Umtanum Creek Canyon — Saturday, Apr. 28, 2018

This is not really a trip up the canyon, but up the boot/game trail up the north side of the canyon mouth.  After crossing the suspension bridge over the Yakima River, Ethan & I crossed the trestle over Umtanum Creek and climbed this steep trail (1800' in 1/2 mile) slowly to the ridgetop (we're old men, after all), then walked northwest along the ridge for about a mile or so.  I didn't want to walk all the way to the base of the Beavertail, so we cut down through the bunchgrass until the ridge steepened enough that we could see the river below and found a nice spot for lunch among some boulders.  After an hour or so soaking up the scenery and taking photos, we traversed back along the ridge to the first major gully we came to and then descended to the canyon bottom.  Here we picked up a trail along the railroad right-of-way fence back to the suspension bridge and the car.  The day was mostly cloudy, breezy, and a little cool.  We heard lots of meadowlarks and saw a herd of at least 9 deer.  There were quite a few wildflowers, but nothing in profusion.  And though the trailhead parking lot was full, there were no other hikers out our way.