Umtanum Canyon is one of my favorite spring hikes. Located at a low elevation deep in the rain shadow of the Cascades, the canyon is almost immune to any dampness occuring in Seattle. To get there, drive east on I-90 to Ellensburg, then south on the Yakima Canyon road to the Umtanum Recreation area parking lot. Cross over the Yakima River via the suspension foot bridge, and follow the trail through a patch of brush, over some railroad tracks (actively used, look around before crossing), and into the mouth of Umtanum Canyon. At first the trail is easy going as it travels up the broad, meadowy floor of the canyon. If you're used to hiking dense, drizzly Cascade forests, the wide open spaces, blue skies, and sunshine will have you raving. The colorful cliffs of lava forming the walls of the canyon give the area almost a Southwestern ""canyon country"" feeling. The meadows are turning green with spring growth and flowers are beginning to bloom, some buttercups and balsamroot. The lower part of the canyon is almost treeless, but here and there grow scattered groves of aspen and cottonwood, pale green with newly budding leaves. After a mile or so, the trail splits, and the ""correct"" trail crosses the sizable Untanum Creek. Finding the correct points to cross the creek is the major navigation problem of the canyon; the ""false"" trails that don't cross invariable look better at first, but then fade out in brush. Naturally, the impoverished public land owners (BLM and/or wildlife refuge) have provided no signage or much trail maintainence for that matter. A second crossing occurs a mile later; the correct trail drops down a steep bank, crosses the creek on logs, and resumes on the other bank next to a spacious campsite. Beyond the second crossing, the trail steadily deteriorates. The walls of the canyon close in and the floor becomes narrower and brushier. At places, lichen-covered lava cliffs loom right over the trail. There's a lot more trees along this stretch, many chewed by beavers; a few pines and firs appear on the shady south slope. The trail passes a series of creekside meadows that positively beg for a picnic or even an overnight camp. Eventually the trail drops down to the edge of the creek at a gravel bar; just a bit further is the obscure third crossing point, marked by a very wobbly and marginal foot log. Casual hikers should turn around here. If determined and a bit masochistic, you can continue on all the way to Durr road, another 2 to 3 miles upstream. The old trail (once a fair-sized road) has been wiped out in most places by floods. There exists a faint but continuous path most of the way, but it will challenge your route finding skills to follow it. There's a lot of scratchy brush and six or so creek crossings, some a bit tricky. The route is not all bad, however; there's a pleasant stretch where an intact portion of the old road passes a small, broken-down cabin in a meadow and some large ponderosa pines.

This was my first time on this trail. The description in ""55 Hikes in Central Washington"" is of little assistance. The beaver construction crews have changed much of the area. I'd hoped to hike to Durr Wagon Road, but I gave up after about 45 minutes of scrambling along scree and talus I quit. If I hadn't been alone, I would been more brave. Nevertheless, I'll return. This looks like a great place to set base camp and spend some time playing!

We left Seattle in the rain and found sunshine at Umtanum Canyon off Canyon Road between Ellensburg and Yakima. The Yakima River is very high and flowing swiftly, making the crossing on the sturdy suspension bridge challenging for this hiker. We chose to hike up to the lookout instead of along the creek. We took it slowly stopping to check out the flowers and help decrepit knees. At the lookout area we were thrilled to find bitterroot just coming into bloom. Fortunately we didn't see any rattlesnakes.

I walked Umtanum Canyon from the western entrance into the waterfalls to the eastern end where the creek empties into Yakima River. About 1/4 mile in, the trail crosses some private land that appears to freshly marked with no trespassing sign and new chain and a lock around what passes for a gate. I have a strong belief in not violating private property, the detour around the fenced land is not long, but it takes you up the hill about the trail and back down and across the creek to the trail. This seems to be a recent development, I hadn't seen any mention of it in recent trip reports. Past the Falls, there is pretty much no consistent trail until about a mile north of the Durr Road, so sometimes my route consisted of the creek, game trails in and out of the creek bottom and along the hillside. Just of west of Durr Road, the massive beaver dam had been washed away, and in about that same spot I began to recognize the trails of long ago in my boyhood, passing numerous campsites and spots on note, like the canyon down which I had dragged out a deer my dad shot or many of the little holes we used to catch an occasional trout. One of the more interesting wild life sightings I made were three racoons, two of whom I watched work the creek for several hundred yards before they saw me. I saw a wide variety of birds, including a dove that was chasing a blue butterfly up the creekbed and nearloy ran into me. Below Durr Road the trail is more reliable then it finally becomes a thoroughfare for the last three miles-it was only in this segment that I saw any people. I caught a few fish from wide spots in the creek and beaver ponds, most to them very small and returned to their homes. I started at 7:30 and came out on the highway at 4:00, quite an intestiing trip. I didn't see any rattlesnakes, though I saw a number of bull snakes which are marked similarly to rattlers. Watch for ticks!

A glorious day for a hike up Umtanum Canyon to Umtanum Ridge. Treats were views of resonant red cliffs, a bighorn sheep high in the scree and a peregrine falcon swooping to fend birds from its nest, scents of sweet sage and, once up on Umtanum Ridge, undulating clusters of wildflowers in yellow, blue, pink, white and purple below an immense sky of rolling clouds. Obstacles included rattlesnakes (eight blocked our way, in addition to two bull snakes) and an unmaintained trail obscured on both sides by thick brush, making route-finding tricky on several occasions. The one true negative was a group of men shooting semi-automatic rifles from a cliff above our heads as the trail neared the Durr Road juncture. P-P-POW-POW-POW-POW-POW as we scrambled down-valley, leaping blow-downs. We escaped unscathed, and I would recommend this trail in late winter, when the snakes and rednecks are back in their dark holes.