Wildflowers and Wildlife are the highlights in the eastern Columbia River Gorge right now. We spotted the first Grass Widow of 2012 in bloom along the paved trail at Catherine Creek on Saturday, January 7. It was a lone flower but it will soon be joined by others.

The date is in sync with the timing of previous years for first Grass Widow sightings; we were specifically hunting for the first bloom. Salt-&-Pepper Desert Parsley, Canby's Desert Parsley and buttercups are on the verge of beginning their bloom cycles, too, in the eastern Gorge.

After hiking the 1.5-mile paved trail, we drove east about 3 miles to Klickitat-Balfour Park at the mouth of the Klickitat River to check on the status of bald eagles. This park is a little-known but premier spot to observe bald eagles when coho salmon are spawning in tributary creeks just upstream of the mouth of the river.

The parking lot overlooks the sandbars at the mouth of the Klickitat, which bald eagles use as a loafing site. Depending on time of day, the number of loafing birds can vary from few to many.

A short trail in the park goes to a wildlife viewpoint where we ate lunch while being entertained by bald eagles. Although the creek does not have enough flow for the salmon to go up it yet (and we did not observe any salmon in the pool at its mouth), we did count 18 adult and juvenile eagles perched in trees visible from the viewpoint.

Since courtship is underway, the adults were doing a local of vocalizing to one another, which biologists think is a bonding mechanism. This was the greatest amount of bald eagle "chatter" that I had ever heard.

After lunch, we drove across the river and parked at the Lyle trailhead for the Klickitat Rail Trail. We hiked 1.5 miles upstream to the high trestle at Fisher Hill and back. Along the way, we observed many more bald eagles flying up and down river and perched in trees along the canyon.

My friends told me about this hiking area so I decided to make the hour drive and try it for myself. I found it easy enough, parked, got my stuff together and headed out to the paved trail near the Columbia River. It was very plesant. Great paths for people with strollers or in wheel chairs. The weather was cool with a few clouds. I think I arrived about 11AM.
After that hike I crossed the street to the dirt trail, "020" to "021", to the Catherine Creek Arch. Very pretty hike. The trail is wide, very wide. The wild flowers, although not in full bloom, were very pretty. I hiked up a very steep hill then back down. I'm directionally challenged and was by myself so I wasn't totally sure where the trail would lead me. :) All in all a great hike. There is also a mountain biking trail I will try next.
The only negative thing I can say is that as I was leaving there were 2 families, each with a dog running off leash. One of the dogs jumped out of the car and was running on the road. The owners didn't seem too concerned. It is a HUGE petpieve of mine. As well behaved you believe your dog is, I don't want a dog trotting up to me and smelling me. And if I had my bulldog with me, she would have been on a leash and a lose dog is very disrespectful to all the other people. I just don't get why people can't keep their dogs on a leash. Isn't there a leash law in WA??
All in all a great experience though and I will go again. :)

Today we hiked the Labyrinth Area of Catherine Creek. Directions to the TH are accurate in Craig Romano's "Day Hiking Columbia River Gorge". We planned to do the loop described in his book, but we missed the turn at 1.4 miles and ended up elevating to the Atwood Road to about 1200 ft. We turned right and continued to a trail which took us to the trail we should have been on. Instead of turning left to go to the Indian Pits which we had seen several years ago, we turned right to get to the junction we had missed. By doing this we avoided the 1 mile road walk on Old Highway No 8. From here we returned to the TH the way we came for a total of about 6 miles. The trail through the basalt rocks is very beautiful as is the creek above the falls. Purple pentstemon bouquets could be seen on many of the rocks. Yellow monkey-flowers grew near the falls and creek. Just before the 1.4 mile junction we found many, many blooming bitterroot on the rocky areas. SO beautiful! We probably spent an hour in this area enjoying their beauty! The day was beautiful and sunny and Mt Hood could be seen! A very enjoyable hike!

After grabbing lunch at the Country Cafe in Lyle, Lola and I stopped off at the Catherine Creek Trailhead to do the short ADA loop. There are actually two loop options the steep and shorter or the more gradual longer loop.

This time of year might have been a bit late for the best wildflowers at this elevation, but the grasses were just changing from their spring green to the summer golden browns and oranges. Mt. Hood was still dressed in its bright white winter coat.

We did see a few California poppies (?) although I don't think they are native or particularly rare as I see them along the roadside mostly. But they are very pretty nonetheless.

Next time we'll check out the Arch and maybe make it up the oak forests on the north side of the parking area.