Did a thru hike from top of Cowiche Canyon off of Scenic, westward via Rocky Top's hiking trail, continuing to the top of Snow Mountain ranch, then descending from there to the second car at Snow Mountain Ranch trailhead. I very much underestimated the distance. Ended up being around 10.8 miles per my GPS. Flowers were best from upper slopes of Rocky Top westward to the tower on Snow Mountain ranch peak. Flowers: grass widow, phlox, several types of balsamroot and parsley, yellow bells, sagebrush violets, triteleia, daggerpod, bluebells, early buckwheat, onion, lupine, big headed clover, currant, prairie star, buttercup, goldstar, blue mustard

Cowiche Canyon and Snow Mountain Ranch are in full bloom-flowers everywhere and more to come. A relaxing couple of hours will overwhelm your senses with color. You might also see some elk to the west of Snow Mt. Take advantage of our mild weather and enjoy this easily accessed treasure.

I took an afternoon walk into Cowiche Canyon today from the Uplands (Scenic Dr) trailhead. Spring is in full swing over here. There were lots of violets, prairie stars, and gold stars. The grass widows are mostly gone and much of the Canby's Desert Parsley is past its peak. Down in the canyon I found Carey's Balsamroot & Fern-leaf Desert Parsley in bloom along the trail & on the south facing slopes. It was a sunny warm afternoon and lots of others were out enjoying the day.

After setting up camp at Yakima Sportsman's SP, we drove to the Uplands TH off Scenic Drive. The wildkflowers were beautiful and to us the sagebrush violets and gold stars stole the show. We also saw Canby's desert parsley, yellow bells, Hooker's balsamroot, Piper's desert parsley, prairie stars, Columbia desert parsley, and grass widows.