Catherine Creek Loop

After we hiked at Coyote Wall we drove over to Catherine Creek where we heard the bitterroot was in bloom! We did the Catherine Creek Loop going up by the rock arch and back down the Catherine Creek Loop Trail on the east side. Overall we hiked 2 miles with 370 ft of gain

I took very few photos of the trail, which was close to the Columbia River with Mt Hood on the south side of the river.

 zoom of Mt Hood, which was seen from most of the trail.

Columbia River to the east

top of the rock arch

some of the many bitterroot blossoms seen along the trail!

 

some of the other wildflowers seen along the trail this afternoon:

 

Catherine Creek South

After hiking at Catherine Creek , I walked across the street to hike the 1 mile Catherine Creek South Loop. This is a beautiful loop with views of the Columbia River, a distant Mt Hood and wildflowers! There is only about 75 ft of loss/gain on this loop. Camas is in boom.

Camas, prairie stars and death camas

At the bottom of the loop, there is a short spur that leads to a great view of the Columbia River: to the southwest, 

south, 

and southeast. 

Meadow filled with seablush

view down to a small waterfall on Catherine Creek

Back near the top of the loop there were a few balsamroot in bloom.

some of the wildflowers along the trail this afternoon

 

 

 

Catherine Creek North

This afternoon I drove over to Catherine Creek, just east of Coyote Wall, to do a couple of short hikes. I made a loop out of going up the west side of the Arch Loop Trail (but what the map at the trailhead calls the Tracy Hill Trail) and came down the east side of the Catherine Creek North Trail, overall 2 miles with 460 ft of gain. From the start of the trail there are views of the Columbia River and Mt Hood to the southwest. Camas is in bloom in the meadows.

View to the southeast

Death camas scattered over the meadow.

Parsley along the trail 

Catherine Creek

The plank crossing over Catherine Creek is a short distance upstream.

Old fencing

The natural rock arch above

There were several areas along the meandering Catherine Creek Trail that were thick with flowers, her camas and sea blush.

Great views along the Catherine Creek loop.

And down near the end of the loop, I saw bitterroot in bloom, gorgeous flowers!

some of the wildflowers seen along the trail today: