I spent two days hiking the Durr Road, North Yakima Skyline trail, following the guidance of the "Best Desert Hikes" and an old copy of the "100 Classic Hikes in Washington". The drive in was horrendous, especially for my low-clearance Subaru. Deeply rutted Durr road, with washouts and huge rocks made the going very slow and nerve-rattling. I would highly recommend driving up to the trailhead from the other side (the river side). The last couple miles aren't great, but much better than the other way. All that said, the hike was beautiful and windy/cold for April, but the flowers are starting to show and the sun definitely felt good after a wet Seattle winter. Following the guidebooks' advice, I went along the ridge until it dropped to Roza creek. There's no water until you reach the creek, but there's plenty as you follow the drainages until about a mile from the ridge. The books say to follow game trails along the drainages once the old Roza creek road veers off from the creek. I discovered many game trails (and saw elk and mule deer on the way), but it was slow going through the dense thickets of sage brush along the drainages. So I went higher, paralleling the drainages and eventually stumbled onto beautiful flower fields. Yellow bell, buttercups, daisies and violets (a few) are carpeting patches of hillsides.

Just wanted to let you all know that the road is snow free and passable all the way from Eberg to Selah. Lots of water running down the road after the bridge, but no snow to drive through. Saw yellow bells, buttercup and the white low flower in one of my pictures.

We drove the Durr Road north from the Sheep Company Road to the terminus of the Durr Road at the Umtanum Road. We stopped in many areas along the road to walk among the many flowers. Many bitterroot, buckwheats, Thompson's paintbrush, penstemon, yellow bouquets we haven't identified yet, and lupine were some of the flowers seen. We drove the road east from the North TH. (The sign at the TH is no longer there.) A hike from this TH would be an awesome way to view the flowers. To reach the TH take exit 109 from I-90 and turn left at Umtanum Road. In 5.1 miles turn left onto the Durr Road. In 4 miles the road crosses Umtanum Creek on a fairly new and sturdy bridge. In 3.2 miles you will reach a pullout where you can park and walk the road east as far as time allows. The Durr Road requires a high clearance vehicle.

Plan was to hike up to Umtanum Falls from the Durr Road crossing of the creek. Once Durr Road passes the shooting grounds, it gets really, really rough as it descends to the creek. I damaged my Camry's muffler, so only higher clearance vehicles should attempt this drive. The creek is higher that usual since it's spring, so my car wouldn't be able to cross the creek. We parked before the creek (broken glass everywhere) and crossed it on foot. It took a minute to find the trail that leads off to the right. It is unmarked and not much of anything. I doubt to many hikers travel on this part of the trail. The trail is brushy and hard to follow at times, and pretty clear at other times. We set off in what sounded like a warzone because of the shooters on top of the hill. And right away we came across my first rattlesnake of the year. Yes, they are out, and this was a perfect habitat for them with all of the grass, brush, logs, and rocks. Watch your step! We probably made it halfway to the falls before a bush ahead of me hissed really loudly at us. I was willing to go around it since I can handle hiking with the rattlers. But my friends have never seen wild vipers until that day and wanted to turn back. It was probably a good idea since I am sure there were more snakes yet to come. Snakes are out, road is killer. If you want to hike up the Umtanum Canyon, start at the Yakima Canyon TH. For the falls, start at the Umtanum Road TH above the falls.

i covered the enitre length of the trail and it's in great shape and the very earliest flowers are just starting to bloom. the durr road section is still a little muddy but not too bad.