11 miles of hiking • 2250' elevation gain •
Today was another day centered around wildflowers. Being the childish potty humor loving person I am, I find "clustered broomrape" and "naked broomrape" to be the most hilariously intriguing flower names around! So it was the goal to find both today. Morning started out early at Horsethief Butte, in the beloved rain shadow.
Hiked all around the park, found a cluster of clustered broomrape right off the bat.
We then progressed down to Dalles Mt. Ranch for a windy hike up and around Stacker Butte. The dirt road to the trailhead parking had some pretty gnarly ruts in it, I was glad I didn't drive Purple Thunder, the 98 Nissan, you definitely want a little more clearance than that. We didn't see any people, but saw 4 deer, swifts, magpies and meadowlark; my kind of trail! To my disappointment and confusion there was a strange building up on Stacker Butte with some sort of radiation tank outside that said "danger: radiation, keep back 150 feet" Of course you need to get much closer than that to read the sign. Anyone know what this place is?
Next was down to Catherine Creek, to explore over on the arch side of the area. Saw some lizards and bitter root. And it was on this rocky terrain I realized that maybe it wasn't the best idea to wear my Keen sandals, as my feet were starting to feel funny. (kinda like a horse stepped on it!)
After exploring the eastern side of Catherine Creek area, we headed west back into the doom and gloom or the middle gorge. We stopped at Starvation Creek-Lancaster Falls to hunt for white shooting stars by the waterfalls, must have been to early because I didn't see any; however the trip was not a loss, because I found one lonesome Naked Broomrape (tee hee) next to a tree and saw another Fairy Slipper Orchid.
