Naturalist Trip - Cape Horn

Driving to and from the trailhead was the hardest part of this trip, due in part to traffic along 205 the closer we got to Vancouver/Portland.  What should have been a two hour drive was actually 2:45 due to an accident just north of Vancouver.  Parking at the trailhead was easy with two clean and well-stocked pit toilets at the Salmon Falls Park and Ride which doubles as the trailhead complete with informative signage.  Our group of seven started up the trail at about 9:45 and finished 5.5 hours later having hiked 5.3 miles with 980 feet of elevation gain and the most diverse group of wildflowers I think I've seen.  Using the Washington Wildflower App and my memory, I put together a list of what we saw that included more than seventy species!  Larkspur might have been the most spectacular flower we saw both in terms of sheer numbers but also the peak bloom/condition of the flowers, and because they are one of my favorite flowers, Hooker's Fairy Bells are also worth mentioning as they were plentiful and near peak bloom.  The variety of flowers was so dense and diverse along the trail that it allowed for comparing/contrasting similar species of flowers for hikers to learn to distinguish between them (fringe cup and youth on age, for example).  The hike gains 800 feet in the first 1.2 miles according to WTA and that seemed accurate but not as difficult as it sounds because of the many stops we made for flower observations.  Once you reach the ridge it flattens out and there are three overlooks of the Columbia River Valley fairly close together; a more developed overlook is about a mile on down the trail and is named for the woman who spear-headed efforts to save this area from development:  Nancy Russell.  (https://gorgefriends.org/hike-the-gorge/cape-horn.html)

The day was sunny and was probably in the low 70's when we finished the hike.

If I were to lead this hike again I would probably go one or two weeks later just to see what additional things would be in bloom that we didn't see on this trip.