Rooper Road & Lawrence Grassland, Oregon

Wildflower Destinations > Central Oregon

Rooper Road & Lawrence Grassland

Wasco County, Oregon

Bureau of Land Management & Nature Conservancy

Fees: none

Activity: drive + hiking

Elevation: 3170'-3540'

Current status (as of 2/23/25): not blooming

Notes: The first part of Rooper Road — the east end, at Highway 218 — is one of the easiest places to find John Day desert parsley (Lomatium minus); just look for dark pink flowers in the swaths of chunky basalt that look like roads or lava flows through the sagebrush. You'll find lots of cous biscuitroot (Lomatium cous) here too, as well as several other desert parsleys.

Depending on road conditions and your vehicle, you may be able to drive down Rooper Road to Lawrence Memorial Grassland Preserve; if it looks too muddy or rutted, you can travel west on foot through the "hog-wallow" landscape or ride a bike down the road.

Peak wildflower bloom along Rooper Road & Lawrence Grassland is typically from early April through mid-May, but there may be some flowers blooming from mid-March until the end of May.*

Typical year:

Info links:

The Nature Conservancy

Photo albums: 2024, 2022

NWS weather forecast

Wildflowers in this area:

WildflowerSearch.org

iNaturalist observations

Consortium of PNW Herbaria

Featured plants: Lomatium minus, Lomatium cous

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* The dates given on this Web site for each location's blooming season are only estimates and can vary from year to year. Weather conditions in the winter and spring can shift these dates by up to a month, especially in the mountains. For the latest updates, check the Oregon Wildflowers or PortlandHikers Facebook groups, or browse the most recent postings to iNaturalist or Instagram.