Powell Butte Nature Park

Hiked on top of Powell Butte today with Mariana and Ineke. It's a 600-acre, extinct cinder volcano in SE Portland. It once was a large dairy, but now has 4 huge underground water reservoirs and miles of trails with great, open vistas, wildflowers, birds and, the highlight for us (besides catching up after months and months since our last hike), was spotting a coyote. She was far enough away to need binoculars to see clearly. Marianna is pointing out a camassia, a "genus of plants in the asparagus family native to North America. Common names include camas, quamash, Indian hyacinth, camash, and wild hyacinth."