Back to the Ranch

Balsam Root and Lupine are blooming this week at the Dalles Mountain Ranch in the Columbia Gorge. And this year, the wildflower season happened to coincide with a warm spell and almost no wind. Last year I visited several times, and was nearly blown off my feet by gale force winds each time...so sunny, mild, and 75 was a real treat!  I walked a loop near Eightmile Creek that wound through some of the thicker patches of blooms. The flowers are fickle, tending to cover some hills and leave others bare, and that has caused me some trouble with wide-angle landscape photos in previous years. I decided to really focus on landscape shots during my trip.  And maybe I overdid it a bit, because I realized once I got home that I actually don't have a single close-up photo to show for my shoot. I do like this scene though, because it shows the rolling hills and patches of flowers, and the beautiful weather.

Sunrise

First light on the balsam root flowers last week at the Dalles Mountain Ranch.

It took surprisingly long from the actual sunrise to the time the sun finally hit these hills. 

Here Comes the Sun

A beautiful sunny day last weekend at Dalles Mountain Ranch, where the lupine and balsam root are blooming on the hillside along the Columbia Gorge.  It's finally starting to feel like spring.
 Very glad to finally warm up at bit and feel the sun on my face!

Windswept

My attempt at photographing the wind.
Balsam Root and Lupine whipping around in the 30mph wind gusts at Dalles Mountain Ranch.

Good Girl

Clover on a hike, ready for her closeup.
She's been on enough photo shoot hikes to know to wait while I'm photographing.
So she gets a great sense of 'Mission Accomplished' standing guard for me.