Umtanum Creek Canyon, Umtanum Ridge Crest — Saturday, Sep. 18, 2021

I hiked 2 miles up Umtanum Canyon and 1.5 miles up the Vista trail toward Umtanum Ridge (the trail that goes up the draw to the left/south when you first enter the canyon). The recent rain nicely solidified the dirt and dust.  About 1/2 of the trees and 3/4 of the aspens in Umtanum Canyon were killed by the fire last year. Most of the foliage on the first 3/4, mile of the Vista trail was untouched by the fire, including the large stand of aspens at the top of this section. Beyond 3/4 of a mile on the Vista trail most everything was incinerated by the fire (often all that was left of the sagebrush are rings of ash). Sagebrush, rabbitbrush, and balsamroot (Hooker's and Carey's) did not survive the hot fire. But, you can see many small/yearling rabbitbrush, sagebrush, and balsamroot (remnants).  I'm not sure what species of tree it is in picture 3, but even though the whole tree burned in the fire, they are regrowing (from the roots I'm assuming).  

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There are thousands of aspen saplings coming up where the aspens were killed or severely burnt (picture 4). They are amazingly tall, thick, and the leaves are bigger than mature aspen (the better to block out the sun and reduce their competition). Some of the leaves on the saplings are turning fall colors, the thick areas will be quite pretty shortly. I am looking forward to watching the aspen come back in the years to come, they grow 2-4 feet a year! The attached link is a PDF that talks about aspen's ability to bounce back from severe fires. 

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There were more than 20 species of flowering plants including 6 or so purple flowers! The few of these I know or have identified so far are wild/Fuller's teasel, chicory (picture 1), white knapweed (picture 2), rabbitbrush, and yarrow. 

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The Umtanum Canyon trail is getting more braided and even more overgrown in places. The aspen saplings are going to make some areas almost impassable. It could use a few days worth of work parties. It is a beautiful area that can be enjoyed throughout the year; it is worth the effort.