Quick follow on to my report from last Tuesday - I went back to the canyon today, this time with an accomplice (and with the sunscreen!). It was much busier on a Sunday, of course - the trailhead car park was pretty full, but most people seemed to stay by the Yakima River or the lower sections of Umantum, so relatively few people more than a mile in. It was surprising for only five days later just how many more flowers seemed to be out this time - a week of great weather works wonders, it seems. I spotted multiple species that I didn't see around Tuesday. The weather had obviously worked wonders for the rattlesnakes too, because after Tuesday's failure, they were certainly out today. We saw two, and most of the other people we passed had seen one or two as well. I was a little worried that there were several people walking dogs on a trail of which the Desert Hikes book says 'rattlesnakes are frequently seen in the summer', and is one of four places specifically name-checked on a Google search to go looking for rattlesnakes in Washington. One man on his way up had his dog on a lead, and specifically asked us if we'd seen snakes, but three just had their dogs running around loose, and one went off barking at a snake. I wouldn't let a dog of mine do that :-( So the quick summary - if you like snakes, it's a great place to go, and if you don't, stay clear until autumn!

April 21st we hiked 4 miles into the canyon and hoped this time to get to the Durr Road, but again time kept us from going the last 1/2 mile! We stopped too many times along the trail to take pictures of the beautiful flowers which were much more prevalent than in April! We did see what we think was a beautiful Lewis woodpecker! This is a beautiful spring hike with not much elevation gain.

I headed east of the Cascades yesterday, hunting some of the dry side spring flower show. I didn't find quite the variety I anticipated on this hike - lots of six or seven main species, rather than a diversity, but beautiful enough as they were, with the sagebrush flowering dramatically too near the canyon entrance. The wildlife was out in force, though, and made this a fascinating trip, particularly for birds. Every sagebrush held a number of small species, several varieties of sparrow and warbler I recognised and probably a lot more I didn't spot. Plenty of Lewis's woodpeckers looking spectacular in flight, with American kestrels and Prairie falcons out and obvious. The butterflies were putting on quite a show too, one of the widest variety of species I've yet seen on a single hike. The usual garter snakes and small lizards fled the path at my approach, but sadly no rattlers. I'd like to see one! The canyon's an easy hike, at least until the point where the trail disappears into undergrowth and doesn't obviously emerge the other side. How far you want to persevere is up to you. The elevation gain is mild, and the trail's almost all in great shape - a couple of bushy sections to scrabble through, nothing more. The creek crossings are all straightforward, with thoughtfully arranged and very stable logs, though it gets a little trickier after the first 2.5 miles, when the trail becomes more of an adventure. Not a lot of distance or elevation work-out, but a great one for just ambling along seeing everything there is to see, and pausing to eat and watch the wildlife. One other car at the trailhead when I got there at 11.30am, four when I left at 3pm, but I only met one other person as I was leaving. Pay parking for this site starts on May 15th, so just a few days left! More pics at http://eelpi.livejournal.com/

We hiked a little over 4 miles up Umtanum Creek Canyon toward the Durr Road. The last time we did this hike was the first week-end of WTA'S Vacation Work Week last year. THANK YOU so very much for the beautiful new trail! It was like a freeway! We saw several yellow rumped warblers, many Kestrel, and a pair of wood ducks. There were many flowers on the North side of the creek. Because of our late start we were unable to continue to the Durr Road as we had done last year. We did discover that the ticks are out!

Did the sun run east on I-90 looking for some blue skies and flowers. Umtanum Canyon seemed like the right choice after all the rain we've had in recent days. We parked at the BLM's fancy trailhead in Yakima Canyon and walked across a suspension bridge spanning the river to reach the canyon trail. Spring was springing at last in Umtanum Canyon, with wildflowers appearing in the greened-up meadows. We followed the trail up the canyon a short distance, then turned left onto an old jeep road (now pretty much a hiker trail) that ascended a side canyon toward the crest of Umtanum Ridge. The road climbed steeply at first, passing two charming waterfalls where a small creek tumbled over ledges of lava. The grade soon eased off, and near a grove of aspen the road branched at an obscure junction. The right branch, the most popular choice for most hikers, headed up a ridge toward the summit of Umtanum Ridge. We chose to hike the left branch, which made a gentle traverse of slopes high above the Yakima River. After lunch we roamed cross country on flowery meadows, eventually working our way back to the aspen grove and on down to the trailhead. From now on, the flower show in the ""desert"" hills around Ellensberg should just get better and better I didn't actually hike Book Mountain a.k.a Westberg Trail but did a drive-by survey from I-90. The snow is all gone from the mountain, and conditions there should be much better now than those I encountered there two weeks ago, when the trail was covered with mud and snow.