Yakima Skyline Ridge / Rim

We followed the directions to the TH given in Nelson & Bauer's "Desert Hikes Washington". A high clearance vehicle is needed to get to the official TH. We began by hiking up the open grass slopes to the left of the trail to top the ridge. We dropped a few feet to reach a road/trail above the Yakima Rim Trail. We followed this beautiful, flowery trail to the high point of the South TH at 3000 feet according to Spring and Manning's "55 Hikes in Central Washington". This was our turn around point. We eventually dropped down to the Yakima Rim Trail dipping for a short time to "Twin Springs" at 2525 feet. The water in the tanks was not potable for humans! We continued on the Rim Trail to its junction with the Yakima Skyline Ridge Trail. This is a very beautiful loop. It was VERY windy so individual flower pictures were difficult to impossible to take. Lupine, balsamroot, phlox, ballhead waterleaf, bearded owl clover, larkspur, meadow death camas, thyme-leaved buckwheat, purple fern-leaved desert parsley, wallflower, puccoon, and sagebrush violets were some of the flowers seen. There were 10 hikers and 5 backpackers at the TH when we arrived, but we all went our separate ways and speeds so the area was never crowded.