Union Creek — Sunday, Jun. 19, 2022

I live in Yakima and come here at least yearly. no snow and no bugs yet. some flowers including a lady slipper just past the bridge by the water. no problems to the main falls- although pretty wet with the spray. probably the most water I've seen here (timing) and as noted the side trails are a bit steep with root scrambling required. we went about 1.7 miles ish up the trail. a number of trees across the trail -many we went under, some over and a few around. my knees did not love this. there is a section (I'm horrible with estimating distance- of about 100 feet) around maybe .7 miles in that has had a slide and the whole trail is detoured but we were able to keep the original path in sight. some paying attention required in sections as the trail is less obvious. as noted parts of the trail are sand like from the intense burn. the undergrowth is recovering and so its less black overall- the gray trees across the hill always make me think of a close up of an elephants backhair. we ended by heading down to the lovely sandy (frigid) pools where the trail finally levels off and is closest to the water again. I think about 1.7 miles. last year I remember someone had tied pink tags to mark the trail across some of the larger wash outs in the area so either we didn't make it that far or they are gone. we found part of a path to the water trying to avoid too much off trail tromping but mostly just followed downed trees to reach the water once it was close and visible. solitude past the falls as usual.