Lyle Cherry Orchard Trail, April 5, 2025
It was a beautiful Saturday in the Columbia Gorge. There is usually wind around Hood River and the Mosier Plateau on the Oregon side of the River, and also at Lyle Cherry Orchard. But today there was little wind and sunshine and warmth, making this a perfect hiking day. I went up the hill and followed the trail to the east, continuing uphill and into the oaks in the rolling hills. Flowers were abundant and luckily there weren’t that many folks hiking on this sunny day.
Puccoon, sometimes called gromwell or stoneseed, was just beginning to blossom out. The white stemmed frasera were also just beginning but I saw only leaves and no flowers just yet. They should be out in a week. The upland larkspur were getting going also. And then I found two new wildflowers (new to me, see Wildflowers page of new for 2025): Tonella tenella and woolly-pod vetch.
Upland larkspur head on.
The vines of wild cucumber are stretching out across the trail in places. These plants make a gourd like fruit that is poisonous.
This is one of the tiniest wildflowers I have ever seen. Tonella tenella. See the next picture to get an idea of how tiny this beauty is.
This is a 32 gig memory card next to two teeny tiny tonellas.
This is the other new wildflower I found on this hike: woolly-pod vetch.
