no pass required

The former lookout site on Icicle Ridge in Washington's Cascades commands an astonishing view of many of the tallest peaks in the range, including a direct view across the deep Icicle Gorge to the jagged granite peaks of the Stuart Range that make up the backbone of the Enchantments. To reach this view, one must ascend nearly a vertical mile from the depths of Icicle Gorge to the crest of the ridge, braving hot, exposed southern slopes riddled with snakes and a trail with at least 60 switchbacks. This is not a hike for everyone- while the payoffs are huge, the trail demands just as much out of those who attempt it. But hikers willing to put up with the demands of the trail can enjoy stunning vistas with sparse company from an easily accessible trailhead.

A quick summary of the hazards on the trail: first of all, the elevation gain is insane; the 4800 feet of climbing to reach the top of Icicle Ridge exceeds the 4400 feet of climbing between the Colchuck Lake Trailhead and Aasgard Pass for entering the Enchantments. Second, the entire climb is on the southern slopes of Icicle Ridge, which have sparse forest cover and are generally quite exposed. There are a few dangers here: direct sunlight (and there's lots of sun here, east of the Cascade crest) can make the trail extremely hot and extremely dry as well; on a clear day, expect to require a minimum of three liters of water for the climb. In spring, there may be a few water sources on the trail, but these dry up in the summer so be prepared to bring your own. Finally, the sunny, open southern slopes are a perfect location for snakes to soak up some sun. Rattlesnakes are commonly spotted on this hike; I saw four snakes on my trip up and down the ridge. Be sure to understand how to deal with snake encounters before you head out.

I hiked this trail on a June weekday when the weekend forecast looked grim. Wanting to avoid the overcast weather west of the Cascades and hoping to spend minimal time postholing by finding a hike that melts out early, I settled on spending my Thursday hiking up Icicle Ridge. From the Seattle area, I followed US 2 east to Leavenworth, then turned right onto Icicle Creek Road and followed it south and then west past the Snow Lakes Trailhead and Eightmile Campground to the Fourth of July Creek Trailhead. Trailhead parking was directly off the road on the north side (right if driving in from Leavenworth). A packed parking lot at the Snow Lakes Trailhead was enough to convince me that even on a weekday in the PNW, I should seek less crowded trails. There was just one other car at the Fourth of July Creek Trailhead and I saw just one other person on the hike all day.

From the trailhead, the trail dived into the ponderosa pine forest and began initially with a gentle ascent. In 300 yards, the trail came to Fourth of July Creek; after crossing the first time, the trail headed uphill a bit more and then crossed back over on a slightly precarious log.

Fourth of July Creek

After the second creek crossing, the trail embarked on the long switchback climb. The intial climb wasn't bad: plenty of ponderosa pines provided shade, the trail tread itself was gentle dirt, the incline was steady but moderate, and plenty of wildflowers dotted the trailside, including elegant cat's ears and thimbleberries.

Elegant Cat's Ear

As the trail ascended further, the forest began to thin out and sun exposure increased substantially. On the one hand, this meant views: Cashmere and the Chiwaukums were occasionally visible. On the other hand, this meant snakes: I saw four snakes on the trail in this area. Although rattlesnakes are known to frequent the terrain near this trail, I thankfully didn't see any all day.

Ponderosa pine forest

The more open slopes also brought a profusion of blooming wildflowers. Here, I spotted the last remnants of the arrowleaf balsamroot bloom along with the full blossoms of tiger lilies, lupine, wild rose, paintbrush, and penstemon.

Tiger lilies

Lupine, wild rose

Penstemon

At about 1.5 miles from the trailhead, the trail continued climbing via switchbacks but became much steeper- the stretch from here through mile 3 was the most strenuous stretch of the trail. Here, the very steep trail ascended through slopes baked by the midday sun with brushy vegetation concealing the location of snakes near the trail. On the plus side, views of Icicle Gorge, the Chiwaukums, and Cashmere Mountain became ever better. As the trail passed a trickle of a stream at the 2 mile mark, the tips of the Dragontail and Colchuck Peaks popped into view to the south.

