We originally were going to find the sun and a hike in Yakima, but didn't feel like dealing with driving in the ugly rain at the pass. We chose Wilderness Peak instead. It was pouring when we parked! Yikes. And then it poured like crazy on the hike. You will still get soaked even under all the trees on a morning like today. Hiking boots and full rain gear are a must in the rain and mud. The good thing is we only saw a couple of other hikers and a handful of runners on the trail. We took the Wilderness Peak Trail up and the Gombu trail down. The short trail up to the peak had a creek flowing down the trail. It was flowing so fast that it was bringing leaves and branches down with it. I would have taken a video if it hadn't been raining so hard. As you can see in my photo, there's a cute small pond by the bench. The Gombu trail was also very streamy, muddy and wet. It was a bit crazy, but a great workout! The other photo showing a "lake" was actually off the trail, so no need to catch a boat across that. Go figure that it's sunny and nice out as I write this. Hurry up summer!

We needed a nearby, relatively short hike for this Saturday afternoon and chose the Whittaker Wilderness Peak Loop. We did the counterclockwise loop, heading up the Gombu Wilderness Cliffs Trail toward the Whittaker "Peak". This was a fairly steep incline, but the trail was in excellent condition. We stopped to admire some mushrooms popping up along the way and noted buds emerging on the tree branches. The peak is a nice spot to take a breather, but no views there. There were several trees down along the trail, but all easily navigable. We especially enjoyed the boardwalk through the marsh. There were a few muddy areas here, but nothing of note on this relatively dry day. We plan to return to extend the hike. We definitely enjoyed the wilder feeling of this side of Cougar.

Great little Saturday morning hike!

eight and a half miles happily covered in mud. rainy day escape