The Energizer Bunny (my 72 year old mom) and I (not that energetic) decided to try a desert hike for our girls only day hiking trip. I always have wanted to visit Umtaneum Canyon, and this was the perfect day. Hot, sunny, but with a dry breeze to keep things comfortable, no biting bugs, few people before Memorial Day weekend. The trail is in good shape, dry but somewhat overgrown with shrubs and tall grass encroaching the sides in places. The beavers are many, and there are new dams, but they don't interfere with the trail. I was concerned about rattlesnakes, but we met a guy measuring a garter snake near the beginning of the trail at 10:00AM, and he said that with the sun and the heat that the snakes would all behiding in shady nooks and near the water. We heard two snakes, but saw none. If we had come earlier in the day we probably would have seen rattlers in the trail. The flowers are in full bloom, several kinds of buckwheat, some brilliant yellow desert daisies, and a large, bright purple geranium, very profuse, and the most wonderful smelling wild rose bushes, these latter perfumed many sections of the trail. A huge old domestic rose is also blooming in the old homestead site. For fauna, this is the perfect place for birders, the whole hike was accompanied by birdsong. The trail is closed at the 3 mile mark, reportedly because of nesting eagles. We met 3 dedicated birders who had their spotting scopes trained on a Prarie falcon nest on the canyon wall, we thank them for letting us watch the falcons feed 4 hlf-grown young. We also spotted a large herd of bighorn sheep complete with young high on the canyon walls. All in all a good day!

The trail up Umptanum Creek is in great shape for the first 3 miles, until you reach the end of the section brushed out by volunteer crews (Thanks again!!). Shortly after that the trail is posted closed until 7/15 to protect (unspecified species) nesting wildlife. (Through hikers take note!). Typical for May, the riparian corridor is alive with nesting and migrant birds (Prairie Falcons, Yellow-breasted Chats, Lewis' Woodpecker, Lazuli Buntings, etc.). Mind the poison ivy.

Arrived at the Umtanum Rec Area parking lot about 1 pm. Hiked across the bridge into the canyon and turned left, trying to go to the overlook one-mile side trip. We failed to turn left at the water tank - really cool water tank with a spring piped into it, straight out of the hillside! So failing to turn left, we walked and walked, up the hills. Very beautiful. Hot at first, but a gentle rain cooled us off. Realizing we'd missed a turn, we headed back down to the canyon where we planned to camp. Canyon is closed 2.5 miles in for nesting wildlife until July 15. We camped right after the second creek crossing and were the only campers in the canyon. Lots of bird song and no bugs.

Praise and thanks to WTA and other groups for the great job improving this trail. In past years the trail degenerated into a bushwhack after about 3 miles.....now its a great amble through excellent riparian habitat. Saw Prairie Falcons, Cooper's Hawks, Lazuli Buntings, Lewis' Woodpeckers and many more. Lots of beaver habitat modification in progress. As usual with this trail be mindful of the relatively common rattlesnakes.

Ah the glory of Umtanum in the spring-my now annual pilgrimage east for early warmth and wildflowers. Ever since visiting this geological wonder a few years ago I decided I must camp over night. It was awesome…I brought a small group of Girl Scouts and since they didn’t have school on Friday we were able to beat any potential crowds seeking the few camping areas there are. The driving instructions are well covered in other reports so certainly no need to repeat them, thanks to the BLM maintenance crews though who had just cleaned the vault toilets that Friday AM---wow---clean as clean can be. I brought a walking stick this year; chiefly for rattlesnake probing. Last year several of us walked right over the top of one, by the time the 3rd hiker came along it was not happy. Fortunately no problems arose with that crossing, as it sure had its head up high and mighty, with rattles ringing, and acting mad as all get out. This time we only saw the tail end of a small rattler as it quickly slithered away from our camp area, though we did get incredibly startled by a lesser exciting variety. The beavers are expert at staying out of sight, but we certainly saw plenty of their fresh fibrous “chew”. One tree was at least 4’ round they had started working on. We hiked up valley almost 3 miles (?) to the last obvious camping area, right where the WTA crew had started working on trail re-routing away from the creek. Wow they did a great job clearing and widening. We were able to camp off trail and behind some shrubbery so we didn’t stand out too conspicuously. The water was of course close by and birds provided a nearly constant but very delightful concert. We had bought a new water filter with our cookie sale proceeds and got to work pumping away and filling our bottles. Right away we saw Bighorn sheep running along the ridge across from us, and then in the early morning hours on Saturday they were just above us on our side! Way cool. We figured we were camped in their trail to the creek. It was a joy to see so many babies! We explored further up canyon, understanding that it becomes brushy and hard to find we still wanted to see what is up there around the next corner. We made it about 20 more minutes and then at a junction someone had a bright idea of “let’s follow this trail up the scree slope”…when it came to an abrupt edge and a hoof print was plainly visible we realized ...oh yea, it was indeed a game trail! But the view back down the valley was awesome as we were well above the treetops. Once back at the junction we think we found the right trail that stayed on the valley floor---but it was dinnertime and there will be next year’s visit! The next morning dawned a gorgeous one, we later headed back down valley and then up the south ridge seeking the trail to the Yakima River View. Alas we missed the meager side path and ended up heading up and away and away and further away from the River, the scenery was still awesome and the flowers even more in bloom since it was a south facing slope. We turned around as the skies got blacker and blacker; on our way back we spied the path we had intended to take. But then again-it was way cool where we went. Perhaps I should walk backwards when trying to locate tricky trail turns? The key if you are heading to the River View portion seems to be to turn left at the well tank. I told the girls they could chill out and go for a swim in the tank if they dared----it is full of oeey, gooey green algae and other things we probably couldn’t see! They wisely took a pass. Flowers were picture perfect-not my forte to list more than other folks’ reports. But the yellows-the purples-the blues----incredible show! And we have plans of next year’s return trip already.