Icicle Gorge and the Chiwaukums

The trail eased its ascent after mile 3, although the steady uphill continued to the very end of the hike. Although the trail was mostly out in the open at this point, it still passed through pockets of ponderosa pine forest at times; in the shaded stretches of trail, I found a smattering of blooming wild geraniums.

At about four miles in, the trail crested a small hump in the ridge leading up to the Icicle Ridge summit. At this point, the trail emerged into an old burn area that covered much of the ridge's upper slopes. The rocky summit and destination of the hike also came into view for the first time. The views of the Stuart Range, which had been improving steadily the entire time through the climb, were now extraordinary, with Mount Stuart emerging in its full glory. The bulk of the climb was now done, with just 1400 feet of uphill left to go before the summit.

Entering the burn on Icicle Ridge

I pushed through the final stretch of the trail, which featured a nicer tread and a steady but reasonable incline. Phlox and paintbrush bloomed near the trail and the Stuart Range dominated the southern skyline. After making a traverse towards the ridge, the trail embarked on a final set of switchbacks to reach the crest of Icicle Ridge. Glacier lilies, although not plentiful, were blooming in spots here. Whitebark pines replaced the ponderosa pines of the lower slopes.

Dragontail, Colchuck, Argonaut, Sherpa, and Stuart- a quintet of Bulgers- from the top of Icicle Ridge

The trail hit a patch of snow shortly before coming to the ridge crest but was otherwise free of snow from the trailhead up to 6800 feet on the first week of June. Arriving at the crest at about 5.5 miles, the Fourth of July Creek trail met up with the Icicle Ridge Trail, which led both east towards Leavenworth and west towards the lookout. I took the left fork, following the trail north and west towards the summit of the ridge.

Views of the Stuart Range and Cashmere atop Icicle Ridge

The trail along the ridge soon became fully snow-covered, with about 2 to 3 feet of snow cover remaining. I postholed a few times en route to a signed trail junction with the spur trail towards the lookout. Here, I took the left fork again and followed a path the final few hundred feet uphill to the pile of boulders at the summit. I scrambled up a little bit up the rocky outcrop but stopped just short of the true summit block, which would required a bit of trickier scrambling which I wasn't comfortable with doing while alone. The summit just barely reaches 7000 feet in elevation.

From Icicle Ridge, the peaks within view include Cannon, Dragontail, Colchuck, Argonaut, Sherpa, Stuart, Cashmere, Glacier, Clark, Buck, Chiwawa, Maude, and Seven-Fingered Jack- at least 13 of the 100 highest peaks in Washington State. It's likely that even more were visible (Luahna, Fortress, Dumbell, Fernow, and Cardinal among others may have been visible but were difficult for me to identify). Although the skies were initially a bit hazy, a stiff wind helped clear things up a bit during the hour and a half that I waited at the summit.

Glacier Peak, the Dakobed Range, Bonanza, and the Entiat Mountains

Some more notes about the view: the enormity of Cashmere Mountain is particularly obvious from Icicle. It's unclear whether the peak bookending the Enchantments on the west from Icicle was the Temple or McClellan Peak, though I suspect it was the Temple with Prusik Peak on the right end of the massif. Mount Daniel was visible above the shoulder of Cashmere with its remarkable coat of glaciers- it looks quite tall from this angle so it's difficult to imagine that Daniel is actually shorter than Cashmere. The Dakobed Range is clearly visible to the southeast of Glacier Peak, with both Tenpeak and Clark Mountains easily identifiable. Although Tumwater Canyon and the Wenatchee River seem like they should be visible from the lookout site, they're actually obscured by Icicle Ridge's broad shoulders to the north and east.

