We dove into Alan Bauer and Dan Nelson's ""Best Desert Hikes"" book for a trip that might include some flowers. Knowing they have a ways to go in the Thorpe area and Umtanum Ridge area, we opted for Yakima. While the balsamroot show isn’t on yet, the sagebrush violet, dogwood red-osier and blue eyed grasses (a beautiful purple flower) are at their height on the summit area of Cowiche Canyon Conservancy lands. There are even tufts of white phlox in bloom. We entered the Conservancy via the Cowiche Canyon trailhead. Volunteers of Cowiche Canyon Conservancy did a great job facilitating a trail through the old railroad bed and up to the summit of the Conservancy. A very worthy way to spend a day, and I encourage folks to go out & enjoy this beautiful place. To get there, from Canyon River road, get onto 12 west. Exit 40th Avenue/Fruitvale. Turn right at Summitview, drive about 7 miles to Weikel Road. Turn right, and in about ½ mile you’ll see the sign to the trailhead.

Spring has come to the Yakima Valley! I went out to the Cowiche Canyon Uplands this afternoon to see what was in bloom and saw everything I expected & more: 3 species of Desert Parsley & another in bud; Tauschia hooveri; Goldstars, Yellowbells, & Buttercups; Prairie Stars, Foothills Onion, Sagebrush Violets, & Grass Widows. The hills are greening up & the sunshine was warm (lower 70s). What more could a person want.

We approached trailhead from Naches, difficult to find due to lots of little unmarked roads. Easier to access from Yakima: from 40th and Summitview Aves in Yakima, drive 7 miles west on Summitview Ave., turn right on Weikel Road to the bottom of the hill where there is large wooden white bldg. Turn right into parking area. there is no parking at other end (Cowiche Canyon Road). This is old railroad grade, so flat. Crosses Cowiche Creek 11 times on rebuilt bridges. this would be an excellent mountain bike trail, we hiked on a hot day -- bring lots of water, there's no shade. It's about 3 miles one-way. Lots of red osier dogwood and other riparian plants as well as sagebrush. We still got plenty of showy penstemon and other flowers, but I suspect flowers will be all gone in a couple weeks. Dramatic basalt cliffs along the way.

About once a year I have a hankering to go to open country and experience some sunny weather on a day where it's cloudy and/or rainy west of the Cascades. I got the open country, all right, but my effort to get sunshine flopped: on this day it was just as cloudy on the ""sunny"" side. This is a very easy hike for the most part, the only elevation gain coming on the side trail out of the creek valley. The valley walk is all on gravel surface except for a bypass around two missing bridges. The whole valley walk is just under 3 miles each way, although I turned back before the end where the trail runs alongside a road. Although the map handout (provided in a box at the trailhead) says ""to view"", the side trail doesn't go to any viewpoint per se, just to higher ground, where the primary view is of the city of Yakima. The valley is covered from one end to the other with wild roses -- I've never seen so many in one place. I don't have a book that includes east-side flowers, so I'm not so well up on identifying them, but I could definitely say that any yellow-bell, grass-widow, or antelope brush flowers were gone, but the flower show was by no means over. Perhaps more locals have discovered this place since the previous reports; I ran into a dozen other parties or so. The fact that there is now a trailhead sign on Summitview road might be making a difference. It started raining harder as I left, and I started worrying about possible snow at Chinook pass on the return drive. This worry did not prove unfounded as it was indeed coming down hard enough to produce winter driving conditions from about a mile east of there down to Cayuse Pass. It might well have been faster to go via White Pass and Highway 123. All of the printed material that I had only showed directions for travel on Highway 12 westbound. Here are the directions if going eastbound in Highway 12 as I did: in Naches turn right (south) at the light on S. Naches Road and follow the signs to Cowiche. At the town limits this road merges with Summitview road. Continue south on Summitview road about 5 miles to Weikel road, which now has a sign saying ""Cowiche Canyon trail"" at the intersection. Turn left and drive to the bottom of the hill, where another sign points to the trailhead.

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....