This trip report is for a loop that was partially on Durr Road and part of it was off trail. There isn't really a trail per se, but more of a road walk to start. Drive here from Ellensburg via Umtanum Road, then veer left on Durr Road. Durr road is gravel, but pretty much any car could get to the trailhead although after that point, the road gets rougher. There is a parking lot on the right about 2 miles after turning on Durr Rd. I parked in an area that has been cleaned up considerably in the last year and is primarily for target practice, but it's a much nicer lot than it used to be.

Continue walking down Durr Road from the parking area and continue as far as you want. A first it's down and then it's up, up, up. Today I only stayed on Durr road for a short time - perhaps 1/2 mile - and then took a left into the wilderness. My goal was to see Umtanum Canyon from above. Some ups and downs (mostly ups) are required to get there, but after another 1-1.5 miles of cross country hiking, I got to several viewpoints. I considered scrambling down the canyon from here, but had forgotten my hiking polls so decided to stay on higher ground and gradually made may way back to towards the road. I found a nice lunch spot, scrambled back towards the road and then looped back to the car. Total loop was about 4 miles, but since most of it was off trail, it was a bit more challenging than the distance would suggest. It's a nice, desolate, remote area and the pups certainly enjoyed it. If you don't know the area, I would suggest downloading a map just in case.

Paul, Andrew, and I hiked about 9 miles on the Roza Creek (primitive) road. We saw 50 species of plants that are flowering and 22 species of birds including a great-horned owl (photo 2, just a phone-photo). Thanks for the list Paul! There are some pockets of thick flowers, especially on the hills in the distance, and some flowers that I haven't seen on other trips to this area. The highlights for me were the cottonwoods, cattails, and aspens along the creek in contrast with the steppe-shrub walls of the valley, the great variety of birds, and the wilderness experience (the only people we saw were 2 folks on ATVs near the trailhead). We saw a prickly pear cactus along the creek, the first time I have seen one in WA, it is not in bloom._I've attached a caltopo map of our route. We went a little ways up the Roza Creek road in our sedan. If you're in a sedan, I would recommend walking that 1/4 of a mile and parking in what google maps calls 'Horse Trailer Parking', a link to that is in the second attachment.

WILDFLOWERS IN BLOOM (50 species)

white (11)
common yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
whitetop / hoary cress / hoary pepperwort (Lepidium draba)
panicled death-camas (Toxicoscordion / Zigadenus paniculatum)
big-seed desert-parsley / biscuit-root (Lomatium macrocarpum)
long-horn / white plectritis (Plectritis macrocera)
jagged chickweed (Holosteum umbellatum)
western serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia)
annual Jacob’s-ladder (Polemonium micranthum)
silver-leaf phacelia (Phacelia hastata)
wax currant (Ribes cereum)
Yakima milkvetch (Astragalus reventiformis)

yellow (21)
tansymustard, species uncertain (Descurainia sp.) — possibly more than one species
Carey’s balsamroot (Balsamorhiza careyana)
Hooker’s balsamroot (Balsamorhiza hookeri)
hybrid balsamroot, Carey’s x Hooker’s (Balsamorhiza careyana x hookeri)
desert yellow daisy (Erigeron linearis)
fiddleneck, species uncertain (Amsinckia sp.)
Cusick’s sunflower (Helianthus cusickii)
Douglas’s buckwheat (Eriogonum douglasii)
thyme-leaf buckwheat (Eriogonum thymoides)
clasping pepperweed (Lepidium perfoliatum)
Columbian puccoon (Lithospermum ruderale)
false agoseris / prairie dandelion (Nothocalais troximoides)
nodding microseris (Microseris nutans)
desert-parsley / biscuitroot, probably nineleaf (Lomatium, probably triternatum)
barestem desert-parsley / biscuit-root (Lomatium nudicaule)
bitterbrush / antelope brush (Purshia tridentata)
wallflower, sand-dune or western / pale (Erysimum capitatum or occidentale)
celery-leaved buttercup (Ranunculus sceleratus)
hornseed buttercup (Ceratocephala testiculata)
holly-leaf / tall Oregon grape (Berberis / Mahonia aquifolium)
golden currant (Ribes aureum)

reddish: pink to red to red-purple (6)
long-leaf phlox (Phlox longifolia)
tufted phlox (Phlox caespitosa)
Gairdner’s penstemon (Penstemon gairdneri)
red-stem stork’s-bill (Erodium cicutarium)
big-head clover (Trifolium macrocephalum)
prairie-star, bulbiferous or small-flowered (Lithophragma glabrum or parviflorum)

bluish: blue to violet to blue-purple (10)
blue mustard (Chorispora tenella)
lupine, maybe Bingen (Lupinus, maybe sulphureus var. bingenensis)
lupine, maybe silky (Lupinus, maybe sericeus)
cushion daisy (Erigeron poliospermus)
woolly-pod milk-vetch (Astragalus purshii)
larkspur, probably upland / common (Delphinium, probably nuttallianum)
sagebrush violet (Viola trinervata)
rockcress, probably sicklepod / Columbia / small-flowered
(Boechera, probably pauciflora)
large-flowered triteleia (Triteleia grandiflora)
ball-head waterleaf (Hydrophyllum capitatum)

green (1)
Thompson’s paintbrush (Castilleja thompsonii)

brown (1)
chocolate-tips / fern-leaf desert-parsley (Lomatium dissectum)

