Stretching 1243 miles (2000km) through Canada and the US, the “Mighty Columbia” has played a central role in the Pacific Northwest for tens of thousands of years. Non-native vessels weren’t present until 1792, when the Columbia Rediviva sailed into the river from the Pacific Ocean. Commanded by merchant captain Robert Gray, the Columbia was a private ship involved in the fur trade, traveling far and wide. In fact, it was the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe.

For part of that trip the Columbia sailed with the USS Lady Washington, another merchant brig. The Lady Washington lives on today, as a full-size replica built in the late 1980s. Last summer, the replica Lady Washington visited Anacortes and we went aboard to talk with the crew and take photos. In the summer of 2012, when I lived in Kirkland, WA, the ship docked in Kirkland after engaging in a fake battle with the Hawaiian Chieftain, a sailing vessel built in Maui. This slide show of photos from both visits may give you an idea of what life was like aboard the ship when the Columbia sailed into the river that would carry the same name, 232 years ago:

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The river was home to thousands of people for many years before the Columbia Rediviva arrived but that’s a complicated story and not mine to tell. One of only a few rivers that connect the Pacific Ocean to the land east of the Cascade Mountains, the Columbia began carving a deep canyon through the mountains millions of years ago. Much later, at the end of the last ice age (13,000 to 15,000 years ago), the Missoula floods created the spectacular scenery we see today in the Columbia Gorge: over 80 miles of basalt rock walls reaching as high as 4,000 feet (1200m). Delineating a good part of the Washington – Oregon border, the varied landscape of the Gorge includes numerous waterfalls and the land ranges from temperate rain forest in the west to dry grasslands in the east. People are drawn to the region for everything from skiing to paddle-boarding but my interest in the Gorge involves less strenuous activities like exploring back roads and hiking among wildflowers.

A month ago we planned a three-night getaway to the Gorge. I had long known that the area is famous for spring wildflowers, so when I read about a preserve on the Washington side that’s supposed to be one of the best places to see Spring wildflowers, I said, “Let’s go!” We limited ourselves to a small area around The Dalles, a town that marked the end of the Oregon Trail in the 1840s, when steep cliffs meant traveling by water if you needed to go further west. Now The Dalles is a medium-sized city adjacent to a massive dam built in 1957. Like too many dams in the West, The Dalles Dam damaged salmon runs even as it aided irrigation. It also submerged what is said to be the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in North America, along with ancient petroglyphs and Celilo Falls, a key tribal trading and fishing area used for 15,000 years. The destruction of life always lingers in the back of my mind when I see dammed rivers. Indeed, native tribes whose rights to fish at Celilo Falls were guaranteed by treaties 150 years ago have called for the falls to be restored – but that’s unlikely.

In any case, The Dalles was a good, central location for us to use. Two preserves (Catherine’s Creek and the Tom McCall Preserve) were on our agenda. We would figure out which back roads to explore, where to eat, and all the rest after we arrived.

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We had a late start Friday morning, feeling groggy from two nights of poor sleep. But no worries, as we say in the Pacific Northwest, we were not on a schedule. I know early light is best for photography but what good is it if you’re half asleep? So we weren’t rushing as we crossed back over the river to the Washington side and followed State Route 14 west, toward Catherine’s Creek Preserve. The two-lane scenic road, part of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, hugs the river and was a welcome relief after interstate highways. Breathtaking vistas spread out before us. I couldn’t wait to get out and look around so I suggested (or did I beg?) that we stop at a rest area by the river, a few miles short of our destination. There, a short trail wound through billowing grass and wildflowers to a lookout over the river, where I took photo #1 and the header photo of the train tunnel. We admired the native Garry, or Oregon white oaks (Quercus garryana) growing up through emerald mounds of succulent Miner’s lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata) and feathery Burr parsley (Anthirscus caucalis).

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On to Catherine’s Creek! Wind can be a problem in the Columbia Gorge but we enjoyed perfect, cool, spring weather that day – and we weren’t the only ones! It was mid-morning before we got to the parking area, already almost full. Someone pulled out of the primo spot just as we drove up to the trailhead – what luck! We gathered our things, laced up our hiking boots and set off.

Following a main trail that drops down to a creek, we came upon a lovely mix of spring wildflowers under a fresh green canopy of oak, alder and pine. At the creek’s edge, crooked Garry oak branches encased in gray lichens reached down into a swale of blue camas flowers (Camassia quamash). Across from the creek, violet blue larkspur (Delphinium nuttallianum) shared a moist, grassy slope with dots of yellow (Crocidium multicaule or Goldstar), cream (Toxicoscordion venenosum or Death camas), and palest pink (Lithophragma parviflorum or Small-flowered prairie stars). In a mossy nook, Grassland saxifrage (Micranthes integrifolia) and Small-flowered blue-eyed Mary (Colinsia parviflora) conversed with more cheerful Goldstar flowers. When the landscape opened up again, Meadow Death camas (Toxicoscordion venuousum) decorated the trailside.

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We’d barely begun our hike and were already getting hungry. Lunch was in the car instead of in our backpacks, where it should have been. After a quick discussion we agreed to head back to the car, have lunch, and then resume the walk. I took my phone from my back pocket and made a quick record of the path bending around just-budding Garry oaks and cheerful mounds of Desert parsley.

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After refueling we felt better and set out again, noting our luck at having found the parking spot near the trailhead because now, a long line of cars stretched down the road. We decided to head uphill in the other direction this time. We didn’t get very far – there were too many flowers, trees, and vistas to admire. Do people really think they’ve accomplished something when they hike a two-mile loop in under an hour? I think they’ve lost something. I think we need long, leisurely minutes – or hours! – immersed in nature. But I realize that for too many people, that isn’t easy to do. We’re lucky.

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Instead of completing the loop, we turned back and enjoyed a slow, wildflower-strewn walk back down to the car. We had a very satisfying time at the preserve and now it was time to find a place to regroup over coffee. Just a few miles down the road in the tiny town of Lyle (which has about 500 inhabitants) a handsome building perched high over the river offered a wine bar and an espresso bar. Called the Confluence Café, the espresso bar felt quite luxurious so far from a big city! (Portland is an hour and a half away). With the air cooling off, we sat inside instead of on the deck, where expansive river views spread out right and left. The espresso was excellent and a crunchy cardamom cookie took care of my sweet tooth.

Soon we were back on the road again, on a two-lane country road that follows the Klickitat River north into mixed grassland and forest. The river went in and out of view as Bigleaf Maple trees lit up bends in the road with brilliant splashes of chartreuse. After one last stop to photograph an impressive wall of multicolored rock, we began the descent back down to the river. It was time for dinner.

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The next day we visited a preserve almost directly across the river, on the Oregon side. The coffee stop was as rough around the edges as the first day’s was smooth and it was just as good. Later, a winding drive into the foothills of Mt. Hood led us to the small town of Dufur, an old, rural cemetery, and an imposing, all-wood grain elevator. More about that later!

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