I took another walk in Cowiche Canyon on this sunny, warm afternoon.  I started at the west end and walked down to the bench just beyond bridge 5 and back.  The trees are leafing out and the shrubs, golden & wax currant, and serviceberry, are blooming.  The serviceberry is especially stunning.  There were lots of others out enjoying this nice afternoon.

I took a walk in Cowiche Canyon on this sunny, very warm afternoon.  As the west end of the canyon is less than 10 min from my house and Rocky Top & the Summitview trailheads area even closer and the Scenic Dr trailhead not much farther away, they're almost in my neighborhood.  I've been walking here almost every day except weekends (it's too crowded) for the last few weeks.  How fortunate I am to have wildlands so close at hand in times like these.  Anyway, I started from the west end and walked down to bridge #3, then back to the Lone Pine Trail and about 2/3 of the way up to the junction with Radio Flyer.  There were a number of wildflowers in bloom, but nothing in profusion - it's just too dry.  I heard a canyon wren and a marmot and saw a pair of vultures cruising the cliffs.  There were lots of others on the main canyon trail, but we all kept our distance, and no others on the Lone Pine Trail

When I arrived at the parking lot at 10:00 there were 6 cars. By the time I had my boots on and started hiking there were at least 12 cars. However, this area is vast and expansive and I never felt like there were very many hikers.

The signage is excellent, although it would have been nice to have had a map.

The meadow larks were singing, but I never saw one. There were four or five different wildflowers blooming, maybe more. I didn't count.

There were also many metal stakes with two, three or four tennis balls. Not sure what their purpose was. Also a ton of wire stakes with orange markers (coloniallawn.com). Not sure of their purpose either.

When I arrived at the junction  of the east and west trails, it started to hail which lasted about 20 minutes. This was the first time in over 100 hikes I didn't have a rain jacket with me (although I did have my down jacket which I put on). On the way down it was so warm I stripped down to just a single layer.

Aside from the hail storm, it was a lovely day for a desert hike.

Today we hiked the Cowiche Canyon Trail starting at the Weikel Road TH. Many hikers, 2 bikers and a few runners were enjoying the warm and sunny day! Because of school closures, there were many families with young children enjoying the day. There were not many blooming wildflowers. We saw 2 balsamroot plants, each with a single bloom; desert parsley with buds, but not yet in bloom; and one blooming Columbia desert parsley. The lighting on the lichen on the rocks near the TH was especially nice on our return to the parking lot.

On this beautiful, sunny and warm day with little or no wind, we hiked the Cowiche  Canyon Uplands Area via the Scenic Drive TH and the Summitville  TH. We began at the Scenic Drive TH and walked here a little over an hour. The parking lot was almost full when we arrived a little before noon. Sagebrush violets, Canby's desert parsley, yellow bells, grass widows  and one cushion phlox plant were seen. The grass widows were mostly past their prime. After  1 1/2 hours we decided to go to the Summitville TH to hike the Radio Flyer Loop. There is limited parking here!  We added  buttercups, early scalloped onions, yellow desert parsley, a Columbia desert parsley and maybe Tauschia Hooveri, the Conservancy's rare plant, in this area.  ( I sent a photo of what we thought might be Tauschia Hoover to David Hagan (mytho-man) and he thinks it is salt and pepper!) In 2017 when we did the Radio Flyer Loop, we saw a miniature Radio Flyer wagon which we did not see today. I will attempt to attach a link to this report!