First weekend of daylight savings time and what a day it was.

Sun breaks, a cold & gusty wind, heavy rain at times, some snowfall at 2,000 feet, too many colorful wild flowers to count and blacktail deer to keep me company.

I truly enjoyed an eight-mile, 2,000-foot elevation gain hike on the east side of Catherine Creek Canyon, mainly in open Oak Savannah.

Besides thousands of purple grass widows, there were gold stars, buttercups, salt and pepper, yellow desert parsley, wild cucumber and western saxifrage in bloom.

As I moved into the timber on the upper ridge, I spotted numerous deer. Several small groups were feeding in the open meadows, others were hiding behind trees.

Great day to be in the Columbia River Gorge.

Blacktail Deer (hasn’t spotted me yet)

Grass Widow

A snag to be (what a way to go)

Oak trees growing on the basalt cliffs (Ponderosa Pine too)

The trail leading up through the open Savannah

Prairie Star

Desert Parsley

Blacktail Deer feeding

Western Saxifrage