We tried this one out after doing it many times in the late winter. We only made it to the second bridge before turning back. We had already passed two rattlers and there was at least a 5 footer in the entrance of the 2nd bridge. Honestly wouldn’t recommend this hike during the summer at all. Would rather run into that many bears on a hike versus rattle snakes. 

What a cool little spot that's super easy to get to, and has something for everyone. The main trail goes from one end of the canyon to the other, along the canyon floor the whole time. Good sized parking lots on both ends. The trail is wide, plenty of room for hikes, runners, bikers to pass each other and still social distance.

There are multiple side trails that climb up and out of the canyon, we choose to take the one up to the winery. It was a great way to add a little bit of elevation to our trail run and give the legs a bit of an extra workout, and the views from the top were a nice reward as well. The side trails are a bit more single track, but if you did have to pass somebody there is room to step off the trail pretty easily.

I've been thinking about doing a through-hike that linked all the CCC land for several months and decided now was the time to do it.

I started hiking at the Cowiche Canyon East trailhead and hiked along the creek to the Lone Pine trail. Then I hiked up the Lone Pine trail to the Cowiche Canyon Summitview trailhead. From there I hiked up the road to Rocky Top and took Walk-and-Roll to Orange Harvester to William O Douglas trail. Coming down from Cowiche Mountain, I took the Cowiche Mountain West trail all the way down to the Entry trail.

I hiked the Cowiche Canyon section with my dog, but then had my husband pick him up at Rocky Top because he was getting over heated. 

There were wildflowers throughout but I think the highest density of flowers was on the eastern side of Cowiche Mountain. Balsam root seemed to be mostly past its prime but lupine seemed to be coming still. There were lots of other purple, yellow, pink, and red/white flowers that I don't know the name of.

I encountered the most people in the canyon section of Cowiche Canyon. Even though the parking lot was busy, I didn't cross paths with anyone at Rocky Top, partly because they have marked some of the trails as one way only (Walk-and-Roll was one way going up hill; Green Harvester was one way going down hill). I passed a few groups going up as I was coming down Cowiche Mountain, some who were not practicing social distancing. I'd recommend bringing a mask if you're concerned about not being able to distance by 6 feet. Doesn't hurt to be safe!

Specs from Gaia: 12.64mi, 1701ft, 4hr 55min

I've been out to Cowiche Canyon a few times over the past week.  On Tue I went to the Uplands from the Scenic Dr trailhead and walked the South Rim Trail all the way to its west end at the Radio Flyer trail, up Radio Flyer to the jeep road, then back to my truck.  It was a nice sunny day with good views of the canyon, but there weren't many flowers to speak of except for cushion daisy along the jeep road.  On Sat and again today I went into the canyon from the west end and walked down to bridge 4 and back.  The red-osier dogwood and chokecherry are coming into full bloom and were especially beautiful in today's diffuse light.  There were a number of others out each day, especially families, but we all kept our distance. 

I've been over to Cowiche Canyon in the afternoon yesterday & today.  Yesterday I walked into the canyon from the west end and went up the Lone Pine Trail most of the way to the junction with Radio Flyer and back and then out to bridge 3 and back to my truck.  The antelope-bitterbrush is profuse and spectacular.  There's also a other few wildflowers out:  showy phlox, ballhead waterleaf, cushion daisy, and Gairdner's penstemon.  Today I went up to the Scenic Dr trailhead and walked the South Rim Trail out to the first viewpoint and back.  Once again the antelope-bitterbrush was stunning.  There were quite a few others out on both days, but we all kept a respectful distance from each other.