Umtanum Creek Canyon — Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021

Ethan, Brenda, Jonah, & Karen helped me celebrate my 76th birthday by taking a walk up Umtanum Canyon today.  The canyon is still open, but there was a piece of heavy machinery and construction material by the parking lot, so it probably won't be open much longer.  We walked up the canyon as far as the second stream crossing, but the crossing looked a little dicy for some members of the party (I had no problem), so we turned around and climbed up to our usual lunch spot on the buttress on the north side of the canyon.  It was breezy and cold up here, so we decided to sit against the cliffs in the lee of the buttress for lunch.  For dessert I passed out pieces of sweet almond cake that my wife had made.  Karen had a couple of candles for the occasion and, being full of hot air, I had little trouble blowing them both out.  After lounging in the sun for a while, all of us but Karen climbed up to the pillar a couple of hundred yards above the buttress.  There was lots of petrified wood scattered about the hillside here.  After an hour and a half or so we headed back the way we had come.  It was sunny and cool when we started, but warmed up nicely even though it clouded up some in the afternoon.  There was snow on the trail, but it wasn't compact or icy & I did fine without traction devices.  It was getting sloppy on the way back.  We saw one other hiker in the canyon while we were having lunch and no wildlife, but we did hear a canyon wren and saw buttercups in bloom.  Is spring on its way??!!  Anyway, if you've got to get older, this was the perfect way to mark the occasion!