We arrived back in Portland (from our Italian Dolomites hiking trip), on July 13th after about 23 hours of travel. The next few days were a mush of early bedtimes and wee hours wakefulness.
Our front garden bed was bursting with blooming zinnias and snap dragons when we returned.
On July 16th, we visited with family in Eugene, and had an al fresco lunch in one of my favorite gardens:
One of my sisters returned with us for a long delayed visit. We enjoyed walks in my neighborhood and other neighborhoods in Portland, as well as a visit to Powells City of Books.
Hikes
We hiked to two areas east of Mt Hood with blooming wildflower meadows:
Location of trails hiked in July east of Mt Hood
Cook Meadows, July 18th – We wanted to take my sister for an easy, beautiful wildflower/forest hike, so we tried to go to Lookout Mountain, just east of Mt Hood. Unfortunately, it was closed due to recent fire activity, but some Forest Service workers pointed us to the nearby Cook Meadows Trail. While we didn’t reach a high point, we walked along the shoulder of the ridge, through both shady forest and sunny wildflower meadows, with views to Mt Hood. The meadows were red, with more scarlet gilia in bloom than I have ever seen before. I also saw catchfly and horkelia, two new-to-me flowers, though I have known they were out there for the spotting.
Scarlet gilia and Mount Hood
Red meadows of scarlet gilia
Scarlet gilia
Dusky horkelia
Oregon catchfly
The trail passed through patches of meadow and forest, with so many wildflowers!
Zoomed in views of Mt Hood:
Close up of the giant boulder on Cooper Spur, and the Eliot Glacier beyond
Elk Meadows, July 25th – Later in the month we returned to Elk Meadows on the east side of Mt Hood, a few weeks earlier than last summer, so saw an earlier suite of wildflowers.
Approaching the trailhead – though cloudy from the Portland side, the mountain was out to the east!
The switchback hanging gardens were mostly past bloom, with sparse sections of flowers, including these lovely Cascade lilies.
Columbine, groundsel and bugbane on the switchbacks
The famous crosshatch tree
Once in the meadows, there were plenty of flowers, especially compared to last year.
7/25/2023 Bog orchids and Gray’s lovage, Elk Meadows
8/30/2022 Purple gentians in the mostly dry meadows
Some of the flowers we saw this year:
Bog orchid
Swales of bog orchids, also some yellow orchids
Lovage and lupine
Rosy spiraea
Comparison photos from last year, looking toward Mt Hood from near the Elk Meadows Shelter
7/25/2023 Lots of lovage
8/30/2022 Goldenrod
Looking back toward the shelter and burned Bluegrass Ridge:
7/25/23
8/30/2022
Today’s close up of Mt Hood, and the Cooper Spur boulder, also seen on our Cook Meadow hike:
The cloud stayed near the top of the mountain most of the day,
but we could see Cooper Spur and the boulder…
Returning down the trail…the Newton Creek crossing can be difficult, but this year, two logs over the deepest part made the crossing easy.
Looking back upstream at Mt Hood after crossing Newton Creek
Downsteam view of Newton Creek
Crafting – I did not get much knitting done on our travels, but continued working on my ongoing knitting and quilting projects at home.
The Meadowlands blanket
The first set of blocks for the Modern Quilt Studio Summer Camp Mystery Quilt
On to August, and to more posts about our hiking trip to the Dolomite Mountains of Italy.
Margaret Quilts 
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