This was a last minute plan D after plan A, B, C didn't work out 😁.
We wanted sun and some views, and this turned out to be ok.
We parked at Umtanum Creek Falls trailhead. There were snow and ice on Umtanum road but I think all cars with good traction tires can make it to the trailhead.
Decided to visit the Falls first so we followed a a nice compacted trail with multiple creek crossings. Spikes were nice to have as it was icy as we got closer the Falls.
After the Falls, we headed south towards the ridge. There were already some boot tracks towards the 4WD road but tracks disappeared after that.
We put on snowshoes and continued up the rolling hills that got steeper after 3,000 ft.
Snow was crunchy crunch although it was sort of mixed as we got higher and we were glad to have our snowshoes. After we got on the ridge, I continued west until the top of the ridge. From what I read, it's called Rattler Benchmark or Umtanum Ridge Highpoint.
Gorgeous view of the Stuart range and Adams as well as the canyons. On the way back, we decided to follow the ski tracks (saw one skier at the ridge) back to the road.
Stats: 7.5 mi loop, close to 1,700' gain, a little less than 6 hours, and a slow pace.
Comments
Gorgeous photos! Will be adding this to my list.
Posted by:
Mountain_Seeker on Jan 13, 2025 07:44 AM
Yes, go for it :)
Posted by:
rbs13 on Jan 24, 2025 03:01 PM