Elk Rock Island

It looks like a tiny piece of grass, but it's actually
a caddis fly larva.

Elk Rock Island is an island in the Willamette River which is connected by a land bridge when the water is low in the summer.  It's one of a handful of places in the Portland area with a significant number of Oregon white oaks, which create habitat for many other plants and animals not found in Douglas fir forests.  It also has river access, cool rocks to climb, and many little pools of water, full of river critters, to investigate.  We had never been there before, and we definitely wanted to go before the summer was through.  It's a neat place to explore.  

California aster.

This is a Pacific madrone, my favorite tree, with bright red peeling bark revealing limbs that
look as if they were dusted with cinnamon.

Birds-foot trefoil.

Oxeye daisy.

There were tons of baby trout in the shallow pools.