Umtanum Creek Falls
Mar 07, 2006
- Type of Outing
- Day hike
- Read More in our Hiking Guide
- Hike: Umtanum Creek Falls
- Region: Eastern Washington -- Yakima
- Agency: Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
- Avg Rating: 3.17
- Be Aware Of
- Washouts
- Water on trail
- Snow on trail
This is one of the hikes in the Best Desert Hikes Washington book. The book doesn't mention that in the first 0.5 miles, the trail fords the creek four times. Two of those fords are shallow enough to pick your way across in hiking boots and two of them aren't. Waterproof leggings mandatory.
The book recommends to visit in early spring, and that the 'area in and around the falls is very icy in winter'. True as far as it goes - the trail around the punchbowl is currently sheet ice up and across a 45 degree slope with a long drop onto rocks at the bottom. There was absolutely nothing for the Yak-Trax to get a grip into. Since I was there, I did manage to scramble around the falls bowl by going off path where the snow had mostly melted and hanging onto trees, but it wasn't fun, and I couldn't have got a good view of the falls without serious risk. Currently, I wouldn't recommend this trail without crampons and an ice axe.
Even before you reach the falls themselves, there's a tricky, icy stretch of path which was easier getting there (uphill) than getting back (downhill). In the end, I scrambled upslope to avoid it. The trail's very narrow in a couple of places where the bank has washed down into the creek.
I've done various hikes from the Best Desert Hikes book before, and generally found it to be informative and comprehensive, but the authors seem to have skipped a couple of the most important points on this one. They describe the hike as 'moderate', and in summer they'd be right, but since they recommend visiting at this time of year, a few more warnings about conditions would have been appropriate.
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Snow on the hills
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