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The wildflowers are blooming!

memaloose-hills-loop-mapWe were in the Columbia Gorge this weekend and the wildflowers are painting the hillsides with color.  The most predominate right now are Northwest Balsomroot (Yellow ones in these photos), Lupine (Purple ones in photos), and Fireweed (Orange ones in photos).

The hike on Sunday was called Memaloose Loop – it is on public land and not in the hiking books.  Here is a map I found on the Internet showing the trail. It started from the Memaloose Rest Area (Eastbound only), went up to the Memaloose Viewpoint, then circled up behind the viewpoint through Chetfield Hill and March Hill then back to the Rest Area.  We had sun, wind, rain, and hail – all several times!  A typical Gorge Spring day.

This hike was mostly easy, the path is fairly viable in most areas, and there are wildflowers everywhere we looked.  My favorite spot was at the top where the bench is overlooking the Columbia River.  This area also has poison oak – so stay on the trail.