Mill Creek Ridge Preserve

We drove to the small parking area at the trailhead for Mill Creek Ridge Preserve southwest of the Dalles OR. We were limited on time, so started early and only hiked part of the trail. We went up the ridge (about 1/2 mile) to the trail junction, walked about 3/4 mile to the east, returned then 1/2 mile to the west and back to the trailhead. Overall, our hike was 3.5 miles with about 500 ft of overall gain. We had the ridge to ourselves, and saw 2 other hikers as we were going down the side trail to the trailhead. The ridgeline goes up and down over small hills. Lots of wildflowers in bloom on a clear blustery morning. The access trail up to the top of the ridge goes between two private properities, we found balsamroot, lupine and other wildflowers in bloom along this trail.

Up on the ridge, we were surrounded by balsamroot in bloom. We also found lots of lupine and paintbrush in bloom along with some other wildflowers. Here is some of what we saw:

zoom of Mt Hood to the southwest

zoom of Mt Adams to the northwest some of the wildflowers seen in bloom along the trail: