Umtanum Creek Canyon — Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011

Central Washington > Yakima

We love this trail! In August, it was a great hot summer backpack along a beautiful creek. We got to the trailhead at 8pm, with the campground full of river floaters for the weekend. Just hiking in .5 mile we found adequate places to set up camp along the creek. Although we bedded down in some grass along the river edge, there is a large clearing on the left of the trail after .5 mile. There are also at least 3 other great river-side sites for camping, the best at about 2 miles at the crossing of the river on a bend. Best sitings were birds: Ravens, Golden eagle, and several other falcons. We also scared two different garter snakes when hanging out in the stream and crossed paths with a couple yellow-bellied racers. Did not come across a single rattle snake in two days- although we looked! Spent hours looking for (and finding) crayfish, stream insects, and fish. So far this is our favorite hike it the area.