[lookout bob]

Susie and I dropped down to the Dalles to celebrate a special event and do some tax free shopping ( hey....save 8.5% minimum just in tax!!! ) We drove the old Columbia river highway (30) west towards Hood River and stopped at the top of the switchbacks where the Nature Conservancy owns 255 acres and has built lovely trails. ( Rowena Plateau and Tom McCall Trails....) The McCall trail is named after the first governor of Oregon and climbs through lovely oak forest covered with lichen intermixed with open plateaus and grassy swales

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The flowers are just opening

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except the desert parsley which is mostly bloomed

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There is glacier lily everywhere

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and some paintbrush

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This is a wonderful trail worthy of hiking (3 miles) if you are in the area. The bloom will soon be terrific so check it out. p

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p.s....the Clock Tower Ales in The Dalles has awsome beer.......

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We also stopped at Mosier Falls for a quick 1/2 mile jaunt to the lovely falls there

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On the way down, we did a side trip to Fort Simcoe in the Yakima valley. This fort was used in the mid 1800s as a way station from soldiers from Fort Dalles and is pretty cool. The antique furniture preserved there made it worth the side trip

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[Hikingqueen]

Very cool! I love this area and plan on heading that way in May.

[vibramhead]

Nice photos. That's a lovely area. I hope you'll forgive my being persnickety, but one small correction: It's Tom McCall, not Mike. He's a virtual god in the pantheon of former Oregon governors, at least where it comes to protecting the environment. He made himself famous nationwide when he urged Americans to come visit Oregon, but please don't move here.

[lookout bob]

I stand corrected and thank you!!!! edited title and body

[mike]

We keep driving by Ft Simcoe and saying we'll stop next time. Now we really mean it!

[Mikey]

Tom McCall was Governor of Oregon State January 9, 1967 to January 13, 1975. The Tom McCall trail is in the Tom McCall Preserve.

[Altitude Junkie]

Thanks for posting, LookoutBob, I was just telling a new friend about this area yesterday. Your pics are very helpful because with this dark, wet spring, I wasn't sure what schedule the lupines would be on this year. Last year's peak occurred around May 8th. AJ

[lookout bob]

my pleasure....the lupines are still fuzzy stalks and need a week or two to open. Many other flowers are on the verge so if you can wait, it'll be magnificent. The trail is awesome, although, as a WTA nerd, I really missed having a grub hoe to direct the water off the trail