Crawford Oaks Trail, November 26, 2022
Heading east in the Columbia Gorge, across the river a little east of The Dalles, Oregon, is the Columbia Hills State Park. Today’s hike was the Crawford Oaks trail. The trail takes you up from the parking lot at just about river level, into the rolling hills, filled with grasslands and erratics brought in by the Missoula Floods a billion years ago, and with oaks and scrub brush. There are connecting trails going up to the parking area at another section of the park, the Dalles Ranch area, and other parts of the hills. These hills are filled with Arrowleaf Balsamroot flowers in the late spring. But during the fall and early winter there are no wildflowers left and the hills are brown with blown leaves from maples and oaks, and dried grasses.
Grasses
Maple leaves
Dried arrowleaf balsamroot
Rock wall
Erratics
