Discovering Mt. Adams

We stumbled upon the Mt. Adams wilderness almost by accident. Our first camping trip this year we hoped to stay at Smith Rock, but it was packed. We kept heading east and ended up in Ochoco National Forest, which was lovely but kind of far for a weekend trip. It also skewed more toward off-roading than hiking trails, making it hard to explore on foot. Next we celebrated Memorial day by embedding the Yaris in a snow drift on the south side of Mt. Hood. That was also good fun but still too crowded. We didn't pass a single campground with sites available. Mt. Hood National Forest has abundant opportunities for dispersed camping but I consider fire to be half the point of camping and building my own firepit every time doesn't feel super low-impact.

In a bid to get out of the Portland crowd radius, I started looking across the Columbia into Washington. The Twin Falls campground in Gifford Pinchot National Forest sounded pretty great so one Saturday Nick and I drove up to check it out. The campground is nicely situated on a small river near some waterfalls. Sadly all the sites were full by the time we got there. Judging from the number of empty beer cans on the picnic tables it wasn't going to be our scene anyhow. Undaunted, we continued on to Olallie Lake. Only one other site was taken and the view of Mt. Adams across the lake was worth several waterfalls at least.

Sunday we hiked up the road from Tahklahk Lake to a nice big lava pile and a boggy meadow. The road was 70% covered in snow, too deep for a Yaris (I know these things) but passable for a big truck. On the way back we helped a couple dig their car out, which was good because we owed the universe a favor for the very nice fellow who helped us dig our car out over Memorial day. There are several trails, including the PCT, in the Mt. Adams wilderness and the mountain makes a very inspiring adversary. We've been back two more times already and I have more hikes I want to do in the future.

Mt. St. Helens overlook from Highway 30.

Mt. Adams across Olallie Lake.

Catherine Creek hike

Brian and I hiked around near Catherine Creek yesterday. It is known for wildflowers March - May and we saw quite a few. I tried to take photos but the camera on my phone is definitely tuned for people and scenery shots, most of the flower shots did not turn out. Below are few of the better ones. I found the names on wildflowersearch.com, although any errors in ID are certainly mine alone.

I really like these upside down orange guys but I couldn't find them on the flower naming site.

Columbia Gorge desert parsley. We thought these guys looked a bit like the fennel that grew in Santa Barbara.

Poet's shooting star flowers.

Naked broomrape flowers.

Bigseed biscuitroot amongst the rocks. Sister to the desert parsley and also very fennel-like.

The hike itself was beautiful. We paralleled Catherine Creek for about 1/2 mile and got to hear it burble.The land had been used for sheep and cattle in the past and had some old wooden fences still and rolls of barbed wire about. The trail traveled through open meadow with large grassy areas and areas with rocks sticking out. It was a ~5 mile loop with 1500 feet of elevation gain. We could see down into the Columbia the whole way. About halfway up we got high enough to see Mt. Hood but it was covered in clouds. We got a better view from the Hood River bridge on our way home. 

View east up the Columbia.

Brian doing his thing.

Old livestock pen by Catherine Creek.