East Rim Waterworks Canyon — Friday, Nov. 7, 2014

Central Washington > Yakima

On a lovely November day, I parked just off the Chinook Pass Highway, just west of the junction with Hwy 12, put out my State recreation pass, and headed up the relatively steep trail into Waterworks Canyon. The trail is in good shape for the first 3 miles, following the now dry creek bed up through wide open hills and patches of rock outcroppings. After a mile or so, the trail starts to pass through some cottonwoods, now golden, and then into the aspen groves, amazingly golden. A bit farther up the canyon I came upon one of the mountain sheep herds that can usually be seen here. They watched me pass without moving at all, and they were still there when I came back down the trail. After about 3 miles the trail mostly disappears and becomes sheep and deer tracks across some rather nasty rock hillside. I turned around here. The view is great, with Mt. Adams showing it's top in the distance, and layers of hills with the aspen to set it all off. A lovely hike, especially this time of year.