May Hikes

The Rowena trails are great, but are rather short, so I personally wouldn't drive from Seattle for that hike alone. There are a couple trails at Rowena, one is a few miles long, the other is a nice loop hike, probably about a mile and a half long. If you were going to spend the weekend in Hood River and do a few of the other nearby hikes in addition to the Rowena trails, then it would probably be more worth it (and a pretty good way to spend the weekend!). Other trails around that are nice: Badger Creek Wilderness hikes, Catherine Creek, almost any other trail in the gorge. Most of the Gorge trails are open now, as long as you don't get up too high.

Forest, what are the trails by Rowena like? Length? Terrain? Just wonding if they are worth coming down from Seattle . Anyone know any good, fairly rigorous spring hikes in the Central Washington Area ?

Thanks for the suggestions, haven't had a chance to get out too much yet, but hopefully the next couple of weekends.

I would take a look at the silverstar mountain area. I believe the wildflowers start to take off in late may. There are several different approaches into the area. All of them are great. THe summit of silver star is only about 4400 feet, but the area is rocky and covered with meadows, so it feels like you are around 6000 feet.

I enjoy the the trails at Rowena (east of Mosier) this time of year. I'm not sure when the wildflowers peak (maybe end of May?), but when they do it's quite spectacular. Catherine Creek, across the river in Washington is also pretty good this time of year.

I am looking for day hikes within a couple hours of Portland. Are there any good wildflower hikes that peak in May?

Where are you located? How far are you willing to drive?