My friend Fran and I took advantage of the sunny day in Yakima and went to Cowiche Canyon. No matter what season of the year I visit this place, I find it full of colors and contrast. Today the Upland trails were filled with blankets of violets, yellow bells, grass widows, and parsleys. Mixed in with these flowers were smaller batches of phlox, praire stars, buttercups, cinquefoil, balsamroot and more. In the lower canyon the trees, grasses and bushes showed various lively colors of red, green, beige, gray and white. The rock formations are just fascinating to me. A couple of turkey vultures were spotted in the cliffs and just above them were nesting habitats of what I believe belong to cliff swallows. Also spotted were hawks, a horned lark and Western meadowlarks. The number of birds were few.
I wish the trails were better marked. Lots of junctions were nameless and some trails have names that are not shown on a general map posted in a few locations. We missed a critical point in our loop route and ended up having to walk "off the beaten path" to the Summitview trailhead.
Not many people in the canyon (bikers share these trails) but I'm sure this place is busy on the weekends. It was a nice change from hiking in the snow to walking on sunny lands with flowers and canyon views.
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