05-06-25
For
the past four weeks I planned a trip to east of the Cascades for a
spring desert wildflower hike. Each weekend called for wind gusts of
25-40 mph. This past weekend was the fourth. However, weekdays were not
so windy. With business things in order, I chose to take a day off to
finally get in a trip. Gary's birthday was on Monday so we planned the
trip for Tuesday. We left Seattle at 6:15 am heading east. It was my
turn to drive the 127 miles to the Umtanum Recreation Area parking lot.
Traffic was not bad at that early time and we arrived at the trailhead
next to the Yakima River at 8:15 am. There were a few cars in the lot.
It was sunny and in the upper 40s. I immediately noticed two big birds
with white under their wings. I think they were turkey vultures. John
and I saw them on a trip here one year earlier. Gary saw an elk near
the highway east of Snoqualmie Pass. They were not the last animals we
were to see. We were on our way at 8:21 am. On my last trip a tear ago,
I noticed that the suspension bridge decking and handrails had been
redone. It is in excellent shape. This was Gary's first time on this
trail. He has done the southern part of the Skyline Trail but not this
end.
Once across the Yakima River we took the trail heading up the first side canyon on the left. It is a steep climb with some loose rock at first. The wildflower show began immediately. First was a phlox-like white flower. Next came desert parsley, prairie stars, and lupine. Several varieties of balsamroot appeared. They were past prime. The larkspur were right at prime. The grade moderated as we continued higher. As always on this trip, I spent as much time photographing flowers as hiking. We made slow steady progress. We finally crossed the tiny creek that did have water. It will soon be dry. The route continues up as we headed for a ridge coming off the top of Umtanum Ridge. The flower show continued. There was salsify, blooming bitter brush, and more colors of phlox. We saw a few ballhead waterleaf here and a few other places later on. We were in shade when we started up the side canyon. After that, it would be bright sunshine and no shade for the rest of the day.
We reached the side canyon and headed for the top of Umtanum Ridge. When I first hiked here in 1991 and for some years later, there was no trail after the side canyon. It was just aim for the top. Now the boot built path is very easy to follow. We saw different combinations of the before mentioned flowers all the way up. John and I saw a bunch of shooting stars high up on the way to the ridge top. Gary and I looked carefully and did not see a single one this time. We did see a snake slither across the trail right in front of me. It had no rattle. There are lots of snakes, including rattlers down along Umtanum Creek. I had never seen one up on the slopes. Now I have. I saw a single all white lupine. There were also pink penstemon and then bluebells. Near the stop it gets very steep. Steeper than I recalled. I was glad to reach the ridge top. The road goes right and left. We went straight ahead to a higher point. If course, there is a fire pit on top. There is no wood at all but there is a pit. There is a lot of Hooker's balsamroot with some lupine mixed in covering the ground.
John and I went up here last year and found a lot of hedgehog cacti. Some were in bloom and others would be later in the day. We found some blooming but fewer than the year before. The color of the cactus is spectacular. It is one of the most colorful flowers I see. It was now 10:40 am. We had 2.5 mile and about 2100' of gain out of the way. This spot also has a great view of Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams. The sky was clear and the view was terrific. To the south is the valley west of Selah near Yakima. We went back up to the high point and took a break. Oh, and to the northwest was the Stuart Range. We started seeing that part way up the ridge to the top of Umtanum Ridge. A bit of the Yakima River near the trailhead was also in sight. At 11:00 am we stared back. At the road we turned right and headed east. The flower show is much better in this direction. A short way along the road we saw a long snake basking in the sunshine. It was almost as long as the road is wide. Again, there as no rattle. I seldom see snakes in snake country and now it was two in one day. Along the ridge top we kept seeing wildflowers in bloom. We added big head clover to the list. The balsamroot and to lesser degree lupine continued. Periodically, we saw more hedgehog cactus.
My gps track from the year before stopped on the ridge top. I emailed John the night before to see if he had one. Now, on the ridge top Gary noticed that John had texted a track to him. I had one too. John later filled in the blanks. His gps stopped recording early. My phone battery was running low with a lot of photos still to take. John started recording a track from that point and I turned my gps off. We did a loop last year. We followed other hikers down a ridge east of where we came up. The track showed where to leave the ridge. It did come in handy. We found the spot where last year the cactus were most prolific. many were not yet open but we found up to 6 or 7 flowers on a single cactus. We then continued down the road to where it begins to drop quickly. It drops all the way down to the Yakima River at Roze Creek. Gary has camped there. I have not yet been there. We had no desire to drop several thousand feet and climb back up on a rapidly warming day. We saw horned lizards in several spots along our route. They are so well camouflaged that it's hard to see them even when you know where you just saw them move.
