With a rare weekday off we hit Crawford Oaks for a loop hike up to the Dalles Mountain Ranch TH parking lot and back via the 8 Mile Trail.

We arrived around sunrise and were the only car in the lot.  It was sunny and breezy.  Starting out uphill we saw a couple of deer bounding by and a few turkeys among the oak trees.  We hiked counter-clockwise via the Vista Loop and Ranch Route trails to wonderful views of wildflowers, the Columbia River and Mt. Hood.  We made a pitstop at the Dalles Mt Ranch TH parking lot outhouse, which was in good shape.  As we headed out for the return leg of our loop via the 8 Mile trail, the first vehicle arrived in the upper parking lot ~ 8:30am.  The couple who arrived with their dog headed clockwise so we did not see anyone on the trail until the junction with the entry/military road.  Upon our return the Crawford Oaks TH around 9:40am there were ~6 vehicles.  

wildflowers at their peak!!! Our party of two + our doggo did the Vista Loop clockwise today. We decided to do this clockwise because we wanted to see Mt Hood and the Gorge on our way down but alas the clouds rolled in by then so we missed the epic in-your-face mountain shot but would still recommend going in this direction.

We arrived to the parking lot at 8:15am (this is a Sunday) and all the car spaces were already full. We took our sweet time relishing in all the wildflowers - so many picturesque opportunities!! We would stop to take a photo, hike another 0.10 mile and stop for another 10 minute balsamroot photoshoot. And we repeated this about 900 times. Then, we finally returned to our car at 12:30pm and there were many more cars- these new arrivals had to park along the gravel of the little roundabout by the designated horse trailer parking spots. At the end we logged about 6.5 miles on our Garmins  

We read a lot of reports about ticks and thankfully we did not find any ticks on ourselves, or clothes/gear or our pup. Also, no snake encounters either!! Definitely recommend wearing long pants and covering up to avoid tick issues though. And do not let your dogs frolic in the brush- don’t let them merge onto the tick highway!! also- there were a few areas we saw where hikers were clearly going off trail for the photo ops- please do not do this! Stay on the trail to protect our flora and also this will protect you from ticks and snakes!!!

last thing: it is WINDY. Don’t let the sun fool you. This wind is strong and cold. Do not forget your windbreaker/outer shell  

Wildflowers are peaking! What a gorgeous day at the Gorge.

Arrived just before noon and had no issues finding parking at the Dalles Mountain Ranch trailhead. Definitely less busy today than a year ago, likely due to Easter. There’s a cash pay station at the trailhead in case you don’t already have Discover Pass; credit cards are accepted at the Horsethief Lake trailhead just off WA-14 - plan ahead if you don’t carry cash. Restroom at the trailhead is clean and well stocked.

Did a large loop including portions of Vista and Eightmile Creek trails. Myriads of flowers, emerald grass, fantastic views of the Columbia - right now, this is definitely one of the most beautiful places in WA.

Do check the weather when heading there, and bring layers if strong winds are forecasted (which is almost always). Today’s 60 degrees totally didn’t feel like it with constant 30 mph winds and a stubborn cloud that, albeit small, got stuck straight over the hills, leaving no chances for sunshine to warm things up. Wind chill was 39 degrees according to my phone, which wasn’t exaggeration.

Total 2.5 hrs / 6 miles, lots of time spent admiring flower fields here and there. 

A lovely 4 mile stroll around the Vista Loop (we went Counter-Clockwise) with the husband and the puppers. Arrowleaf Bitterroot is blooming and so are the Lupine Flowers. Spots of Creeping Phlox could also be found and I was delighted in the Big-Head Clover Flowers, too. It's an easy walk with minimal elevation gain after the initial climb up the gravel road. There is a ford you have to cross through Eightmile Stream - it was pretty full, but we managed to balance on a few somewhat unsteady logs/branches that were placed across and we let the dogs just go right through the water, which was nice since it was warm out. 

We enjoyed light winds and a high temperature of 60 degrees at Columbia Hills Historic State Park. We hiked from the Crawford Oaks trailhead on the Access Road to do our favorite loop of the Vista Loop and Military Road trails in search of early wildflowers and birds.

Eightmile Creek was running high so a lot of water was going over Eightmile Falls. All the water also meant that the crossing of the Eightmile Creek ford was challenging. The ford used to have large stepping stones on the upstream side. Someone has dragged oak tree limbs into the creek, including on top of  the stepping stones. The limbs are backing up the water level by an inch or two over the stepping stones. Some of our group decided just to walk through the water which did not go over our boot tops rather than picking our way across the tree limbs.

The Vista Loop Trail tread was fairly dry, but it had big divots in the tread from horses being ridden on the trail when the ground was soggy. We saw blooming Grass Widows, Yellow Bells, Smooth Prairie Stars, Butterfly-loving Desert Parsley, Gorman's Desert Parsley and the first bloom of Bare-stem Desert Parsley.

The Military Road Trail on our return hike had wetter tread so there were muddy, sloppy segments and cupping from mountain bike tires. So be prepared for wet stream crossings and muddy spots when choosing your footwear.