BIRDS (22 species)
Great-horned Owl
Loggerhead Shrike — harassing the perched GHOW
Northern Harrier
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Turkey Vulture
Common Raven
Western Meadowlark
Northern Flicker
Red-winged Blackbird
California Quail — many
Mourning Dove
Band-tailed Pigeon
Rock Wren
Black-billed Magpie
Horned Lark
Vesper Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Spotted Towhee
Western Kingbird
American Goldfinch
European Starling

BUTTERFLIES (7 species)
Ochre Ringlet (Coenonympha tullia ampelos)
Becker’s White (Pontia beckerii)
Cabbage White (Pieris rapae)
Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)
Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus)
Anna’s Blue (Plebejus anna)
Boisduval’s Blue (Icaricia icarioides)

OTHER SIGHTINGS
prickly pear cactus (Opuntia fragilis or columbiana), not in flower,
near the far point of our hike
two nests made in previous years by Bullock’s Orioles (a species we didn’t see)
in the top of one of a group of three tall dead hardwood trees (one a locust)
where an intermittent creek comes down from the north into Roza Creek

> North Yakima Skyline trail to Roza Creek to Birdsong Tree

Weekend backpack with wind, drizzle, sun, amazing views and smells of spring wildflowers.

Drove Durr Road to North Yakima Skyline parking lot and kept going to end of road to No Vehicles Past This Point sign. Road is rough, deeply rutted, and very steep in places.

Parked and hiked down the Skyline Trail to the bottom. This trail section is steep in sections and trekking poles were a big help. Crossed railroad tracks and filtered water from Yakima River.

Continued south to Roza Creek and hiked up dirt road to Birdsong Tree. Lots of open space for camping but no clearly defined campsites. Filtered water from Roza - not the greatest access and creek is shallow with lots of brush to contend with.

I think this is actually a little gem that doesn't get enough attention. This trip report is for a 6 mile round-trip hike along Durr Road. A good starting point is accessing Durr Road from Umtanum Road, driving 2 miles and then parking on your right. You might find some people target shooting in the area, but everyone is always respectful and you'll leave the shooters behind.

Continue to walk on Durr road. You'll go downhill for bit, but then the canyon opens up and you'll have some impressive views. Cross the bridge over Umtanum Creek and then continue uphill. After 1/2 mile or so from the bridge, take the side road to your left. This will take you to a view across the canyon and you'll see where you descended on the other side. There are several rock outcroppings so find your lunch spot and enjoy the view before your return.

This area is not as vibrant as the main Umtanum Creek Canyon trail, but much more stark.

Saw lots of hunters driving in their trucks. 6 of them (in different trucks !) stopped us and asked us what were doing. They seemed very surprised to see hikers in the area, but everyone was very friendly. No, were were not wearing orange, but I really don't get why wearing orange in the FALL is such a great idea (despite the convention). I think light blue stands out a lot more against the fall color and most deer I know don't dress in blue.

Drove in from the north end of Durr Road. The road is rough especially the portion that drops to Umtanum Creek. High clearance is definitely recommended. The view from this road of the Stuart range and Mt Rainier are spectacular.We hiked first upstream toward the waterfall but only made it about .5 mls just past a feeder creek before the trail became  hard to follow. We then hiked downstream where the trail was more distinct though more of an animal trail than a true well worn trail. The trail follows the south side of the creek and about .5mls we crossed over to the north side as the canyon walls close in on the south side. We continued almost another .5 mls where we could see the trail from the Yakima River trailhead on the south side. Decided not to cross as the climb out of the river and up to trail was a very steep bank possible to do but a definite scramble. As a point of reference we were downstream of the power lines and where the canyon narrows in on both side. Be aware rattlesnakes are out as we heard one so diverted uphill. We also found one tick not attached - the hazard of bushwhacking in this area. Due to the water this is a bird mecca! Saw many yellow rumped warblers, canyon wren,woodpecker,ruby crowned kinglet,swallows, and a kingfisher. Turkey vulture and harrier hunting seen on drive in. Many more seen but unidentified. Lots of gray's desert parsley, chocolate tips, sagebrush buttercups, and camas flowers soon will be blooming. There is primitive car camping at the creek although some areas are covered in broken glass.No bathroom facilities. There is also a backpacking camp just a 1/4ml downstream but has not been used in some time. One person camped at creek and only saw 2 atvs all day.