Category: Uncategorized
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I visited this spot nearly to the day last week, and while the wildflowers were in full spectacle, the mountain was mostly hidden in clouds. Such is the unpredictable state of spring in the East Gorge. On the 2024 trip when I took this image, heavy downpours were pushing past the Cascades in dark, rolling…
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This beautiful dwarf iris grows only in the lower Clackamas and Molalla river canyons. Despite its super-local range, it’s not considered endangered, though it’s still a rare thrill for wildflower seekers to find them in bloom. These little plants grow in open, sunny gaps in Douglas fir forests and produce their pale blue or white…
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Named for a long-vanished Gorge settlement near Mosier, the Ortley Thrust is a prominent upward fold in the massive bedrock of Columbia River Flood Basalts that form the walls of the Columbia Gorge. Here, the once-horizonal layers of lava have been pushed upward by enormous tectonic pressures that have created uplifted ridges across this part…
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Folks heading up to visit the iconic wildflower displays each spring at the Columbia Hills Preserve on Dalles Mountain might not notice this solitary basalt outcrop along the way, but it holds a surprise for their return trip, especially in late spring and summer evenings: in the right light a smiling face appears in the…
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It might be the most Zen spot on Mount Hood. This is the western sibling of twin tarns located high on the shoulder of Cathedral Ridge, just below McNeil Point. The Timberline Trail travels between the pair (along the far shore in this view) making these a familiar highlight for thousands of hikers each year. …
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The Columbia Gorge creates all kinds of uniquely local weather by virtue of funneling mild, moist Pacific air into the cold, dry interior east of the Cascades – or vice-versa, depending on the wind direction. In winter, this can create the rare instance of sunny weather on the normally rainy west side of the mountains…
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The winter colors along this section of the lower Deschutes River (just below Rattlesnake Canyon) can seem like a return to fall at first glance. However, the ruddy hues that light up the river this time of year aren’t leaves, they’re catkins emerging from the White alder groves that line the shore. Though they favor…
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Despite the stunning beauty of Mount Hood’s northwest side, the Lolo Pass Road wasn’t built for hikers and nature photographer. Though the pass had long been a trade route for indigenous peoples, the modern road was only built in the mid-1950s, as part of constructing the transmission corridor linking the (then) new The Dalles Dam…
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As Mount Hood’s glaciers go, the White River Glacier punches above its weight in both swagger and uniqueness. Though it is now retreating in the era of climate change (like all 12 glaciers on the mountain), it nonetheless persists on the sunny southeast side. It is the only glacier on the mountain to flow into…
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This striking basalt formation watches over a popular swimming hole in the lower Molalla River canyon. Columns often form when basalt lava cools, creating the familiar hexagonal rock pillars that are iconic throughout the Pacific Northwest. As lava cools, it shrinks from the top of the flow downward, slowing creating vertical cracks that define the…
WyEast Images 