Leaving home in icy drizzle, I was eager to hike well away from it as planned. A long drive for most living way in the heart of the city, getting to the Cowiche Canyon trailhead west of Yakima only takes me 2:15 hours, which is worth it for certain. Heading into the canyon it was 60 degrees and the last of the high clouds parted, offering me blue sky until just before leaving. The path in the canyon bottom follows the old RR grade from the 1880s that went from Yakima to the Tieton area, and makes for a terrific three mile one way trek to the other trailhead. I didn’t leave it at that, and also headed up the north canyon slope wall on the western-most trail by bridge #8 to explore the vastly different plant life on the richer soils above. Once near the canyon top, the 60+ degrees was replaced by 45-50 cool degrees with a bitter NW wind blowing hard. I did a quick snack lunch and headed back down. The rock formations throughout the canyon make the trip worthwhile by themselves, but the wildflower show is the main feature as well. Just getting underway, it will be stunning starting in another two weeks until mid-May. In the canyon lowlands the first Arrow-leaf balsamroot were just starting to bloom. Fern-leafed desert parsley is in HUGE abundance on all south facing canyon locations – I’ve never seen so much of it in my life! A small area about one mile in had one flowering Meadow death camas, with a huge area of plants still awaiting bloom. The north canyon rocks were covered with soon to bloom Alumroot. The large variation in buckwheat species will be blooming by May. Higher up the north slopes out of the canyon, Grass widow was my lunch companion – a stunning wildflower! Yellow bells will be blooming in just a few days. The list goes on…dozens of other wildflowers are lush with growth and will be taking their turns shortly. A dandy day in the desert, and although this location is less than seven miles from the tens of thousands of people living around Yakima, it was still virtually dead on a sunny Sunday afternoon. One mountain biker was seen up above, and only 5-6 groups of others were seen throughout the day, all out for a “Sunday walk” in their local “park”. Wildlife highlight was the splendid viewing of two Yellow-bellied marmots bumbling around the rocks of the north canyon walls about 1.5 miles in. It's so awesome that there are a few of them in here! Certainly could have had rattlesnakes out also, but no sign of them yet. This area has a lot of them, but don't be afraid of 'em since the trail is 12' wide in the canyon bottom. But the good stuff is offtrail up the slopes....