Tom McCall Preserve wildflowers
— — the week the plateau goes yellow and purple at once.
Not only on a wall.
“A grassland bench seven hundred feet above the Columbia, east of Hood River where the rain shadow starts and the trees thin out. For about three weeks in late April and early May the plateau turns at once: arrowleaf balsamroot in big yellow heads, lupine in deep purple spikes, the two colors held against the basalt cliffs and the river bend below. The preserve runs to about 230 acres and is held by The Nature Conservancy. It is named for Tom McCall, the Oregon governor who fought to keep the gorge open.
Tom McCall Preserve wildflowers, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Tom McCall Preserve covers about 230 acres on the Rowena Plateau in the eastern Columbia River Gorge, in Wasco County, Oregon, between Hood River and The Dalles. The preserve is held by The Nature Conservancy and sits along the historic Rowena Loops section of the old Columbia River Highway. Two trails leave the trailhead: a flatter plateau walk of about two and a quarter miles round trip to a viewpoint over the river, and a steeper climb of roughly three and a half miles round trip to the top of McCall Point. The preserve is named for Tom McCall, governor of Oregon from 1967 to 1975 and a key figure in the state's land-use and gorge-protection laws.
The bloom window is short, roughly late April through the first half of May depending on the year. Two flowers dominate the field: arrowleaf balsamroot, with large yellow sunflower heads, and several species of lupine in purple-blue spikes. They are joined by Indian paintbrush, desert parsley, and grass widow at the margins. By late May the plateau is already drying toward summer brown, the result of the rain shadow east of Cascade Locks where annual rainfall drops sharply over the course of about twenty miles. The Nature Conservancy asks visitors to stay on trail; the wildflower carpet is thin and slow to recover where it is trampled.
The trailhead is at the Rowena Crest Viewpoint on the Historic Columbia River Highway, about a half hour drive east of Hood River. There is no entrance fee and no pass required. Dogs are not allowed on either trail, to protect ground-nesting birds and the wildflower communities. The plateau loop is open year round; the McCall Point trail is closed each year from November 1 through April 30. Spring weekends draw heavy traffic at peak bloom, and the small trailhead lot fills early. Poison oak and ticks are common; long pants are sensible.