Camassia Nature Preserve: Wildflowers, Wildlife & Family-friendly Hiking

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For a few brief weeks every spring, wildflower fields along the Columbia River burst forth in a rhapsody of blue.

It is Camas Season.

Though it closely resembles a lily, the Camas plant (“Camassia quamash”) is actually a member of the asparagus family. It was unknown to science before Lewis and Clark made their Voyage of Discovery. The flowers grow in clearings along the Columbia River, and were once so abundant in the Pacific Northwest that that non-indigenous travelers would mistake the blue covered fields for distant lakes.

The quamash is now in blume and from the colour of its bloom at a short distance it resembles lakes of fine clear water, so complete is this deseption that on first sight I could I could have sworn it was water.

Meriwether Lewis, Personal Journal, 1806

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The Camassia Nature Preserve is a 26-acre natural area owned and maintained by the Nature Conservancy. The nature area is renown for its beautiful wildflowers, abundant wildlife, and easy, family-friendly trails.

Named for the common blue camas that blanket its meadows each spring, the preserve holds something for visitors to experience year-round.

DID YOU KNOW? Camas was an important food source for the indigenousness peoples of Northwest. Bulbs could be fire-roasted and provided a nutritious, sweet-tasting, high-protein staple.  

The rocky plateau upon which the nature area sits was originally formed by ice-age, glacier-fueled floods. It now provides a habitat for more than three-hundred plants, and is home to a myriad of meadow, tree, and pond dwellers as well; including deer, raccoons, skunks, hummingbirds, wood ducks, raptors, newts, osprey, salamanders, and a choir of songbirds.

I managed to get a super-short clip of a little red-headed woodpecker in action. ⬇️ (You’ll see him right under the arrow is when you hit Start.)

The 1 1/2 mile loop trail is well-maintained and family-friendly. Most of the trail is covered with bark chips, and some potentially muddy stretches are also lined with a composite boardwalk. Hikers are asked to stay on the trails to protect and preserve the wildlife.

If you are planning to hike the park with little ones, be aware that there are a couple of places where you are going to want to be extra vigilant, particularly on the short stretch of the trail that overlooks the river: there is a wide berth between the edge and the trail, but there are no guard rails. Also, while we’re discussing cautions, be sure to watch out for poison oak at the trail edges. We didn’t see any on our visit, but there are warnings about it all over the preserve.

When we visited, we saw hikers as young as two and as old as eighty. Despite the warning about the “big hill up ahead!” that we received form one particularly helpful five-year old as we passed her on the trail, there were only a few very slight uphill climbs, but nothing remotely demanding. (Note that while the hike rates an “Easy” in my book, the trail is not wheelchair accessible.)

The park os located directly across the Willamette River from downtown Oregon City, behind West Linn High School. The Conservancy partners with high school ecology students, who use the nature area as an outdoor classroom and help keep it litter-free.

Camassia Nature Preserve

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