Stuart, Cashmere, and Daniel

I enjoyed the views and chatted briefly with the one other hiker on the trail that day, who had come up from Wenatchee with his two year old pup. After taking in my fill of Stuart Range views (and because I was getting a bit chilly from the wind), I made my down the equally grueling descent.

Tumalo Falls

Tumalo Falls from the trailhead

4 miles round trip, 550 feet elevation gain
Difficulty: Easy
Access: Good gravel road to trailhead, Northwest Forest Pass required

The hundred-foot plunge of Tumalo Falls is the prettiest waterfall near Bend, Oregon and is a popular spot; however, most visitors come to the area and leave after just seeing the main falls. Hikers up for a short jaunt can see three additional waterfalls along Tumalo Creek with just an easy four-mile round trip effort; while none of the other falls are quite impressive as Tumalo Falls itself, all the falls along the trail are beautiful and worth the easy effort necessary to reach them.

I hiked to Upper Falls on a holiday weekend morning, arriving at the trailhead just after sunrise to avoid the crowds that would show up later in the day. To reach the trailhead, I took Skyliners Road out from Bend; this paved road had some initial views of the Three Sisters and Broken Top and led out to the Skyliners neighborhood, where the road transitioned to gravel and continued west to a dead end at the Tumalo Falls Trailhead. I was the first person to arrive for the day when I pulled into the lot at 6 AM; the lot was more or less full by the time I returned from my hike around 8:30.

The most famous view of Tumalo Creek plunging down into a gorge of basalt walls was just steps from the parking area. The viewpoint was surprisingly small for such a busy spot: I can imagine having to wait or jostle for a view of the falls later in the day. The sun hadn't risen yet, so I took advantage of the low lighting to take some long exposure shots of the falls and then set out on my hike.

The trail headed uphill from the parking area and arrived at the cliffs overlooking the falls in just a quarter of a mile. Here, a small platform protruded over the edge of the gorge for a better view of the falls. There were good views down the canyon of Tumalo Creek.

Tumalo Falls

Past the falls, the trail paralleled Tumalo Creek for a while; it was absolutely delightful to hike along this rushing mountain stream. The creek has its headwaters on the slopes of Broken Top, the remnants of a former volcano that today forms one of the most dramatic summits near Bend. Snow and glacier melt on the mountain feed this stream as it tumbles down towards the desert to meet the Deschutes River.

Rushing water of Tumalo Creek

The trail then left the creek and began a steady ascent through the forest. Soon, the trail was well above the level of the creek, which now flowed at the bottom of a rocky gorge. A mile past Tumalo Falls, I came to Double Falls, where a rock outcrop jutted out into the gorge and offered a pretty view of the two-tiered waterfall. Although the falls were nearly a hundred feet below where I stood, spray from the falls was still washing over the rocks atop the edge of the gorge.

Double Falls

Just beyond Double Falls, the trail came to another waterfall; although this cascade was smaller and less impressive and not officially named, it was still a pleasant stop; I'll refer to these falls here as Upper Double Falls, as they occur less than a hundred meters upstream of Double Falls.

Upper Double Falls

Past Upper Double Falls, the trail flattened out briefly at the level of Tumalo Falls before beginning yet another ascent. This ascent continued gently for another half mile to reach Upper Falls two miles from the trailhead. There is no clear view of Upper Falls from the viewpoint along the trail, but a rough social path leads towards the base of the falls; as the path was very steep and I was alone, I chose to stop at a clear view of the falls about halfway down this path. Upper Falls were quite impressive, a thundering 45-foot drop on Tumalo Creek.

Upper Falls

I found the vegetation transitions on this hike quite interesting: near the trailhead at Tumalo Falls, the trail was still in a drier habitat and the trail was lined with manzanita and other plants indicative of a drier climb. However, just two miles away and a couple hundred feet higher at Upper Falls, the forest was substantially greener and lusher.

