Crawford Oaks Loop at Columbia Hills State Park

I drove to the Crawford Oaks Trailhead at Columbia Hills State Park to hike the Vista Loop Trail and over to the Dalles Mountain Ranch, 7.5 miles with 960 ft of overall gain. The wildflowers are not yet in full bloom, but there was a good amount in bloom. The first mile is up a closed access road to the Vista Loop Trail. There are basalt columns and views of the Columbia River at the beginning of the trail.

Balsamroot is in bloom.

I hiked the Vista Loop clockwise. Phlox and balsamroot in the meadow, Dalles Mountain Ranch in the far distance.

The trail meanders among the hills.

Lupine in bloom along with balsamroot.

Views of the meandering trail

Near the top of the loop, I took the spur trail up to Dalles Mountain Ranch.

Some of the buildings at Dalles Mountain Ranc

Balsamroot and lupine near the fence line

The old abandoned car in the meadow

Pond at Dalles Mountain Ranch as I returned to the Vista Loop Trail.

Despite the warning sign, I was glad not to see any rattlesnakes today.

Oak trees along the Vista Loop Trail

Balsamroot and a view to the Columbia River to the southwest

Columbia Hills to the north

Great views of the Columbia River near the south end of the loop: looking southeast,

view to the southwest, occasionally I could see the top of Mt Hood through the clouds.

zoom of the very top of Mt Hood peeking through the clouds

Largeheaded clover in the meadow

some of the wildflowers along the trail today:

  

 

  

 

 

Horsethief Butte

We decided to drive over to Horsethief Butte in Columbia Hills State Park to take a look around. North side of Horsethief Butte.

We walked around to the other side of the butte, view to the west with the Columbia River and Horsethief Lake.

South side of Horsethief Butte

view along the Columbia River to the east

It was lovely to see the balsamroot in bloom.

We hiked a short ways up into the butte.

We saw some pictographs, they are very faded.

View to the west from up on Horsethief Butte

We didn't stay long as the wind was getting quite forceful.

 

Stacker Butte

We drove up past the Dalles Mountain Ranch at Columbia Hills State Park to hike up to Stacker Butte this morning. View of Mt Hood and Mt Jefferson south of the Columbia River along the road up to the trailhead. It is still early for the balsamroot bloom, so we were happy to see some today! We also saw a couple of marmots.

View from the Stackerbutte Trailhead. This is a 5 mile round trip with 1,100' gain on a closed gravel road. We didn't see any other people on our hike.

A rocky portion of the hills near the beginning of the trail.

We are hiking in the rolling hills, but had a beautiful view of Mt Hood and Mt Jefferson for most of the hike.

View to the south from the top of Stacker Butte

zoom of Mt Hood

zoom of Mt Jefferson

View to the north from the top of Stacker Butte, we could see the rim of Mt St Helens to the west end and then Mt Adams, a cloudy Mt Rainier and the Goat Rocks.

zoom of Mt Adams

zoom of the Goat Rocks

some of the wildflowers we saw along the trail today: