Dalles Mountain Ranch is located near Dalles, Oregon as its name suggests; however, the exact location is actually on the North side of Columbia River in Washington State. Is is about 90 miles East of Portland and takes about 1.5 hours of driving to get there. Dalles Mountain Ranch trail is part of Columbia Hill State Park. The trail is open to hikers, and bike riders and horse riders. The Mountain Ranch trail is located at the Northern part of Columbia Hill State Park at the end of a gravel road.
We decided to visit Dalles Mountain Ranch near the end of May and hoping that the wildflowers are still in bloom, although we knew that the chance was very slim. Wildflowers along the Columbia Gorge are usually in full bloom in the beginning of May.
We got to Dalles Mountain Ranch by 8:30 in the morning and we were the only one there. The day use fee is $10 or you can get a Discovery Pass which is $30 for the whole year. The parking lot isn't very big but we were guessing that not many people actually come here.
When we got off the car, it was extremely windy outside. We could barely walk against the wind. Since we already drove 2 hours to get here, we still decided to do a loop hike around Dalles Mountain Ranch trail.
As we walked down the trail, we could see very abandoned farmstead along the side. THe green grass on the hill with abandoned barn was quite a scenery to enjoy. When we got to the intersection point of the 8 miles loop, we found that the West side of the loop got blocked off. That was the path towards the Dalles Mountain Ranch car. The path has now been cut off with fence and there were groups of cattle in there. We were not sure why it got blocked off, but we were extremely disappointed. We had no choice but to go the other way but could not complete the loop anymore. In addition, all the wildflowers were pretty much gone.
It was not the best hike that we wanted due to the loop is no longer available, no mountain ranch car, and no wildflower. We should have done more research on this when we went for a hike. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant weather for hiking along Columbia Gorge other than being a bit windy.
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