South Sister

The Cascade volcanoes march north

12.5 miles round trip, 4900 feet elevation gain
Difficulty: Strenuous
Access: Paved road to trailhead (closed in winter), Northwest Forest Pass required

South Sister is a stratovolcano, the tallest of the Three Sisters and the third tallest peak in the state of Oregon. It is also one of the easier major Cascade volcanoes to summit: in late summer, hikers can follow a steep, rocky, and strenuous trail to the 10,358-foot peak. The views from this volcanic peak are some of the most astounding in the Pacific Northwest, including a jaw-dropping view to both the north and the south of the chain of volcanoes composing the Cascade Mountains from California's Mount Shasta to Washington's Mount Rainier. I chose to climb South Sister in late spring, taking advantage of early season snow cover to avoid the late season scree and crowds.

It's important to understand that an easy volcano doesn't mean an easy hike. This is a hike that should only be attempted by experienced hikers; the climb is only easy in the sense that it is not a technical glacial climb, even though it ascends a glaciated peak. Hikers who come before the snowfields along the trail melt out should carry an ice axe and know how to self arrest; crampons or microspikes are also necessary. Let me be clear about what this means: if you don't know which end of an ice axe you'd use to self arrest, you shouldn't be climbing South Sister before the snow melts.

I climbed South Sister over a Memorial Day weekend trip to Bend. Waking a little after 3, I drove from Bend out to the trailhead at Devils Lake on the Cascades Lakes Highway in the dark, with the silhouettes of Mount Bachelor, Broken Top, and South Sister occasionally visible in the light of the almost-full moon. The parking lot at Devils Lake was almost full by the time I arrived and plenty of skiers and other hikers were preparing to set out when I left the trailhead a little before 5 AM. Although not a true alpine start, I chose to start early for optimal snow conditions and to complete as much of the climb as possible before the sun softened the snow.

Leaving the parking area, the trail crossed a stream via a log bridge and quickly came to the Cascades Lakes Highway again. The trail crossed the road and came to what was effectively a second trailhead, where I filled out a self-issue permit for hiking in the Three Sisters Wilderness. Past the road, the trail entered the forest and began a steady uphill climb through the forest. About a mile in, the trail turned into a small gulch; here, patchy snow turned into solid cover and the trail disappeared beneath a few feet of consolidated snow. I followed the tracks of the hundreds of hikers and skiers who had ascended up the valley previously. The ascent in the gulch was initially gentle, but at the north end of the gulch, the path ascended steeply to exit the gulch and reach a junction with the trail to Moraine Lake about two miles from the trailhead. The trail sign was just barely poking above the snow, signaling that I was still on track towards the summit.

Here, the forest opened up, yielding great views for the rest of the hike. I trudged uphill through an open, snowy clearing dotted with trees that gave the first clear views of South Sister and the climb ahead. Looking back, I could see clouds filling the valley of the Cascades Lakes and the just-risen sun casting its light on Mount Bachelor and Diamond Peak farther to the south.

Mount Bachelor from the Golf Course

After a three-quarter mile trudge across snow, I ascended a small hill and then came out onto the Golf Course, an even larger open area that was at the moment still covered in snow. South Sister rose directly ahead: I studied the route ahead before crossing the Golf Course to reach the foot of mountain and the start of the true climb. Broken Top was visible to the east.

Looking to the climb ahead from the Golf Course

Leaving the Golf Course, I began the long slog up South Sister. Although the trail was not visible under the many feet of snow, tracks of previous hikers marked the route, which followed the west side (left on the climb up) of the ridge leading up from the Golf Course. The shadow of the ridge kept this stretch of the climb in the shadow, keeping the snow hard even after sunrise. Continuous climbing brought me up to a small saddle where the snow ended briefly; here, I hopped back on the trail for an ascent up a scree slope.

Halfway up

At the top of the scree slope, I emerged at a saddle between a small moraine rockpile and South Ridge, which led up and around the Lewis Glacier to the summit crater. The Lewis Glacier filled the depression between South Ridge and Hodge Crest but at this point in the year was still fully covered by the winter snowpack. A small, robin's egg blue tarn lay at the foot of the glacier. The wind was roaring here, with a sustained gale force. This particular saddle was about 1.2 mile uphill from the base of the climb at the Golf Course and was still 1500 feet in elevation below the summit.

