On and sunny but windy day I hiked this with my dog. The dirt road to the trailhead is pretty bad, but not impassable for a regular vehicle- and that really is the worst hazard. A herd of deer was seen in the farmer's fields on the road coming in as well as halfway up the ridge.
Though a trip report just a day after my hike there said there were no wildflowers, I noticed a number of early bloomers that included Claytonia lanceolata (spring beauty), Fritillaria pudica (yellow bells), Plectritis macrocera (longhorn plectritis), Draba verna (spring draba), Amsinckia (fiddleneck), Collinsia parviflora (blue eyed Mary), and Ranunculus glaberrimus (sagebrush buttercup). Amelancheir alnifolia (serviceberries) and Ribes cereum (wax currant) were also just starting to bloom at the lowest elevations along the valley.
At the top less and less flowers appear and if you keep following the road to the north facing slope below Swakane Peak you will hit some patches of snow, which is where I stopped. Not much in flower there since most of the vegetation seemed to have just melted from a heavy snowpack, but it was a nice view and my dog enjoyed eating the last of the snow for a cold drink along the trail.
I did notice that in one of the gullies there was the distinct smell of skunk on the Columbia River side, so be careful around there if you have dogs who like to chase that sort of thing. Snakes are common later in this canyon but right now its nice and the temperature is reasonable. In a couple weeks the wildflowers should really start to come out, and visiting within the next month or so after that is optimum for wildflowers and temperatures.
Comments