Tag: Lomatium

Curious at Coyote Wall

View from Coyote Wall of Mount Hood and the Columbia River

A Plethora of Curiosities

One of my favorite hikes in “The Gorge” takes you through a Missoula flood inflicted scablands of oak and pine, up a ridge of columnar basalt, and through fields of wildflowers.  Oh and did I mention, views of Mount Hood and the Columbia River. There is a lot to appreciate along the Coyote Wall trail near Bingen, Washington. So today, let’s explore a few trail curiosities that can be found along the Coyote Wall trail. 

The Hike at a Glance

  • Trailhead: Coyote Wall Trailhead
  • Distance: 7.8 miles
  • Elevation Gain: about 1900 feet
  • Notes: No parking pass required, but popular trail so get here early.  Trail is shared with mountain bikers. Pit toilet at the trailhead.  

The Wall (not just a Pink Floyd Album)

One of the most obvious and interesting curiosities to discover at Coyote Wall is the wall itself.  Formed from ancient lava flows that flooded the area about 16 million years ago, the resulting basalt rocks underwent folding and faulting, and later uplift (both of which continue today), creating this magnificent geological feature. You can see Coyote Wall from the parking lot and again later when you climb up and back down it.  It truly is a wonder and a highlight of this hike. 

If you are so Inclined

You see, Coyote Wall is part of the Bingen Anticline- where the earth’s crust has been compressed, folded and uplifted by faulting. The Columbia River corridor east of Hood River is characterized by convex ridges (anticline) and concave valleys (synclines) formed from a north-south compression of the Earth’s crust. To understand how this works, take a flat piece of paper, or other flexible material, and bring its opposite ends together- the paper will “deform” much like the deformation of the Earth’s crust under similar strain.

As part of the Yakima Fold Belt, the Bingen Anticline is asymmetrical. Thus the Coyote Wall ridge is relatively short (maybe a mile or two), compared to the larger associated syncline valley that the town of Mosier occupies across the river (syncline valleys in the area tend to be 10s of miles).  But don’t let it’s length fool you, uplifted Coyote Wall is a steep climb and descent having been uplifted a couple hundred feet! 

Looking back at Coyote Wall

The Labyrinth (not just an 80’s cult classic)

The Labyrinth

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves- first is the Labyrinth!  Before beginning the steep climb up Coyote Wall, a trail to the east leads you through another fascinating geological feature- a channeled scablands. Curiosity number two!  

Throughout southeast Washington, channeled scablands dominate the landscape. Basically, channeled scablands are areas where parts of the soil and bedrock have been torn up, leaving exposed rocks and deep ravines. How did these scablands form?  What happened here? You might have guessed it- water! And lot’s of it.  

Sculpting with Water

During the last ice age 10,000 to 20,000 years ago, massive floods scoured the landscape. At that time, the Cordilleran ice sheet covered large swaths of North American- but it wasn’t static. This ice sheet would periodically inch its way southward, creating an ice dam along the Clark Fork River in Montana.  The water behind the dam would accumulate into a large lake, the massive Glacial Lake Missoula. At roughly 2,000 feet deep, it held about 500 cubic miles of water. Then, periodically, the ice dam would fail, releasing torrents of water and ice. The flood waters tore through Washington and Oregon eroding much of the landscape and depositing materials as far south as the Willamette Valley. 

With many areas of exposed basalt and butte-and-basin topography, the Labyrinth offers a glimpse into the powerful force of these episodic floods.

Wild about Wildflowers

Desert Parsley – Lomatium

Finally (but not least), are the wildflowers!  I am a huge fan of wildflower hikes- and Coyote wall puts on a gorgeous show starting in the early spring.  Among my favorite of the early bloomers (sometimes seen as early as February) are a diverse group of carrot family plants commonly called Desert parsley.  I don’t know how many species of Desert parsley, or Lomatium, can be found along the Coyote Wall trail. But I saw a couple species on my recent visit, and I am pretty sure there are many more- as there are over 70 known species in the west.  Rumor has it they can be difficult to identify. To be honest, I didn’t even try. 

Better than Carrots

Anyway, besides being beautiful to look at, Lomatium also has an interesting history. The tap root of many Lomatium species was both food and medicine to many Pacific Northwest tribes. For example, the Yakama, who once occupied SE Washington, would use the root of Lomatium, also called biscuitroot or kowsh (yes, there are a lot of names for this stuff), to make small biscuits.  The starchy roots of Lomtium were mashed, shaped, and dried in the sun. Then the biscuits were stored for later use.   

I Think… Probably?

Early reports of Lomatium came from none-other-than Merriweather Lewis and William Clark.  Lewis and Clark called the biscuits derived from the root “chapelel bread” and witnessed its preparation and trade. They also reportedly obtained and consumed some chapelel during their journey.  In addition, Lewis collected and described five Lomatium species for his herbarium. Although it seems he too had difficulty distinguishing between species- using qualifiers in his records such as “I think” or “probably” when attempting to identification.  I’m glad I am not the only one. Though the purple Lomatium pictured below is Columbia desert parsley, Lomatium columbianum… “I think… probably.” 

Lomatium columbianum

Get Curious and Explore

In any event, from huge lava flows to massive floods of water to fields of edible vegetation, there is a lot of science and historical curiosities to explore at Coyote Wall.  Botanically and geologically interesting, it is worth a visit. Stay curious!

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