Lewis Glacier and the final ascent to the crater

At this point, most climbers had the option of either hiking on scree or snow; a snowbank above the Lewis Glacier allowed for hiking in the snow along South Ridge, while South Ridge itself had melted out and allowed for scree hiking. I chose scree hiking to avoid some sketchy cornice stretches of the snow climb; this route made for an unpleasant experience, with loose footing and a constant blast of ash in my face from the high winds. The ever-improving views made up for the discomfort, with Broken Top now fully visible along with a line of volcanoes extending south to Mount Scott on the rim of Crater Lake.

Broken Top and the Lewis Glacier tarn

The scree hiking didn't last forever: the final slope up to the crater rim was still more or less fully snowbound. I donned my microspikes again for the final push uphill through the brutal winds.

The final push

Almost five hours after setting out, I stood atop the crater rim of South Sister. Before crossing the crater to reach the true summit on the crater's north side, I gazed south to appreciate the vista of lakes, volcanoes, and forest that stretched south all the way to Mount McLoughlin in southern Oregon and Mount Shasta in northern California.

Views south to the Cascade Lakes, Mount Scott, and Mount Thielsen

South Sister is crowned by a wide, flat summit crater. The crater is mostly filled by a glacier; when the winter snowpack melts in late summer, a small tarn- Teardrop Lake, the highest body of water in the state of Oregon- will exist for a few months each year. During my visit, the glacier was still fully covered by snow and Teardrop Pool was still months from forming. I hiked across the crater and then completed the final uphill to reach the true summit.

A string of climbers approaching and leaving the summit

Summit crater of South Sister

The summit of South Sister boasts a viewshed that is nearly unrivalled in the contiguous United States. It is the only spot which I know where it is possible to simultaneously see Mount Shasta in California and Mount Rainier in Washington State. Almost every major volcano between the two is visible from here as well: McLoughlin, the remnants of Mount Mazama (Crater Lake's rim), Mount Thielsen, Diamond Peak, Newberry Caldera, Mount Bachelor, Broken Top, Middle and North Sister, Three-Fingered Jack, Jefferson, Hood, St. Helens, and Adams. Smaller nearby landmarks like Black Butte, Smith Rock, and the city of Bend were clearly visible as well, as were the Cascade Lakes (Sparks, Elk, and Lava Lakes) to the south. Gazing west, I could see past the many ridges of the Cascades out to the Coast Ranges. Both the ridge of Hodge Crest and the crevasses of Prouty Glacier were visible on the eastern flanks of South Sister itself.

The view north: Middle and North Sister, Three-Fingered Jack, Jefferson, Hood, Adams, St. Helens, Rainier

Broken Top and Mount Bachelor

On the descent, I plunge stepped my way down the mountain, this time choosing to stick to the snow. Although I noticed a few glissade tracks on my way up, I was unfortunately only able to do a few short glissades. The snow was still much too hard for good glissading due to the wind and many of the glissade tracks appeared to have sketchy runouts into rocky areas or away from the route.

South Sister is a rare spot where the extraordinary alpine world of a high summit is accessible to those lacking technical alpine skills. Along with Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams in Washington State, it is an excellent way for experienced hikers to try out mountaineering. The peak is a well known gateway drug to mountaineering: no less an outdoors luminary than writer Jon Krakauer was introduced to mountaineering on the slopes of this mountain.

Mima Mounds

Trail through the blooming camas at Mima Mounds

2.5 miles loop, 50 feet elevation gain
Difficulty: Easy
Access: Paved road to trailhead, Washington State Parks Discover Pass required

The easy hike through the Mima Mounds is an excellent way to explore an intriguing geological landform and, in season, to see the most incredible camas blooms in western Washington State.

