Rowena Plateau

The Tom McCall Nature Preserve trailhead begins at the Rowena Plateau, shown here, and continues up to Tom McCall Point. I was hoping to capture a panoramic view of this plateau overlooking the Columbia. This ended up being my favorite image, but it doesn't really show the Columbia, so that's something to work on for my next visit. It does show the cliffs and plateau, and according to my instructor, this geology is one of the features that makes the Tom McCall Preserve one of the more pristine wildflower locations in the gorge. The geology made this area unfit for grazing, which apparently introduces non-native and invasive species into the fields. At the entrance to the trailhead there is a boot-scraping device with a sign requesting visitors to clean their shoes before and after hiking in order to keep seeds or pests from spreading into the fields.