Cowiche Canyon Conservancy
Apr 16, 2009
by
Mary Cooke
—
last modified
Apr 16, 2009 09:40 AM
- Type of Outing
- Day hike
- Read More in our Hiking Guide
- Hike: Cowiche Canyon
- Region: Eastern Washington -- Yakima
- Agency: Bureau of Land Management, Spokane
- Avg Rating: 2.86
- Why You Should Go Now
- Wildflowers blooming
A group from the Tri-Cities Fun, Fit and Over Fifty Club rambled from the top of the Upland Trail down into the canyon, then along the old rail bed downstream as far as the trail led, and upstream to the Weikel Rd. gate, seven miles and nine bridges in all. Paula has a friend who used to “drive” the train up the canyon to Cowiche and Tieton for apples. The first time he was sure the train would scrape the canyon walls. We could see why! Located the red-tail hawk nest up in the rocks near Bridge 4 – but no activity right at the nest. Red-tail hawks and buzzards were seen all along the canyon. The wildflowers were superb, sagebrush violets and cushion phlox dominated the uplands, and balsamroot and chocolate tip lomatiums did the honors down in the canyon. The plant list is nearly endless. The geology is spectacular. We skipped the trail up the far side of the canyon to the Wilridge vineyard, since it was not open on Wed. Another trip will be to start at the vineyard side and go down into the canyon! Many thanks to the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy for the trails and restoration work. Visit their website! They also are responsible for Snow Mountain – with two loop trails – another trip that would be good for fall.
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