Dog Mountain wildflowers

scole

I took two days off this past week to head down to the Columbia River Gorge. My goal was to re-shoot some photos of the Arrowleaf Balsamroot blooms atop Dog Mountain (this thread) and to explore some of the creeks that empty own into the Columbia from the "waterfall belt" on the Oregon side of the river.

My first and only previous visit was back in 2001 and at that time, I had a 2 megapixel camera. More recently, I've been eager to capture the impressive displays of Balsamroot that carpet the upper slopes with my 10 megapixel SLR. This year, the weather and peak blooms coincided so off I went.

The hike up is tough- the trail is steep and cuts to the chase. Once you do make the upper slopes, the rewards are plenty. Although these photos only highlight the wildflowers, the views of the Gorge and Mount Hood are also top notch!..

1. Weird photo. Tried for a panorama & got a fisheye effect


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


7. Creeping Phlox


Thanks for looking..

junglejim

#5
I find daisy flowers some of the hardest to get good shots. I personally like the #5 with the one flower looking at you with the sun flare. I think I like it because it is different than what I think I might see

Allan FG

#5 is a great shot

dseidman

Really pretty pictures! The second one is definitely my favorite. How long do you think the flowers will last?

A couple years ago I stupidly hiked up there March while wearing a t-shirt. Hey, it was in the 50s at the bottom... Anyway, I got to the top and there was snow and the wind was blowing a constant 40+ mph. In addition to that, the entire top of the mountain was engulfed in a cloud for the entire time I was up there. I don't think I have ever been so cold in my life.

scole

Thanks, guys. Once I started taking pictures, I felt this weird pressure to get good photos. #5 is actually a HDR recovery from a single RAW. It still has a bit too much of the typical HDR "greyness" but I'm happy with it..


Dan-

Depends on when you're thinking of going. You *might* get away with heading down this coming weekend. The Balsamroot is prime but I didn't see many individual flowers past prime. The weather's been real nice down there so things will probably be progressing. You might be able to catch the lupine in bloom if you go down (I was too early for that).

Keep an eye on the trip reports (and Trail Q&A forum) over on Portlandhikers.org and see if anything changes. The trail's just as steep and pain in the butt as you might remember it.

dseidman

scole wrote:

Thanks, guys. Once I started taking pictures, I felt this weird pressure to get good photos. #5 is actually a HDR recovery from a single RAW. It still has a bit too much of the typical HDR "greyness" but I'm happy with it..


Dan-

Depends on when you're thinking of going. You *might* get away with heading down this coming weekend. The Balsamroot is prime but I didn't see many individual flowers past prime. The weather's been real nice down there so things will probably be progressing. You might be able to catch the lupine in bloom if you go down (I was too early for that).

Keep an eye on the trip reports (and Trail Q&A forum) over on Portlandhikers.org and see if anything changes. The trail's just as steep and pain in the butt as you might remember it.

Thanks for the response. I have finals coming up and I won't be free to go anywhere until June 11 at the very earliest. I alway miss these things! Hopefully next year, I guess.