Black Canyon

Brian Kelley & I went up Black Canyon to Umtanum Ridge on this sunny, warm day. I had heard that the wildflowers were very nice & was a little disappointed as we began - lots of blue flax, western horsemint, & narrow-leaf phacelia, but not much else. Up higher, where the pines begin, things began to get a little better - lots of lupine along with some paintbrush & arnica. Once we reached the ridgetop, however, the real show began. The lithosols were blooming in all their glory with bitterroot, rock penstamon, round-headed buckwheat, and, especially showy & profuse, the thyme-leaf buckwheat. There was lots of lupine, phlox, etc in the deeper soils as well. And the views! We had lunch on Pt 4221 with a 360 degree panorama: out across the Yakima Firing Center to the east; south over the Yakima valley to the Yakima fold belt; Mt Adams peeking over Mt Cleman to the southwest; Nelson Ridge, Mt Aix, & Rainier to the West; & to the north, the Stuarts all the way over to Lemah Peak. And all under a clear blue sky with a breeze to keep us cool. We made a little loop by following the old road around the head of Goodwin Canyon & then following the 4WD tracks north back into Black Canyon. We saw 2 other hikers and, in the distance, 3 4-wheelers. What a nice day!