Last week (May 7), I went on a wildflower walk in the Columbia River Gorge, on the other side of the Cascade Mountains. That’s the dry side. I was enticed by the pictures of balsamroot in my Facebook feed.
I wanted a view of Mount Hood, so we crossed the river to Washington. This was one of the only clumps of balsamroot left this spring. I don’t know if it’s warmer/dryer this year, but last year there were a lot more! I’m going to have to put a note in my calendar to go in April next year.
There were a lot of poppies, though! I didn’t see any of those last year.
I love how luminous bitterroot flowers are.
The bachelor’s buttons were also out in force.
So good to have friends that I can talk into excursions! I promised that it was a walk, not a hike. With views of Mount Hood and the Columbia River! We stopped in Hood River, Oregon on the way home.
We saw wing foilers, which seem to be the next interatiion after the windsailers. Pretty cool!
We chatted with some of them, and checked out their gear.
It was a lovely day for an outing. Are you out and about this spring?
PDXKnitterati 
Thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures. Makes me want to go for a walk.
Walking is so good for us! We walk after dinner to see the neighborhood flowers, cats, and bunnies.
Some clever person worked out in physics that weird … THING under the little platform, eh, Michele ? Extraordinary !
Your hitherto invisible poppies are glorious ! – I wish you more of them next time. And there will certainly be a next time, as you are a real get-around-er. 🙂
I know! It looks so weird to see the boards gliding *above* the water. That thing is called the foil (or hydrofoil?), and it has a mast and wings. So it’s the wing of the foil for wing foiling…oy!
Poppies are nice, but I can see them in Portland. I want to see the glorious yellow balsamroot flowers, which grow on the other side of the mountains! Next year.
love that spot. I left my parents ashes just off the path because they never missed a visit there when the wildflowers were in bloom.
Awww, that’s sweet. I probably walked right past them.
Bachelor Buttons. Wow. Bring back memories of my childhood.
I love that intense blue!
Wow! You have beautiful wildflowers on your walk route! We are getting out and about, though we are having a real rainy spell right now. Hopefully getting out for some walks soon 🙂
These take a little bit to get to; it’s about 90 minutes to that site. But it’s a very pretty drive, and so worth it to see the flora on the other side of the Cascades! That’s the dry side, with rattlesnakes and ticks.