The Kreps Family, owners of a large cattle ranch north of Bingen, Washington are kind enough to open their property to hikers. The area is beautiful, south-facing, oak savannah with much steep terrain.
Near the end of January on a very foggy morning, I parked at the trailhead and began the a 8.7 mile lollipop loop passing over the summit of 2,300-foot Burdoin Mountain.
Hiking leader extraordinaire Debbie gets credit for bringing this fine hike to my attention.
The clouds were laying at my feet, the sun was shining and the bright white summits of Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams punctuated the skyline.
Continuing on the trail I soon spotted about 25 wild turkeys on the move. Like a few blacktail deer I saw, the wild turkeys like the oak savannah habitat.
With weather like this, can it really be mid-winter?
Majestic Ponderosa Pine
A wary Wild Turkey
Mt. Hood
White Oak trees in the fog
My daypack on the summit of Burdoin Mountain
A cloudy look down the Columbia River Gorge
Mt. Adams
Looking down the Columbia River Gorge after the clouds have burnt off
The trail (an old wagon road) heading down the mountain
Autumn colors of Oregon Grape leaves
LBJ (Audubon-speak for little brown jobber)
Fantastic pictures John!
Thanks Tim. The Columbia River Gorge is a magnificent place to hike and enjoy the outdoors.
wow what an impressive scenery!!
Thanks for the kind words. It was a beautiful day once the sun broke through the clouds.
Thanks for sharing this. This is one of our favorite hikes in the gorge, despite the clear cut they did last year on part of the trail.
It’s an especially nice hike in the early spring when the wildflowers cover the south-facing slopes.