Fellow outdoorsman and old friend, Larry Seely, accompanied me on this hike. Larry and I go back to the early eighties when we were both selling cars at Capitol Toyota. He went with me on a number of exploration trips seeking out low elevation lakes in the Cascades back then. We have recently reconnected and have made a pact to hike together every Tuesday. So far, (that's the last two Tuesdays), it has rained both times. We were quite encouraged at the beginning of this hike with bright sunshine, but before our hike was over Mother Nature showed us plenty of rain, sleet and hail.

We saw lots of beautiful spring wildflowers including, Toothwort, Wood Violet, Candy Flower, Trillium, Beach Strawberry and perhaps the most important one, Blue Violet. The Blue violet is an integral part of the dramatic preservation effort going on at Cascade Head, which harbors one of only six remaining populations of the federally threatened Oregon silverspot butterfly. Although the adult silverspot feeds on a variety of flowers, its caterpillar, which comes out in early spring, feeds only on the blue violet. Efforts to improve this important violet's habitat are being made by The Nature Conservancy by using prescribed fire and by removing invasive plants (such as Himalayan blackberry).

We were also lucky enough to see a nice elk herd while driving both to and from the trailhead.