We continued searching for signs of spring. If you don’t recall, it was blackbirds on the John Day River that kicked off our spring search, followed by a trip to the coast that revealed daffodils in bloom, and then a weekend in the Columbia River Gorge for some spring wildflowers. Spring is all around, you just have to get out and find some signs. This time around we were bound for the lower Deschutes river. What signs of spring would we find?
In our continued spring tour of Oregon our next stop after Sunset Bay was the Columbia River Gorge. The wildflowers are usually out early and reliably in the Gorge and this year did not disappoint. For this trip we stayed on the eastern end of the Gorge and camped out of Memaloose State Park. It served as a good base when higher elevation camps further out were still mostly under snow. From there, we were up Saturday morning and off to find a trail to hike. Our first planned stop had an already overflowing parking lot at 9 a.m. Further up the road we found space at the Lyle Cherry Orchard Trail and started up the hill. I still don’t know where the cherry orchard was, but we were successful in our search for flowers.
With the start of spring on March 1st it was time to go in search of proof. It seemed like the Oregon coast was a likely destination, and we were right. Flowers were blooming once we hit the Willamette Valley, trees were in full bloom, and even the beautiful gorse plants were lit up with flowers when we reached the coast. Sure signs of spring.
