72 Microseasons of the Pacific Northwest

The eastern Columbia River Gorge is home to the Pacific Northwest's earliest spring wildflower season, and by the spring equinox the show is already underway on the basalt slopes above the river. Columbia Desert Parsley (Lomatium columbianum), a yellow-flowered member of the carrot family, sends up feathery, ferny foliage topped with dome-shaped clusters of tiny bright yellow flowers from late March through May. It blooms on dry, rocky slopes between Hood River and The Dalles on both the Washington and Oregon sides, often mixed with blue-purple grass widows (Olsynium douglasii) — one of the most delicate and overlooked spring ephemerals in the region. Grass widows are often the earliest of all, opening their silky three-petaled purple flowers in March on rocky open ground from the Gorge east through the Interior Columbia Basin. Near-equinox days in the eastern Gorge also bring blooms of yellow bells (Fritillaria pudica), prairie stars (Lithophragma parviflorum), and the first buds of balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) just beginning to push above the soil. Tom McCall Preserve on Rowena Plateau (above the Rowena Crest viewpoint on US 30 in Oregon) is the single most accessible and spectacular location, with thousands of balsamroot plants beginning their pre-bloom push across open grassland above the Columbia River. On the Washington side, the Lyle Cherry Orchard Trail and the Catherine Creek area near White Salmon are exceptional, with grass widows, desert parsley, and early shooting stars (Dodecatheon spp.) creating a mosaic of color against dark basalt. The view from Catherine Creek overlook — looking west across the Columbia into the heart of the Gorge — rivals any spring wildflower experience in the Pacific Northwest. This is a landscape that rewards early-season visitors who arrive before the famous balsamroot peak of late April.