Snow Mountain Ranch and Cowiche Mountain, Cowiche Canyon Preserve — Saturday, Jan. 4, 2020

Wet snow and slush at Snoqualmie summit and about 10 miles beyond. After that, smooth sailing. Yakima River Canyon Road is free of ice and snow.  Beautiful blue sky as I headed towards Yakima.  I started by checking out to the Oak Creek Wildlife Area in hopes of finding some big game at the feeding stations. No such luck. Not enough snow yet to drive the elk and sheep down for an easy meal. 
On to the hike... I headed over to Snow Mountain Ranch. There’s a nice clean honey bucket down the trail from the parking lot. New interpretive sign since my last visit. Tall grass and lots of fresh coyote poop. I saw blue jays and an owl. A big gray cloud blew in and hail started flying sideways. By the time I hustled two miles back to the car the cloud was gone and the sun came back. I decided to head East and drive to Cowiche Canyon hoping for better weather. 
It was great. The canyon blocked most of the wind and there was no sign of clouds or hail. Beautiful red twigs and dried flowers along the trail. Fantastic rocks and easy walking on a smooth virtually flat trail. 
I was lucky to spot some bighorn sheep and deer on my return trip through the Yakima River Canyon. 
PS. Glad I had sunscreen today. Wonderful to feel sun on my face all day.