A good day to explore Waterworks canyon. Not the best lighting for photos, but a beautiful day on the trail. About halfway up while glassing the rocks with binoculars, we discovered a great horned owl nest. Arrowleaf balsamroot is just starting to open up.

Arrived at the trailhead off of 410 about a half mile West of the 'Y' that connects the highway to Highway 12. It is immediately after the bridge over the river/canal to the right. My brother and I were on our way at about 10:20am. The plan was to immediately hike up to the ridge to the right of Waterworks Canyon. For some odd reason, we completely missed the trail that climbs the ridge and headed up the canyon. The ridge trail is very visible and no idea how we missed it. It is literally like 20 feet past the elk gate on the right. I wasn't too bummed about missing the trail because I thought that the canyon trail would be more of a gradual climb and I had a fairly sore hip flexer from a strenuous hike two weeks prior. Boy, was I wrong. The canyon trail is a very gradual climb and followed the river up the canyon. At about two miles the trail ends. My brother and I were not going to be done hiking after only two miles so we decided to find the ridge trail. That meant hiking straight up the hill to the right. Horrible idea. We hiked up the loose basalt slope for what seemed like forever. Then up some very steep and unstable game trails. We finally made the last push to the top of the ridge and found the trail. We were still about a mile away from the top ridge of Cleman Mountain and 700 feet of elevation. Hiking/climbing out of the canyon through the basalt slide took all of our energy and we decided to take the ridge trail back to the trailhead. The temperature was also very cold at the top of the ridge. The wind was surprisingly calm, but I'm sure it was in the low 40s and in the canyon it was almost 60 degrees. Changing into my shorts was also a bad idea. Glad I brought my gloves. We were so worn out that we didn't take the ridge trail all the way back and took what seemed like a trail at first down back into the canyon. More basalt slides and extreme steep unstable terrain. The trail disappeared quickly so we slowly and carefully hiked/slid back down to the real trail. I would never recommend climbing out of the canyon where there is no trail. It is crazy steep and the basalt slides make it very difficult to gain any ground. If you are planning to make it to the top of Cleman Mountain, take the ridge trail when you first pass through the elk gate. There is no trail from the canyon trail to the ridge trail after this point. If you are looking for a gradual climb just hike the canyon and turn around when you reach the end at about two miles. The canyon trail actually gains about 2000 feet in elevation, but it is very spread out and there are no steep parts. The creek, rock formations and maybe some animal sightings are definitely worth the short hike. Hopefully we will be able to make it out again this year to try and make the summit. My hip flexer and left knee are still very sore and I have to let them heal before I can do anything extreme. Also, I don't want to go too late in the Spring because of the rattlesnakes. Hope our mistakes can help someone in the future!

I finally, after a dozen attempts with companions unfamiliar with the trail, figured out how to reach the ridge from Waterworks Canyon... but not until AFTER I scrambled up the steep and rocky hillside (and after looking at least one snake in the eye, whilst clambering on all fours amongst loose rocks, all the while testing my balance). A number of us scaled the hill (never finding the trail) towards the low saddle on the right from the canyon below. We had heard that once you reach the ridge it was smooth sailing to the top of Mt. Clemans. We spied a faint trail heading up the ridge. It wasn't until the trek down and at the saddle did I finally see the trail from the canyon to the saddle. From my vantage point, I could see a faint, though fairly established trail. It was marked with a sizeable cairn at the saddle, and angled down and deeper into the canyon from where we left it to climb the hillside. It was a straight shot, crossing some rockslides and disappearing into brushy areas here and there, but it appeared an obvious route. It was worth a try... anything to avoid the treacherous descent of that crazy steep hillside. It took minutes to follow the path down, and to my surprise the bottom was also marked with a sizeable cairn (though difficult to spy unless you were looking for it). Thank you to whomever built these cairns!!! Now I will know how to make the summit from this ridge... putting an end to my frustrations with guessing. Even if you just reach the saddle, the views are amazing and the bitterroot is always worth the effort.

After rain showers the evening before I was surprised to see scattered clouds and blue sky Saturday morning. After realizing that the weather was better than the forecast I made a quick decision to get out of the house for a much needed hike. I headed out about 10 am and arrived at a small parking lot off of Highway 410 at the entrance of Waterworks Canyon at about 10:30. There is no sign, but I believe a Discover Pass is required so I displayed my pass. There was a thin band of clouds on Cleman Mountain near the top that hanged around until late afternoon, but there was little wind and mostly clear blue sky. I hoisted my daypack onto my back, opened and closed the gate in the elk fence and headed up the trail. This location is part of the Oak Creek Wildlife Area. I didn’t hike the Canyon, but immediately turned right on a footpath the heads up the steep ridge between Waterworks and Meystre Canyons. After stopping several times for wildlife viewing (6 bald eagles, 4 deer, 95-100 elk; all a long distance away except for the deer) and after taking a few photos I reached point 3,582 about 1.5 miles from the trailhead. The parking lot is at about 1,600’ elevation so I enjoyed a nice strenuous climb. That is just what I needed to start getting back in shape. There is a huge rock cairn on top of this peak. There is worn trail up to this point which is a good turnaround point unless you are out of shape and want to feel some pain. Rock, gravel, and a few muddy spots are encountered on trail. At this point I sat down and ate a sandwich while gazing in all directions at the great views. Rainier and Adams were partly covered by clouds, but both visible. I notice a few bighorn sheep grazing above Meystre Canyon. The town of Naches and cities of Yakima and Union Gap, as well as the Yakima Training Center are visible from this point. Being out of shape and wanting to feel some pain, I continued onward and upward. First the ridge drops about 200’ elevation then becomes moderately steep uphill to another point where there is another large rock cairn (point 4,280). There was at first a few patches of snow after point 3,582 and then almost solid snow on the ridge top after hitting the 4000’ level. I encountered up to a foot of snow so the going got tough, not that all of the uphill was a walk in the park. I turned around before reaching the top of Cleman Mountain at about 4,400 foot elevation. Not long before heading back down I notice that a group of elk had recently spent some time in the snow. I followed their track for about 15 minutes before I saw them near the top of Clemens. There were 5 magnificent bulls (6 and 7 points) and 1 cow. I didn’t have my telephoto lens attached to my camera but I enjoyed watching them go over the ridge through my binoculars. After seeing the elk I walked to the east side of the ridge and saw 18 deer in the next 15 minutes. I saw another 10 deer about half hour latter on my return trip and encountered 3 coveys of chucker partridge (30-35 birds). I timed my hike out to get sunset photos, but there was very little color in the sky at sunset. If I have any regret about this hike it is that the wildlife was not close enough to get good photographs and that there was not a spectacular sunset. I hiked about 6 miles round trip and gained 3000 feet elevation, perhaps slightly less. There is no water and it can get hot in this area so now is a good time to hike. Most people hike up Waterworks Canyon which is also a nice hike, but without the great views. Although there is more wildlife now there will be wildflowers in April and May to go along with the rattlesnakes and ticks. Right now wildlife and scenic views abound. The snow will be gone soon but it is limited to the last mile of the described route. The USGS map for this area is Milk Canyon.