Columbia Hills, November 17, 2011

This particular trip, my hiking partner and I drove East as far as practical from Portland to avoid a rainstorm.   We ended up at the Colmubia Hills which is partly a Washington State Park and partly a WA DNR preserve.  There are grand hills with big views, and also a terrific Oregon White Oak forest.  I've been there a few times, now.  We started out the day under gray skies and wind.  It got worse from there!

We hiked up to Dalles Mountain summit and took a look around.  High winds, cold, and flat light prevented us from staying and taking photos.  So we hiked around the shoulder of the mountain to a spring on the north side.  Here is remaining fall color:

A gigantic remaining mushroom!

The old oak trees are very pretty, even without their leaves.  At this time of year, many grasses are starting to perk up again, just as the trees' leaves have turned brown and fallen off

Fungi on a downed tree:

After hiking here, we drove over the mountain to the Klickitat River Trail.  I've also visited this area many times.  I'd never noticed it before, but there's a nice colony of rabbitbrush along the trail.  This species is normally associated with the High Desert (which is south of here), and blooms in the fall.  By this time, it had been raining for a while, and we were both wet and tired.  Another good trip.