Umtanum Creek Canyon

Lovely day to hike Umtanum Canyon, with the temperature just nosing 70 degrees and a soft breeze blowing fluffy white clouds along. This was the first time I've hiked the canyon trail, I've always taken the left-hand trail to ascend the ridge (which my friends always refer to tongue-in-cheek as the "gentle f-ing ridge hike" because we think it's like what they say about childbirth - you forget the pain and only remember how beautiful it is).

Anyway, the canyon. Aside from the earlier reports I wanted to report that flowers are still blooming, we didn't see any wildlife but we heard some snakes slithering off the trail ahead of us.

Not being familiar with the trail, I will say that where there is a left fork down the bank to a creek crossing and nice camp, just beyond that the main trail is losing the battle with the creek. There's a really sketchy area where you have to watch your footing so you don't slip down 10 feet to the creek; and beyond that it's clear that a lot less people have traveled because it's extremely brushy, so we turned around. It took us about an hour to hike in that far at a good pace, so I would say that's between two and three miles. If anyone knows please comment and correct me. The trail definitely could use some WTA love beyond that point.