I visited the Mima Mounds on an early May weekend, which is roughly the time each year when the prairie erupts into riotous bloom. From Seattle, I followed I-5 south past Olympia to the exit for Maytown and Littlerock; coming off the freeway, I took Maytown Road west through Littlerock, bearing straight at all of the junctions in Littlerock to reach 128th Ave SW. This road ended at a T-intersection with Waddell Creek Road, where I took a right turn and continued briefly north to the sign for the Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve. Making a left turn here, I drove to the end of the narrow road, where there was parking for less than twenty cars.

Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve is operated by the Washington Department of Natural Resources and is only slightly separated from Capitol State Forest, which protects the nearby Black Hills. As the land is operated by the State of Washington, a Discover Pass is required to park at Mima Mounds.

A paved, ADA-accessible trail led from the parking lot out into the prairie. At the very start of the trail, a concrete viewing platform with interpretative signage pondered theories of the mounds' origins and provided an elevated view of the mounds themselves. The mounds were each just a few feet tall and perhaps just 20 feet or so in diameter and stretched out seemingly in all directions. The mounds likely formed either during the ice age or in the intervening time and are actually spread over a much larger area than just the preserve; while most nearby mounds are covered by forest now, the mounds in the preserve are kept as open prairie. Native Americans burned the mound prairies regularly to prevent forests from developing in the mounds and harvested camas that grew in these open prairies for food.

Mima Mounds

The paved path continued on a half mile loop through the mounds. At the halfway mark through the paved loop, the single track South Loop broke off towards the heart of the preserve. Don't skip this loop. While I spotted only a smattering of blooming camas along the paved portion of the trail, the prairie was covered in the blooming purple camas. Desert parsley and buttercup added spots of color to the otherwise verdant grasslands. The South Loop Trail meandered through fields of mounds and blooming camas, with nice views along the way of the nearby Black Hills (including Capitol Peak) and the farther Willapa Hills. The preserve was surrounded by private property, made clear based on the presence of nearby houses and farms and from the neighboring shooting range, which made for a somewhat noisy experience.

Camas coat the Mima Mounds

Camas

Capitol Peak and the Mima Mounds camas bloom

Camas bloom

Camas bloom and the Willapa Hills

Camas

Dalles Mountain Ranch

Balsamroot blooms near the Crawford Ranch in the Columbia Hills

6.5 miles loop, 1100 feet elevation gain
Difficulty: Easy-moderate
Access: Paved road to trailhead, Washington State Parks Discover Pass required

Each spring, the sun-bleached grassland slopes of Dalles Mountain in Columbia Hills State Park come alive with a profusion of wildflower colors. This hike makes a loop across the wide grasslands on a bench above the Columbia River, passing near Crawford Ranch and providing views into Oregon and out to Mount Hood. The hike is not difficult, with gentle climbs and descents through the rolling hills and wide open views the entire way. While it is possible to start this hike from either the Crawford Ranch or from the Crawford Oaks Trailhead off of Highway 14, here I will describe the second option. Wildflower blooms in the area generally peak in mid-to-late May.

I visited the hills on a camping trip with a friend on an April weekend; after setting up at nearby Maryhill State Park, we followed Highway 14 west past the Maryhill Museum and Wishram to the Crawford Oaks Trailhead at Columbia Hills State Park, which was on the north side of the highway. On a day with overwhelming volumes of rain in Seattle and Portland, it was sunny near the Dalles and the parking lot was full.

From the trailhead, we followed the wide multi-use trail up towards the meadows. The trail here was really a gravel road, which we shared with plenty of other hikers and a good number of mountain bikers. After meandering up from the parking lot, the trail made a sharp switchback and began to climb along the basalt cliffs that defined the canyon of the Columbia River. The Columbia River came into view, with Horsethief Butte a notable nearby landmark; Mount Hood was visible far off on our return during a break in the distant storm. The columnar basalt walls of the Columbia River Gorge here were the result of massive volcanic eruptions that left extensive lava flows throughout the Columbia Basin about 15 million years ago.

