Zoom

5 miles of hiking • 1500' elevation gain •

First of three "little" hikes today, to a place I'd only learned of the day before! I am basically tongue-tied. The beauty of the bloom here is incomparable to anything I've seen anywhere.

Getting here is made more difficult by the inaccurate directions in the Oregon Hikers' Field Guide. (Use those in Curious Gorge, instead.) And once here, you're on your own. Nothing but off-trail goodness.

If you hit the Hill during peak bloom, you will be dumbstruck. No question about it. Watch out for rattlesnakes and poison oak.

Comments

Roman and JM heart this trip.

JM
April 18, 2016

So many terrific photos. I have a similar batch and it's bewildering to look through them all! That ring around the sun was here in Portland on Saturday. I think i like the zoomed shots on Mt Hood the best. I tried for a similar effect w/ my cell phone, but couldn't get it w/o blurriness. Well done.

Karl
April 18, 2016

Thanks! Heh, yeah, I'm struggling to add captions to them at the moment, and wondering just how many ways there are to say "Balsamroot and Lupine!"? LOL... Such a magnificent place. Amazing it's stayed so far off the radar. I sense that's about to change.