Cowiche Canyon Preserve — Sunday, May. 8, 2022

Bottom Line: Fun loop up through the Cowiche Canyon preserve, including the "Winery Trail" spur up to "Wilridge" winery for live music and wine tasting on a relaxing Mother's Day afternoon (enjoyed ourselves enough to hike a little tipsy as we completed the loop). Note that our car window was smashed in the parking lot of the Uplands Trailhead - did not mare the day too much, but disappointing and a head's up to others :)

Stats:

• Distance: 6-1/2 miles
• Duration: 3-1/4 hours (including winery stop)
• Vertical: 1125 ft
• Weather: a little wild; sunny periods, rain/snow squalls, light wind
• Trail: Good condition, well-signed, many little flowers; family friendly
• Flowers: A changed mix of flowers from a previous March visit; some balsamroot (definitely past on the south facing Winery trail, lots of yellow flowers but was not sure of the species), lupine, lots of phlox (especially on South Rim Trail), fiddleneck, clover, fleabane, tumble mustard, larkspur and flowering sagebrush/juniper.

Started at the Uploads Trailhead which has parking for a dozen cars or so. Cowiche has a lot of loop options, and we took a different loop today: East Uplands Trail down into the canyon, Winery Trail (out-and-back spur), Cowiche Canyon Trail (west), Tieton Andesite back up the hill, and an east bound return on South Rim Trail. The trails have signs at every junction so very easy to navigate. They are open to mountain bikes, but we did not see any. A fair number of folks heading up the Winery Trail - makes for an interesting mid-hike stop for sure.

Beautiful shrub-steppe habitat with sagebrush and (green for now) grasslands, flowering meadows, basalt cliffs, a rushing Cowiche creek, and an oasis of leafy trees at the bottom of the canyon. The flower season seems to be waning a bit, but there are some specifies just getting going - fiddleneck and a bunch of low-to-the-ground big white buds about to bloom.

The views of the mountains were obscured by the rain/snow squalls, but on a clearer day, the Winery Trail ascends to a perch where you can see over Cowiche Canyon rim (to the south) with beautiful views of the cascades. In the distance, Cowiche Mountain is visible from the "Rocky Top" ascent side.

As an aside, the tasting room takes credit cards and yesterday there was a food truck. There are outdoor picnic tables in a relaxing grassy meadow - great place to chill for a bit. It is accessible by road, and actually might be a safer spot to park for a hike that begins/ends with the tasting room :)