We turned off State Route 821 (Yakima Canyon Road) onto Selah Springs Dr.and drove 3.2 miles to the parking area as described in Best Desert Hikes Washington by Dan Nelson and Alan Bauer. The last half of this road is very rocky, but driveable for most vehicles if driven slowly and carefully! After passing through the gate at 1.6 miles from 821 we were on BLM land. There were fields of "spent" large-headed clover which must have been beautiful in their prime! There were several Horned Larks perching on the sagebrush as we drove the road to the TH. The Hooker's balsamroot was also "spent", but we decided to walk north along the ridge to the first white pole to hopefully find some fresh flowers! At about 1/8 of a mile from the TH we were glad we had decided to walk as we began to see fields of thyme-leaved buckwheat and bitterroot.It was difficult to walk and not step on the bitterroot! How beautiful were these fields and the view down to the Yakima River! We hiked about 2 miles one way.The temperature was in the low 90's, but there was a breeze which made the heat tolerable! The bitterroot were just starting to bloom so should be good for 1-2 more weeks! We also saw, Oregon sunshine, pentstemon,thread-leaved phacelia,and Hooker's onion. We saw very few hedgehog cactus and their blooms were "spent".

Being in this area, it's strange that there were local things to do that I never knew about. This is hike #20 in the (newish) ""Best Desert Hikes"" book that I JUST got! This trek pretty much starts out at the top and you just get to roam around the top of the Butte and it's surroundings. The drive up to the suggested parking area was a little rough, but no problems, just take your time. Once you get to the parking area, you have a great view of the antennae at the very top of the Butte (which you can walk up to) or you can walk about 10 yards toward the west for a spectacular first view of the Yakima River Canyon. I spent years down in the canyon looking up, this was my first chance to look across the canyon and down. Amazing! The book suggest the hike is the goal, with the destination being of no importance. With that suggestion I followed an old dirt road (that had been driven on recently, but not often) up over the crest of the Butte and then down til I had great views down the valley to Burbank creek and the ridge on the other side of the creek. I then headed up and east toward the Yakima river and saw my first ever Hedgehog cactus ...it didn't look very hedgehoggy but looked very cactus-y ...definately not something to touch! Once at the top of the ridge, the views were fantastic. You could see parts of Yakima to Wiley City, all of Selah, parts of the Wenas valley, then into the Naches valley. Looking north you could even see a portion of Ellensburg! With the clouds you couldn't see Rainier or Adams but you could see the Cascades and the other local ridgelines. It's the look across the canyon and down into the canyon that is the most amazing. I rested while eating some gorp watching the cars and even a train at the bottom of the canyon. The sad thing is that I didn't bother taking my camera, so you just have to go and experience it all yourself!