We took another long break at our turnaround spot. The views were great. The flowers were great. We just sat down in the sunshine. At 12:50 pm we started back. On the way we saw a big field of yellow and blue, balsamroot and lupine on the south slope. We reached the top of the ridge where we would descend at 1:38 pm. Our route down was a bit rocky but the top was much less steep than were we came up. At the top we found a lot of bitterroot flower pods. Most of the leaves had already fallen off. I usually see bitterroot flowers in late May and June. This was really early. We continued to see more flowers on the way down. When the grade flattened we had lots of lupine in bloom. We also started to see more bitterroot flower pods. And then we saw a bitterroot flower. Then two more and them even more. Not many are blooming now but we saw more than a dozen. This is the earliest I have ever seen them. We did not see any shooting stars but bitterroot were even better.
Navigating on wide open slopes with a topo map made it pretty easy to reach the old road that goes above the Yakima River. We turned left and the road/trail dropped into the side canyon we ascended in the morning. There are a bunch of deciduous trees at the creek. We stopped there for our first shade in many hours. Then I heard the sound of air escaping from a tire. A hissing sound. Gary did not hear it. Then we heard it again. This time we saw another snake move across the trail. This one was a rattler, way closer than we wanted. We got the heck out of there. That was the third and last snake we saw this day. In my 10 previous visits on this route I saw a total of zero snakes. It was quite a surprise. Now we just had to drop down the side canyon and go back to the river. We saw a group coming up and more people down along Umtanum Creek. At the start of the day a lone hiker passed us in the first tenth of a mile. We saw another group up on the ridge though we never were close to them. That was it for the whole day. We had almost total solitude on a great wildflower hike. We arrived back at the car at 3:29 pm.
I really like this hike in the springtime. The wildflowers were excellent. The clear sky meant we had views in all directions from the ridge top. We had near total solitude. We saw vultures, horned lizards, three snakes, and Gary saw an elk. That was not a bad combination. It's a long drive but at 60, 65, and 70 mph it goes pretty fast. Somehow, I managed to miss the spring wildflower show here nine years in a row until last year. I expect to do better than that in the future.
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Trips - 2025
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Once across the Yakima River we took the trail heading up the first side canyon on the left. It is a steep climb with some loose rock at first. The wildflower show began immediately. First was a phlox-like white flower. Next came desert parsley, prairie stars, and lupine. Several varieties of balsamroot appeared. They were past prime. The larkspur were right at prime. The grade moderated as we continued higher. As always on this trip, I spent as much time photographing flowers as hiking. We made slow steady progress. We finally crossed the tiny creek that did have water. It will soon be dry. The route continues up as we headed for a ridge coming off the top of Umtanum Ridge. The flower show continued. There was salsify, blooming bitter brush, and more colors of phlox. We saw a few ballhead waterleaf here and a few other places later on. We were in shade when we started up the side canyon. After that, it would be bright sunshine and no shade for the rest of the day.
We reached the side canyon and headed for the top of Umtanum Ridge. When I first hiked here in 1991 and for some years later, there was no trail after the side canyon. It was just aim for the top. Now the boot built path is very easy to follow. We saw different combinations of the before mentioned flowers all the way up. John and I saw a bunch of shooting stars high up on the way to the ridge top. Gary and I looked carefully and did not see a single one this time. We did see a snake slither across the trail right in front of me. It had no rattle. There are lots of snakes, including rattlers down along Umtanum Creek. I had never seen one up on the slopes. Now I have. I saw a single all white lupine. There were also pink penstemon and then bluebells. Near the stop it gets very steep. Steeper than I recalled. I was glad to reach the ridge top. The road goes right and left. We went straight ahead to a higher point. If course, there is a fire pit on top. There is no wood at all but there is a pit. There is a lot of Hooker's balsamroot with some lupine mixed in covering the ground.
John and I went up here last year and found a lot of hedgehog cacti. Some were in bloom and others would be later in the day. We found some blooming but fewer than the year before. The color of the cactus is spectacular. It is one of the most colorful flowers I see. It was now 10:40 am. We had 2.5 mile and about 2100' of gain out of the way. This spot also has a great view of Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams. The sky was clear and the view was terrific. To the south is the valley west of Selah near Yakima. We went back up to the high point and took a break. Oh, and to the northwest was the Stuart Range. We started seeing that part way up the ridge to the top of Umtanum Ridge. A bit of the Yakima River near the trailhead was also in sight. At 11:00 am we stared back. At the road we turned right and headed east. The flower show is much better in this direction. A short way along the road we saw a long snake basking in the sunshine. It was almost as long as the road is wide. Again, there as no rattle. I seldom see snakes in snake country and now it was two in one day. Along the ridge top we kept seeing wildflowers in bloom. We added big head clover to the list. The balsamroot and to lesser degree lupine continued. Periodically, we saw more hedgehog cactus.
