Cowiche Canyon Preserve — Thursday, Apr. 1, 2021

On this beautiful, warm,  sunny and blue sky day we meandered Cowiche Canyon Uplands from the Scenic-Drive TH for almost 4 hours. We were about 2 weeks late for the early spring bloom. Most of the grass widows, Canby's desert parsley, yellow bells, Hooker's balsamroot, and many of the sagebrush violets were past their prime. Bare-stemmed desert parsley, phlox, Columbia desert parsley and a few prairie stars were also seen. We think and hope that we saw a few of the rare endemic Tauschia hooveri which is the CCC's rare and endemic plant. We heard but did not see our first meadowlarks of the year. It was good to see a lady with 2 dogs pick up the 2 dog poop bags she had left along the side of the trail when she began her hike and take them with her.