I took a walk in Umtanum Canyon today in preparation for an interpretive walk that I am leading for the Get Intimate with Shrub-Steppe event in the canyon on Saturday. I hiked the trail up the first sidecanyon to the left as far as the watering trough. After lunch I went back to the main canyon & hiked as far as the creek crossing. The trees are leafing out & there is nice balsamroot, phlox, serviceberry, golden currant, & oregon grape in bloom. There were also hillsides of balsamroot &/or phlox in bloom in the Yakima Canyon. The day was partly cloudy & mild. A nice walk.

Umtanum Creek and ridge. 4/8/09

Imagine my surprise to see Pelicans on the Yakima river! I had only seen them over at the ocean and never thought of them as fresh water birds. According to my book, the lump on the bill indicates they were breeding.

All that excitement before we had even begun the hike– this was clearly going to be a wonderful day. We were met by strong gusty winds in the parking lot, the suspension bridge was swinging and squeaking before we stepped a foot onto it.

Sun filtered through high clouds with occasional sun breaks. At the start of the day, the wind was cold, by mid-day it was t-shirt hiking weather, the wind still gusty enough that I had to do a “two step” to maintain balance at times, but without the sting. As the sun settled behind the ridge, out came the long sleeves again.

I was worried about rattlesnakes, so inadvertently mistimed this hike. We only saw one snake, (not a rattler) but also, only the most minuscule flowers were in bloom. The trees were bare, with out leaves to cushion their branches they rattled and clacked in the breeze. Larger ones squeaked and groaned as they swayed.

After crossing the railroad tracks we went on the trail to the left, up the canyon to the ridges and hills above. The path kept luring us up and up. We would say, “okay just to the top of this ridge”, only to realize at the “top” that it was not the top at all, and we still wanted to see what was “up there”. Finally selecting a windswept hill, we sat in a grassy place to have lunch while we listened to the songs of two Larks singing to each other, each perched on it’s own sage bush.

We saw no real wildlife, but lots of droppings and tracks. I am excited, I believe I saw my first cat tracks. I am not sure it would be a cougar, they were only about 2 1/2 inches. Perhaps a Bobcat, though. I need to search my books, to be sure. It certainly seemed to be a likely location, going up a cliffy bank away from a small creek.

With the leaves only beginning to bud out on a few bushes, and very few flowers, the colored rocks and lichen (?) on them seemed more striking then usual. Finally we started down, so we could have time to walk down the Umtanum Creek trail before going home.

The creek was running pretty high. The old beaver dam is still intact. They must do some pretty good construction when they build them! Down near the creek is where we saw the snake, slowly moving across the trail in the warm sun. Nyla said it looked like a Garter snake, and my book backed her up on it. It was about 2 1/2-3 feet long, and very thin. Later in the day as we were hiking back to the car, we heard a Mourning Dove. What a sweet mellow sound…

What a wonderful hike, and nice break from snow shoeing! by Trail Snail

I took a walk in Umtanum Canyon this afternoon. I left my truck about noon under sunny skies and walked a mile or so up the canyon to where major side canyons come in from both sides. Most of the canyon was in shade, but here it was sunny until, of course, I sat down for lunch, when the clouds moved in. It stayed mostly cloudy for the rest of the day, though there was a fairly nice sunset as I drove home through the Yakima Canyon. The trail was compacted enough that it was easy walking without snowshoes or traction devices. The most difficult part was the suspension bridge, which was very icy. I didn't see much wildlife today: only one bald eagle across the river as I drove up the canyon, a big horn sheep way up on the ridge behind me as I ate lunch, a porcupine in the top of a ponderosa pine near the mouth of the canyon that some folks from Seattle were trying to photograph, and a female downy woodpecker going after seeds on the dried mullein stalks, but the canyon itself was beautiful.