Weldon Wagon Road — Monday, Apr. 25, 2011

Southwest Washington > Columbia River Gorge - WA

Lola and I ventured on our first hike together. I picked the Weldon Wagon Road since I figured it would be wide enough for her jogging stroller and that we might escape the rain and see some wildflowers. Well we got two out of three. We did see some cool wildflowers lit with bright sunshine through the cloud breaks. The hike starts out on a jeep road then it gets narrower and narrower as it climbs out of the woods and into the open Oak woodlands. The tread is really a single-track by the time you reach the border into the DNR Natural Resource Conservation Area (NRCA). So to keep Lola level I had to keep two wheels on the trail and hold the stroller up so the third wheel hung out over the steep trail edge. (the stroller was leashed to my wrist!) Craig Romano's Day Hiking in the Columbia River Gorge has a nice write up and useful map. We only hiked up to the edge of the NRCA (about 1.8 miles up) so next time I'd like to go all the way. We did see some lovely Calypso Orchids in the mixed forest near the start of the trail and several other flowers that I didn't recognize. I also thought I recognized some balsam root leaves just starting to poke out. The Oak trees were really incredible; such interesting shapes and textures. Aside from the steep side slope higher on the ridge, the other hazard to be aware of is poison oak, it hasn't leafed out yet, but I swear I saw its evil twigs just beyond the trails edge.