Three Hiking Sisters

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

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:

Coyote Wall Labyrinth Loop

I drove out to the Coyote Wall Trailhead to hike the Little Maui Trail and up along Coyote Wall, then across over and come down the Labyrinth Trail making a large loop, 7.5 miles with about 1,600 ft of overall gain. Turkey vultures were soaring overhead as I hiked along the closed road to the Little Maui Trail.

There were lots of parsley in bloom along the road and the trail. Great views of the Columbia River and a distant Mt Hood.

flowering cucumber

The Little Maui Trail meanders up Coyote Wall in a series of switchbacks. Little Maui Falls along the creek

A gorgeous day to be out, with fabulous views and wildflowers in bloom.

Mt Hood seen under the branches of a large oak tree

Along the Coyote Wall Trail, I followed the switchbacks that went close the the edge of Coyote Wall, instead of the trail that goes straight up hill a short ways away from the edge.