Tom McCall Point
Hood River, OR
Tom McCall Point is a 3.4-mile round-trip hike that ascends through wildflower meadows to a 1,722-foot summit with views of the eastern Columbia River Gorge and Mount Hood. The Nature Conservancy manages the surrounding preserve to protect rare plant species. Balsamroot and lupine blanket the hillsides in spring.
Photography Guide
- Best Time
- golden hour
- Crowds
- Moderate
- Shot Types
- landscapewidedetail
- Best Seasons
- spring
Author's Comments
May is the window. The trail opens on the first of the month and the balsamroot is usually already going, hillsides turning that particular yellow that does not quite belong to anywhere else I have hiked. Lupine fills in behind it, purple against the gold, and on a good year the two run together across the slope in a way that genuinely stops you on the trail. The climb is short but it earns its summit. At the top the gorge opens east, the river bending below in long pale curves, and Mount Hood sits to the south with snow still on it well into June. Late afternoon is when this place makes sense. The light comes in low across the meadows and the flowers catch it from the side, which is the only way they really photograph. Straight overhead sun flattens them into nothing. The Nature Conservancy asks you to stay on the trail and they mean it. The temptation to step off for a closer frame is real. Resist it. A long lens does the same work without the damage, and the wildflowers here exist in part because people have been careful for a long time. I have made my best images from the trail itself, kneeling, working the foreground against the gorge below. That is the photograph worth the drive from Portland. Wide for the scale, close for the detail, and somewhere in between for the one that actually holds the place.
Gallery
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Hood River, OR
Rowena Crest Viewpoint
Rowena Crest sits at the eastern edge of the Columbia River Gorge and offers sweeping views of the river, Tom McCall Point, and the Historic Columbia River Highway's horseshoe curves below. The surrounding Tom McCall Nature Preserve hosts wildflower blooms in spring. The viewpoint marks the transition from the wet western gorge to the dry eastern grasslands.
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Catherine Creek Universal Access Trail
Catherine Creek is a wildflower-rich area on the Washington side of the eastern Columbia River Gorge with views of basalt arches, oak woodlands, and the gorge below. Over 90 species of wildflowers bloom here from late February through June. A natural rock arch provides a striking foreground element for landscape photography.
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Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail - Mosier Tunnels
The Mosier Twin Tunnels are restored sections of the original 1920s Columbia River Highway carved through basalt cliffs east of Hood River. The tunnels feature open windows blasted through the rock that frame views of the Columbia River Gorge. The paved trail segment runs 4.6 miles between Hood River and Mosier.