Jonah, Karen, & I climbed up on Selah Butte on this partly cloudy, cool day, but we did not take the usual route.  We started at the north end of the big pull-out just north of the old tunnels and climbed 650' to the bottom of the big bench below the butte.  Once there, we climbed north up the bench, weaving in and out of the sagebrush until we came to the big flat about 500' below the summit crossed by the usual trail .  From here we continued north to the top of a ridge with views up and down the Yakima Canyon and found a nice place for lunch.  It was storming to the north and west, but we stayed dry the whole time, though a cool wind came up in the afternoon.  After staying our usual hour or so, we headed back down the way we had come.  The walking was easy and the cliffs above the bench were impressive.  There was a scattering of wildflowers, including some barrel cactus in bloom where we had lunch.  We saw a number of hikers going up and down the usual Selah Butte trail, but there was no one else on our route.  The total round trip distance was 3 miles with a little over 1200' of elevation gain. 

Big weekend out hiking/camping in Yakima with Ngie! They wrote separate trip reports for each hike but... I'm lazy...

General report for the area: the snow is all gone, and the flowers are juuust starting. In about 1-3 weeks they're going to be popping out there. Lots of opportunities for hiking and camping in the area, and lots of people out taking advantage of the good weather. 

We started Saturday with Rattlesnake Dance Ridge, which is a fun, short & steep little conditioner with nice views of the river. We went past the summit to the end of the trail where there's a "lost spring" in an old tire. Also found a whole elk skeleton, which was awesome. (pics below, don't scroll to the end if you're squeamish.) On the way down we met Burt the dog, who was the CUTEST. 

We then drove by Umtanum, but the construction of the parking lot/bridge has started and according to signage it will be out of commission until end of May. 

Next stop was finding a campsite... There's a big campground across from the Baldy Mountain trailhead (Big Pines Campground) but it was PACKED so we drove over to Roza Recreation Site which only has 6 camp sites.. Unfortunately there was a group there doing their darnedest to make a whole campground's worth of noise. I remembered why I kind of hate front country camping.. lol. People blasting music and doing donuts in the parking lot until after 10. UGGH. 

Sorry, I just can't help being a cranky old man.

Anyway, after picking a campsite we drove over to Selah Butte, which is another short and steep one. It has a small parking area so it's pretty quiet compared to other hikes in the area. We got sun, rain, hail, then more sun... Nice views at the top, but I still maintain that Baldy has the best views in the canyon. 

We had a little time to kill before going back to the campground so we wandered around Selah Cliffs Natural Area Preserve, a short and easy interpretive trail.

Sunday morning, I overcame my crankiness about other campers and we drove over to Wenas Wildlife Area to hit up Gracie Point. You can also access Gracie Point from the regular Yakima Skyline Trailhead.. Either way is a bit long, we just chose this way because we did Yakima Skyline recently and I wanted to hit up more side trails. It was cloudy and windy so not the best conditions for comfort or views, but still we had fun. Nice views of the canyon, it was fun seeing the dam, and all the peaks we had hit up on the other side of the canyon. On the other side there's a nice view of Yakima and we could just barely see hints of Adams and Rainier in the distance. I bet it's stunning on a clear day.

Overall, this is a great area to hit up early in the season when the weather is bad in the passes... I think Yakima Canyon is especially beautiful when there's snow, but also it's going to be stunning soon when the flowers really pop!

Birb and I noticed this hike when poking around looking at maps on CalTopo/Gaia. There's a huge disclaimer on the guide about this being on private land, but given the maps I looked at (Kittitas County Parcel Viewer, CalTopo public lands filter), I wasn't worried about venturing on to the land.

This hike is probably the steepest hike of the Yakima Canyon area and also likely the "most treacherous" due to the amount of steep, loose pebbles on the trail (pretty close to ball bearing quality). Still, if you're game for scrambling up and down some hard class 1 trail, it's worth the effort.

One thing to be mindful of is that the top of the trail doesn't technically reach the high point. The high point is occupied by radio towers on land which is leased out to a non-BLM party. Out of respect for the landowners, Birb and I stopped short of the actual high point.

The way up and down the trail was pretty crazy/awesome. It hailed a bit, which caught us off-guard. Sadly, we saw no rainbows from our vantage though :( (what can I say? we're stereotypical gay folks that like rainbows :D..).

As far as wildflowers go, some balsamroot, desert parsley, and violets, were starting to bloom on the trail (yay Spring!!). More flowers might start blooming in the next couple weeks, time and conditions permitting (it was pretty cold at night: around 32 degrees).

Took a conditioning hike up to the top of Selah Butte yesterday evening, only person on the trail.  Parking lot has a good bit of garbage in it, I will have to remember to bring a bag for next time.  Trail is in good shape, really starting to dry out with the warmer weather we have had so no mud to speak of.  Not dusty yet but the dry weather really makes the trail more slippy on the way down in my opinion with the loose rock and dirt.  A little windy at the top but when is it not?  Other than that a great conditioner for bigger peaks later in the summer.  My GPS shows this at 2.8 miles round trip with just under 1600 foot elevation gain, up and back in just under an hour.  Can't get that kind of workout at the gym and it's only a short drive, got to love the canyon conditioner hikes!

Another great conditioning hike in the canyon. 2.8 miles RT, 1650 ft elevation gain. Sturdy boots and poles sure help.

Trailhead is 0.1 miles northwest of the 4-mile marker on Highway 821 - it's small, fits just a few cars. Follow what looks like a two-track dirt road, and it quickly becomes a single trail. Enjoy walking by a few places where people have used the bathroom and left everything for all to see (and smell).  A better option, people - Roza Dam Rec Area is just a few miles down the highway, with nice bathrooms!

Once you get past the sketchy start, it's a wonderful trail that goes up, up and up. The first half-mile is the steepest, the middle part is more flat and open, and the last part is meandering switchbacks up to the top. 

Trail seemed more solid than in the past, maybe due to recent rain. But still a few slippery parts, especially on the downhill. Some flowers are still out, and the terrain varies enough to keep it interesting. At some places, the trail is narrow and through knee-high grass, so if you are afraid of snakes, you might have to self-talk your way through (I didn't see any snakes, though).

OK, that is Selah Butte, folks.