Mitchell Point 3-30-19

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bobcat
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Mitchell Point 3-30-19

Post by bobcat » April 1st, 2019, 1:39 pm

My wife and I stopped off at Mitchell Point on the way to Hood River. The early spring wildflowers were out on the summit ridge, and the views were splendid. Even though we only started up around 10:30 a.m., most people were arriving after us, so the trail (and parking lot) only got crowded in the late morning.

View to Cook Hill, Mitchell Point Trail.jpg
Douglas-fir grove, Mitchell Point Trail.jpg
Descending the ridge, Mitchell Point Trail.jpg
Gold stars (Crocidium multicaule), Mitchell Point.jpg
Gold stars and Dog Mountain, Mitchell Point.jpg
Grass widow slope, Mitchell Point.jpg
Yellow bells (Fritillaria pudica), Mitchell Point.jpg
Gray-leaf desert parsley (Lomatium macrocarpum), Mitchell Point.jpg
Grass widows (Olsynium douglasii), Mitchell Point.jpg
Western saxifrage (Saxifraga occidentalis), Mitchell Point.jpg
View west, Mitchell Point.jpg
View to Chemawa Hill and Silver Star Mountain, Mitchell Point.jpg
Drano Lake and Cook Hill from Mitchell Point.jpg

To avoid the crowds, we took the “Scott Cook solution,” mentioned in the latest edition of Curious Gorge, and zigzagged down the powerline road to Mitchell Creek and the Wygant Trail. The road winds in and out of forest across the powerline corridor giving good views of Wygant Peak. It is unnavigable by vehicles at present: There’s a boggy slump at the Mitchell saddle, and a large tree down halfway to Mitchell Creek.

Starting down the powerline road, Mitchell Point.jpg
Wygant Peak from the powerline corridor, Mitchell Point.jpg
Obstacle on the powerline road, Mitchell Point.jpg
Woods near Mitchell Creek, powerline road.jpg

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Sean Thomas
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Re: Mitchell Point 3-30-19

Post by Sean Thomas » April 4th, 2019, 8:09 pm

Nice photos bobcat! I haven't been to Mitchell in a while, might have to go check out the Scott Cook solution:)

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drm
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Re: Mitchell Point 3-30-19

Post by drm » April 5th, 2019, 7:48 am

That's quite a field of grass widows. They don't usually bloom in that density. I saw quite a few in upper Syncline yesterday, but they are scattered all over.

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adamschneider
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Re: Mitchell Point 3-30-19

Post by adamschneider » April 5th, 2019, 7:58 am

drm wrote:
April 5th, 2019, 7:48 am
That's quite a field of grass widows. They don't usually bloom in that density. I saw quite a few in upper Syncline yesterday, but they are scattered all over.
I've seen dense patches like that in the lower part of Coyote Wall, early in the grass widow season.

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Don Nelsen
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Re: Mitchell Point 3-30-19

Post by Don Nelsen » April 5th, 2019, 10:36 am

Thanks for the report.

Interesting about the grass widows. I don't remember seeing them packed so close together in years previous but this year I've spotted them in dense clusters as well.

Here is a meadow at 1,800' elevation on a ridge in the Herman Cr. drainage starting to bloom: (March 31st)
Image

And another meadow at 2,900' on the ridge leading to Indian Point later that same day. Not blooming yet but this should be a nice show when it gets going:
Image

I was surprised at how fast these came up in this second photo. This meadow was under over three feet of snow on 3/1 and still completely covered on 3/21. It's still about half covered in snow and the flowers are coming up under the snow at the edges. Tough little buggers! I wonder what effect the fire and resultant ash layer had on them.
"Everything works in the planning stage" - Kelly

"If you don't do it this year, you will be one year older when you do" - Warren Miller

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