Oh the bridges we have crossed. We put another notch in our belt today for a bridge crossed. Along with my gephyrophobic dog we have crossed many bridges, (middle fork snoqualmie, deception creek, east bank baker lake to name a few) but still have some more to conquer. Today's bridge was unique as it bounced as we stepped as well as swayed from the wind adding another level of fear and excitement. The canyon was beautiful and sunny. The trail was very muddy in spots from where the snow has melted out. There were several areas that crossing the creek were not too difficult, you just had to walk along and find one to fit your comfort level, and then picking up the trail along the otherside was not too difficult. There were quite a few hikers out on this trail today, more as the day progressed. We continued along the canyon trail until it almost petered out and then returned and headed up the ridge trail. This path was not so well travelled and we pretty much had it to ourselves. There was some slick mud and a few icy snow patches, but with hiking poles and careful steps we all made it down without incident. (Careful the mud is almost slicker than the snow). A beautiful hike and even near the end of winter it was amazing the different colors that were out from the different variation in tree and brush limbs.

It was a great Day! We ran from the clouds of Seattle. It took about two hours to get to the trailhead. Really not a bad drive at all. The trailhead signage states the trail is closed 3.5 miles in for sensitive wildlife. There were maybe three groups that left the parking lot at the same time. we did not see a soul after the creek crossing about mile in. The rest of the afternoon was an awesome hike. My only difficulty was in a few spots the snow on the trail turned to slippery ice. My hiking buddy and I both fell once going downhill. MicroSpikes would have solved this problem. We sat by the creek had a nice lunch. Also we spotted a few groups of deer.There were plenty scat signs of the ones we didn't see. The further you go, around mile 3, the more overgrown the trail gets and was hard to follow. We turned around soon after. I suggest waterproof boots for the mud, trekking poles or microspikes for the ice, and binoculars for the abundant wildlife.

The weather was sunny and a little cold, but great for the hike. The bit of mud and snow on the trail was not a problem. However, we could not find the creek crossing at the 1 mile mark. Other people were running into the same problem. It was not obvious where to cross, so we turned back. It would have been awesome if we could have kept going, but with little kids, we were not about to take chances to get across the creek.

Flickr: http://bit.ly/umtanum-creek-canyon Another rainy day in the Cascades so we hiked in Eastern Washington. We got to the trailhead pretty late so there were already quite a few cars in the lot. Some people were fishing, some were having a good ol' time car camping, the rest were people taking short walks along the canyon. On the other side of the suspension bridge we saw a group walking into the canyon with alcohol and bags of goodies in hand. Rather than crashing their party, I decided to head up the slopes immediately to find peace and quiet somewhere else. Most of our time was spent traversing westerly on Umtanum Ridge checking out the views. Sunny but windy, with occasional clouds hanging overhead. On the way back we traversed northerly down into the canyon and hiked back out to the parking lot.

Umtanum Canyon is a nice winter hike and often has wildlife. We weren't sure we would see any bighorn sheep in Umtanum Canyon since it's hunting season, but figured it was worth a try to get some sun in after a pretty dreary week on the west side of the Cascades. We arrived to only a few pickups in the parking lot about 10 a.m., one of which had a pretty happy springer spaniel that had been out bird-dogging. The trail was remarkably quiet after we crossed the suspension bridge and under the railroad. We saw one hunter on the ridge to the north and a couple of hikers. The apple trees planted long ago had ripe apples that we sampled by snagging them with a ski pole. On the trail, we found many piles of coyote scat loaded with apple. The trail through the canyon was clear but the fallen leaves frosty, perhaps because the sun never really seems to hit the ground this time of year. It makes the canyon a pleasant walk, but very icebox like. We scrambled up a game trail onto a ridge to have lunch in the sun by a rock formation that looked like a giant hand. We found ourselves sitting by a hole in the basalt with vegetation, small scat, and a lot of urine marking the entrance. After peering in and seeing the glint of eyes, we moved away to another lunch spot. We did see our sheep, in a great place for a picture, but then found we didn't have a long lens on hand and could only take a picture of its perch. I was relieved to see at least one since the disease outbreak that decimated the herd (disease bearing domestic sheep, go away from here!). On the way back up 82, we saw some folks on the roadside pointing big lenses across the river and saw several more. We also saw a lot of deer and a small herd of elk picking grass off the slopes. This would be a good destination for people with kids who are curious about nature- there's always something to see.