The Columbia River and Horsethief Butte

Mount Hood

The trail then turned into a ravine cut by Eightmile Creek, following the line of oaks growing by the creek to the north. Some wildflowers appeared here- desert parsley, balsamroot- but nothing that matched the bloom further up. In just under a mile, the trail crossed Eightmile Creek and came to a junction where the loop path split. On the left was the Military Road, on the right the Vista Loop; we chose to do the loop counterclockwise, heading east on the Vista Loop.

The Vista Loop climbed  uphill slightly before leveling out on the bench above the river, traversing open grasslands and passing beneath the power lines that ran through the park. Although few flowers were blooming here, the wide open views of the river and of the Dalles in the distance. Across the river, farmland covered the rolling hills of Oregon.

The Columbia River and the Columbia Hills

Hiking a little further along, we came to a lovely viewpoint of the Columbia River to the east. Today, the waters of the river look calm and peaceful, a result of the Dalles Dam that created Lake Celilo, the second of the reservoirs on the Columbia River that create a chain of slackwater from the Pacific Ocean to the confluence with the Snake. Submerged beneath Lake Celilo is Celilo Falls, once one of the most impressive rapids of North America. Each summer at this spot, where the full volume of the Columbia River made a 20-foot plunge, Native Americans congregated from throughout the Northwest to fish the extraordinary salmon runs. It's estimated that as many as 20 million salmon once ran these rapids every year. Native American fishing at the falls ended in 1957 when the rapids disappeared into the lake.

Lake Celilo and the drowned remnants of Celilo Falls

Continuing along the Vista Loop, we headed north from the river through the rolling grasslands. The wildflower show was still in its early stages and was perhaps a week or two away from peak bloom; while a decent number of balsamroot were blooming, in many spots I saw just the balsamroot foliage and no yellow blossoms yet. While some early lupine had bloomed and lupine foliage was plentiful, for the most part those purple flowers seemed at least a week or two removed from true bloom. Desert parsley was blooming well throughout, though, and I spotted plenty of blooming phlox as well.

Balsamroot

Lupine and desert parsley

Phlox

About a mile and half up the Vista Loop, we came to a junction with the Military Road. The trail to the left led back towards the parking lot; the trail to the right continued uphill towards Crawford Ranch. As we hadn't seen many flowers yet, we decided to continue the hike and see if we could spot more flowers closer to the ranch. The trail to the right towards the ranch continued through the undulating slopes and approached the base of the taller buttes that defined the crest of the Columbia Hills.

I was glad we continued on towards the ranch, as the best of the wildflower show was on the slopes nearby the ranch. As we approached the ranch, we transitioned from scattered pockets of flowering balsamroot to fields in full bloom. In some areas, there were even a handful of blooming lupine and phlox scattered with the balsamroot.

Views into Oregon

The trail came to another junction at the ranch itself: here, the Eightmile Alternate trail led back towards the Crawford Oaks Trailhead while another trail led just slightly uphill to the ranch itself and the upper trailhead for the hike. At this junction, we found the wildest profusion of flowers: yellow floral faces filled the prairie in all directions.

Balsamroot and lupine at Crawford Ranch

From the ranch, we followed the Eightmile Alternate Trail back towards the trailhead, enjoying the open views along the trails and the many patches of blooming phlox, balsamroot, and desert parsley.

Phlox and balsamroot

Trail through the Columbia Hills

The Eightmile Alternate Trail merged with the Military Road and descended back to the Eightmile Creek crossing to complete the loop. As we descended the gravel road back to the trailhead in the evening light, Mount Hood made a brief appearance and a last few rays of sun painted the hills in Oregon.

The hike through the Columbia Hills is certainly worth it for the spring wildflower show; it made for a fun trip combined with visits to the nearby Maryhill Museum and the Maryhill Winery.