Absolutely lovely day for a hike!

Arrived to the trailhead at 730, thankful for an early start on what promised to be a warm and crowded Sunday. The trail description is mostly accurate here, although I didn't see the decommissioned power lines and old fence described. There is an unsigned fork to a trail called "Loose Lucy" on trailforks. I had to pause to navigate - this area is rightly called "Labyrinth!"

Overall, this was a very solitary hike, surprisingly. I saw just two people until my decent... As I wrapped up, I started encountering more folks around 10am. The parking lot was full when I arrived around 11. I love this area! It is quite exposed and even on a day in the mid 70s, it felt hot!

The balsam root is done blooming, but many pretty wildflowers remain!

And heads up for mountain bikers. This is a popular trail! I took Little Maui down, knowing it's steeper and a popular downhill. Good to be heads up as we share trails. Love this hike!

Wildflowers in full bloom! Most noticeably balsamroot (which is slightly fading now) and Lupine (peak). Saw countless species of other small wildflowers!

No ticks or rattlesnake sightings for me, although do be cautious! Tonnnnnsss of poison oak along the trail in shadier areas, but up at Coyote Wall almost none.

Low crowds on a beautiful Friday afternoon. Parking spots were  available at 9:30 when  I arrived and around 1:30 when I left.

It was a beautifully, sunny day that warmed up quickly - helpful to have layers since it was refreshingly windy at the top. The upper half and much of the way up and down is sun-exposed. There was a lot of poison oak abutting the trail, so being vigilant was key for my wife and me. 

The WTA trail description yet some of the distances seemed to be off, including the one segment down to the fence gap (it turned out to be much shorter). Similar to prior trail reports, there were numerous wildflowers and plants. The Desert parsley was an interesting trail smell along the way. Mount Hood views were an added bonus along most of the trail.

We would do this hike again.

Paul and I saw 65 species of flowers, I had 2 embedded ticks, and there are countless poison oak shrubs (I recommend pants). See list below, thanks Paul!

The balsamroot fields towards the top of Coyote Wall are very thick (see photos). There are smaller thick spots of bare-stem desert-parsley, miniature lupine, broadleaf lupine, pungent desert-parsley, and others. 

We took the Coyote Cliffs trail to a bootpath to the east that parallels Coyote Wall to the south for short ways and then ascends the wall (it is steep in places and was often gravelly, it would be a little challenging going down), The caltopo attached gives a rough sketch of the path. We really enjoyed including this in the loop and we saw some flowers there that we didn't see on the rest of the loop. 

FLOWERING PLANTS IN BLOOM (64 species)

white (21 species)

burr chervil (Anthriscus caucalis)

common yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

panicled death-camas (Toxicoscordion paniculatum)

miner’s-lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata)

coastal manroot (Marah oregana)

small-flowered prairie-star (Lithophragma parviflora)

large-flower triteleia (Triteleia grandiflora) — only the white version

common bedstraw / goose-grass / cleavers (Galium aparine)

cryptantha, species uncertain (Cryptantha sp.)

mountain sweet-cicely (Osmorhiza berteroi)

Pacific dogwood (Cornus nuttallii)

large-leaf sandwort (Moehringia macrophylla)

longhorn plectritis (Plectritis macrocera)

woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca)

western serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia)

bitter cherry (Prunus emarginata)

saxifrage, whole-leaf or Clayton’s (Micranthes integrifolia or fragosa)

bastard toadflax (Comandra umbellata)

silver-leaf phacelia (Phacelia hastata)

arrow-leaf buckwheat (Eriogonum compositum)

corn-salad (Valerianella locusta)

yellow (16 species)

Klickitat desert-parsley / biscuit-root (Lomatium klickitatense)

nine-leaf desert-parsley / biscuit-root (Lomatium triternatumi)

bare-stem desert-parsley / biscuit-root (Lomatium nudicaule)

pungent / butterfly-bearing desert-parsley / biscuit-root (Lomatium papilioniferum)

western buttercup (Ranunculus occidentalis)

Cascade Oregon-grape (Berberis / Mahonia nervosa)

holly-leaf Oregon-grape (Berberis / Mahonia aquifolium)

northern sanicle (Sanicula graveolens)

agoseris or microseris, species uncertain (Agoseris or microseris sp.)

false agoseris / false dandelion (Nothocalais troximoides)

streambank / pioneer violet (Viola glabella)

tall western groundsel (Senecio integerrimus)

spring gold (Crocidium multicaule)

wallflower, sand-dune or western (Erysimum capitatum or occidentale)

Carey’s balsamroot (Balsamorhiza careyana)

chickweed monkeyflower (Erythranthe alsinoides)

bluish: blue to violet to blue-purple (12 species)

lilac (Syringa vulgaris)

western blue-flag iris (Iris missouriensis)

forget-me-not, species uncertain (Myosotis sp.)

two-color lupine (Lupinus bicolor)

longspur lupine (Lupinus arbustus)

big-leaf or broad-leaf lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus or latifolius)

larkspur, probably common / upland (Delphinium, probably nuttallianum)

Pacific hound’s-tongue (Adelinia grandis)

small-flowered blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia parviflora)

ball-head waterleaf (Hydrophyllum capitatum)

bachelor’s button / garden cornflower (Centaurea cyanus) —one had white flowers

woolly vetch (Vicia villosa)

reddish: pink to red to red-purple (10 species)

common / henbit dead-nettle (Lamium amplexicaule)

Sierra pea (Lathyrus nevadensis)

red-stem stork’s bill (Erodium cicutarium)

fairy slipper / calypso orchid (Calypso bulbosa)

shortspur sea-blush (Plectritis congesta)

bicolored linanthus (Leptosiphon bicolor)

garden vetch (Vicia sativa)

tomcat clover (Trifolium willdenovii)

dove-foot geranium (Geranium molle)

common sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella)

orange (2 species)

fiddleneck, Menzies’s or tarweed (Amsinckia menziesii or lycopoides)

California poppy (Eschscholzia californica)

brown (2 species)

chocolate lily / checker lily (Fritillaria affinis)

chocolate tips (Lomatium dissectum)

green (1 species)

Garry / Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana)

BIRDS

Gray Partridge!

Common Raven

Turkey Vulture

Red-Tailed Hawk

Osprey

Northern Flicker

Steller’s Jay

Red-Breasted Nuthatch

White-Breasted Nuthatch

American Robin

Western Bluebird

Dark-Eyed Junco

Spotted Towhee

White-Crowned Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet

Nashville Warbler

Yellow-Rumped Warbler

Purple Finch

House Finch

Violet-Green Swallow

BUTTERFLIES

Cabbage White (Pieris rapae)

Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus)

Echo Blue / Echo Azure / Spring Azure (Celastrina echo)

Anise Swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon)

Mylitta Crescent (Phyciodes mylitta)

Two-banded Checkered Skipper (Pyrgus ruralis)

Julia’s / Pacific Orangetip (Anthocharis julia) — both ♂ & ♀

California Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis californica)

MAMMAL

mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus)

REPTILE

western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis)

We enjoyed this loop on a beautiful PNW blue sky day. Mount Hood was showing off in the background as we enjoyed beautiful spring wildflowers, too varied to count- balsam root, lupine (still on their way to prime), biscuit root, miniature lupine, spring beauties triteleia,miner’s lettuce, woodland star, fiddleneck, Saskatoon, coastal manroot, and I’m sure many I’m not mentioning. Of course, also a lot of poison oak. Beware!