My gps track from the year before stopped on the ridge top. I emailed John the night before to see if he had one. Now, on the ridge top Gary noticed that John had texted a track to him. I had one too. John later filled in the blanks. His gps stopped recording early. My phone battery was running low with a lot of photos still to take. John started recording a track from that point and I turned my gps off. We did a loop last year. We followed other hikers down a ridge east of where we came up. The track showed where to leave the ridge. It did come in handy. We found the spot where last year the cactus were most prolific. many were not yet open but we found up to 6 or 7 flowers on a single cactus. We then continued down the road to where it begins to drop quickly. It drops all the way down to the Yakima River at Roze Creek. Gary has camped there. I have not yet been there. We had no desire to drop several thousand feet and climb back up on a rapidly warming day. We saw horned lizards in several spots along our route. They are so well camouflaged that it's hard to see them even when you know where you just saw them move.
We took another long break at our turnaround spot. The views were great. The flowers were great. We just sat down in the sunshine. At 12:50 pm we started back. On the way we saw a big field of yellow and blue, balsamroot and lupine on the south slope. We reached the top of the ridge where we would descend at 1:38 pm. Our route down was a bit rocky but the top was much less steep than were we came up. At the top we found a lot of bitterroot flower pods. Most of the leaves had already fallen off. I usually see bitterroot flowers in late May and June. This was really early. We continued to see more flowers on the way down. When the grade flattened we had lots of lupine in bloom. We also started to see more bitterroot flower pods. And then we saw a bitterroot flower. Then two more and them even more. Not many are blooming now but we saw more than a dozen. This is the earliest I have ever seen them. We did not see any shooting stars but bitterroot were even better.
Navigating on wide open slopes with a topo map made it pretty easy to reach the old road that goes above the Yakima River. We turned left and the road/trail dropped into the side canyon we ascended in the morning. There are a bunch of deciduous trees at the creek. We stopped there for our first shade in many hours. Then I heard the sound of air escaping from a tire. A hissing sound. Gary did not hear it. Then we heard it again. This time we saw another snake move across the trail. This one was a rattler, way closer than we wanted. We got the heck out of there. That was the third and last snake we saw this day. In my 10 previous visits on this route I saw a total of zero snakes. It was quite a surprise. Now we just had to drop down the side canyon and go back to the river. We saw a group coming up and more people down along Umtanum Creek. At the start of the day a lone hiker passed us in the first tenth of a mile. We saw another group up on the ridge though we never were close to them. That was it for the whole day. We had almost total solitude on a great wildflower hike. We arrived back at the car at 3:29 pm.
I really like this hike in the springtime. The wildflowers were excellent. The clear sky meant we had views in all directions from the ridge top. We had near total solitude. We saw vultures, horned lizards, three snakes, and Gary saw an elk. That was not a bad combination. It's a long drive but at 60, 65, and 70 mph it goes pretty fast. Somehow, I managed to miss the spring wildflower show here nine years in a row until last year. I expect to do better than that in the future.
 Suspension Bridge |
 Yakima River |
 First Lupine |
 Pink Phlox |
 Beautiful Lupine |
 Wider View |
 First Larkspur |
 Prairie/Woodland Star |
 Single Balsamroot |
 Thread-leaf Phacelia |
 Arrowleaf Balsamroot |
 Last Of The Shade |
 Bitterbrush In Bloom |
 Seed Pods? |
 More Balsamroot |
 Large-Flowered Brodiaea |
 Jim At Work |
 White Phlox |
 Gary On The Trail |
 Purple, Pink, & Yellow |
 Stuart Range |
 Penstemon |
 White Lupine |
 First Snake |
 Getting Very Steep |
 Giant Bluebell Patch |
 Gary Is Below |
 Very Colorful |
 Our Route Up Is Below |
 Mt. Rainier Is In Sight |
 Mt. Adams |
 Stuart Range Over Yellow |
 First Hedgehog Cactus |
 Great Balsamroot |
 Big Head Clover |
 More Cactus Flowers |
 Long Snake (#2) |
 The Road Goes On |
 Horned Lizard |
 Zoomed In Mt. Rainier |
 Another Cactus Spot |
 Many Colors |
 Six Cactus Flowers |
 Very Nice |
 Shaded Cactus |
 Balsamroot & Lupine |
 Many Bitterroot Buds |
 Thompson's Paintbrush |
 Gary Descending |
 On Side Ridge |
 Wow! A Bitterroot |
 Great Colors |
 Twins |
 Gary & Lupine |
 Yellow Flowers |
 Spring Green |
 More Larkspur |
 Rattlesnake |
 Near The Finish |
 Yakima River Fishing |
Trips - 2025
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