Parking
Arrived to the Trailhead Park parking lot around 7:30am to plenty of spaces in the lot. Departed around 9:15 and there was still parking available.

Route
Ascended via the Canyon Trail. Kicked around at the top along the Skyline Trail for a little bit taking in views every direction, then descended via the Sagebrush Trail.

Trail
The trail was, as always, in excellent condition. Thank you to the Friends of Badger Mountain for your hard work in maintaining and improving this beautiful park.

Flora
I'm no expert in shrub-steppe plants (would love to learn!) but did see some tiny shrub flowers, not sure if sage or something else. The world around here is getting to be pretty dry this time of year. Still, I had to stop and stare a couple points at the vivid contrasts of golden grass, green brush, and blue sky. What a sight!

Fauna
In the first half mile entering into the canyon, there was a whole family of chukars chattering and scurrying around just across the ravine. Dragonflies buzzed the lower Sagebrush Trail.

Views
After so many days of smoky air in both Seattle and Tri-Cities, it was so incredible to see some blue sky this morning! Haze was still significant despite the breathable air. From the top we could see the lower pillars of the Cable Bridge but not any of its superstructure. Could see out to Rattlesnake and Horse Heaven Hills, but no views of any distant mountains beyond the immediate, somewhat ambiguous horizon.

Easy hike with a panoramic view of the Tri-Cities at the top of the mountain.

The trails on badger are slowly melting in the 33F rain but still slick and icey. Its a perfect time to get out and use those microspikes!

The weather forecast predicted clear skies for a couple hours around sunrise, so that seemed like a good time to get a workout in while visiting eastern Wa and see the views. Only a couple cars in the parking lot when we got to the Trailhead Park TH a little before dawn, and we headed up the Canyon Trail in the first light with some big, desert winds.

A family of Chukar (a type of pheasant) waddled away from the trail single-file as we approached, no doubt not thrilled to have their breakfast disturbed.

More hikers and runners started showing up as the skies began pinking up.

The Canyon Trail is a solid if short workout, the trail is in ridiculously good shape, and the views from Badger are among the best in the area. The best trail info, maps and directions are on the Friends of Badger Mountain site: http://friendsofbadger.org/trail-faq/

Still a couple desert flowers to be seen here. Big sage shrubs covered in yellow flowers are still going strong (maybe Horsebrush or Rabbitbrush), and who knew tumbleweeds flowered? They do, and evidently in the fall, when they're covered in little pink flowers.

We came down the upper Skyline trail that connected to the Sagebrush trail to make a loop back to the TH. Lots of loop possibilities on these well-built and thought-out trails, so I'll be looking forward to exploring this place further and am grateful for all the hard work that went into making those trails as good as they are.

We were visiting the Tri-Cities and read about this trail, so decided to give it a try. Arriving at the trailhead before 7am, we found a fairly full parking lot and concluded that locals know the best time to hike during the scorching summer is either early morning or late evening; we were glad to follow their example. The trail is pretty easy, just uphill to the top and then down the back side of the mountain. The views of the Columbia River and valley are tremendous, and I was particularly intrigued by the visible geology of the Lake Missoula floods, which is explained in a trailhead kiosk.

Probably due to the number of hikers on the trail, we didn't see much wildlife except a small snake on the downhill side of the trail. Most people seemed to go up to the top and turn around, coming back down the way they came. The downhill portion of the loop was much quieter, and we recommend following it. The golden shrub-steppe grasses and the soft green sagebrush contrasted wonderfully with the blue sky, and going early meant no heat haze, which develops later in the day.

A wonderful morning hike. With more time, it would be fun to explore the other trails, 6 miles total. Tri-Cities residents are lucky to have this so close at hand, and kudos to Friends of Badger Mountain for making it possible!