I hiked Umtanum this morning at sunrise. I saw deer, turkey, and got to listen to the birds chirp as my dog and I hiked on through the trail. The colors on the trees and bushes are just beautiful as they welcome in fall. 

Some of the area is still burned from the Evan's fire, so it's interesting to go through and see the burnt, old growth vs the new growth. 

Even terrain for the most part once you cross under the railroad tracks :) 

Happy hiking! 

Today we walked about 1/2 mile into the canyon hoping to see a lazuli bunting which is one of the reasons we came to the area, but it was not to be. We met Deb Essman who is a board member for the Kittitas County Field and Stream. She and another lady who was there with a botanist for the Department of Fish and Wildlife were 2 who helped reseed the canyon in the fall and during the winter. Deb was excited as she had found a bitterbrush which had survived. The bitterbrush were planted as plugs to give them a better chance of survival. 55# of seed was donated from the Northwest KCFS ands volunteers spread the seed in the fall and throughout the winter before the area was closed for the bridge repair. There is seed leftover so when the rains return to the area, they will need volunteers to plant these. A dusty-maiden plant was a new plant seen today and shown to us by the botanist. There is some poison ivy in the area so one needs to watch for its "leaves of three"! After returning to camp, we drove the Canyon Road to the Umptanum Road and turned left onto the Durr Road to drive to the West end of the canyon.The day was in the mid 90's or higher so we didn't do much walking. We did try to find the trail east which takes you to the parking lot for the Umtanum Recreation Area. Bob did find the beginning of the trail, but it was too hot to go very far.

Today we hiked 2 miles to the second river crossing. Both creek crossings were doable, but we did not cross the second creek as the day was in the mid-high 90's and there was very little shade or breeze so the heat was very oppressive! Chicory, arrow leaf groundsel, curly dock, sticky geranium, collomia, hollyhock, buckwheat, a lot of rye grass and a few mariposa lilies were some of the flowers and plants seen. It was good to see how well the canyon is recovering after the fire, but its full recovery will be after our life time! Long pants are recommended because much of the trail is overgrown. We saw a few area of poison ivy. As yesterday more birds were heard than seen and there were many butterflies enjoying the flowers in the area. The highlight of the day was seeing our first hummingbird moth. It was so quick that our photos were blurry, but a few did show its coloring and the speed of its wings. When I first saw it, I thought it was a hummingbird because of the speed of its wings! 

After reading Lucy's report from Sunday, we decided to see if we could find the yellow-breasted chats and lazuli buntings that she had seen. We set up camp at the Umtanum CG and then hiked one mile up the canyon. We saw many butterflies and heard more birds than we saw. We did see a cooperative yellow-breasted chat and one lazuli bunting that didn't want its picture taken. The area seems to be recovering nicely from the Evans Canyon fire of last year.  There are many baby aspen growing in the areas where the aspen were torched. Golden currant, alfalfa, mock-orange, monkey flowers, gumweed, hedgenettle, collomia, elderberry and many grasses were some of the plants seen. Long pants are recommended as the trail is overgrown in many areas. One needs to be aware that poison ivy is present in some areas.