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Trip Report    

CHS 1 Hike - Columbia Hills

Conditioning hike with rolling hills and a view of Mt. Hood.

Joshua Stein Joshua Stein
May 25, 2019
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • The trail was in good condition. The grasses were waist high in a few places. There was a section of the trail with a lot of poison oak though it was a few feet off the trail making it easy to avoid.

We met at the Crawford Oaks Trailhead. Parking was readily available. A discover pass is required and given how windy it was we had to double check that our permits didn't blow away.

Sightings

We missed the peak wild flower season for this hike based on the state of the Balsamroot and Lupine though we did see some later season flowers (e.g. Yarrow). There did appear to be some Red Wing Blackbirds by the Dalles Mountain Ranch and another variety of bird (swifts?) by one of the streams. One of the more exciting encounters was a Rattlesnake early in the hike by a stream. It gave us a warning and wandered off into some thick brush which gave us ample room to avoid it while continuing our hike.

We also wandered around the Dalles Mountain Ranch. It had farm equipment from the early 1900s. We also visited the old car on the ranch which is rusting away in the field. It can make for some good pictures.

Weather

It was partly cloudy and dry the entire hike. The temperature was in the 60s. There were strong and consistent winds for the majority of the hike. The winds did make it difficult to take in some of the views or even look ahead without having dirt blown into your face.