05-02-2026
This
weekend I was on my own. I
wanted to get in a wildflower hike east of the crest without crazy
crowds and a 250 mile trip. I settled on an old favorite and one I had
not hiked since 2019 and during wildflower season since 2017. It was
well past time for a return trip. The day would start cool but become
quite warm by afternoon. There are long stretches that have no shade. I
left home early at 6:20 am. I brought my chrome dome umbrella for
personal shade. Traffic was heavy in Seattle but thinned a lot as I
headed east. With cheap gas now at $5.45/gallon I detoured to the east
end of Cle Elum to fill up at $5.06/gallon.That helped a
little.
I drove through South Cle Elum and on to the small school bus
turnaround. Since this was a weekend I did not have to worry about the
no parking in early morning and afternoon. I had all day. I arrived at
8:10 am to find two cars already in the lot. I think that is a record
for a morning. On guy started hiking just after I arrived. It was all
sunshine but a comfortable 52F at the start. I had a view to the snowy
Stuart Range from the lot. A short path dropped to the railroad
grade/trail. The wildflower show began immediately. There were large
bushes of bluebells in bloom. I saw none after that. I also saw a huge
Oregon grape bush.
I headed up the grade looking for more flowers. Desert parsley showed up almost immediately. It was glowing thickly alongside the trail. Next came tall fernleaf biscuitroot. I can never remember the name. The flower is dark brown. It looks a bit like desert parsley but much taller and brown not yellow. Five minute in the flower sighting were ahead of schedule. The trail then enters the canyons. The river is off to the left and the canyon wall goes up steeply. On the right is a ditch that mostly still had water. That meant more flowers ahead. A small bridge crosses the ditch and usually has blooming Oregon anemone this time of year. There were none at all. I was disappointed as that is one of my favorite flowers on this hike. Right after that I saw the first serviceberry bush in bloom. I saw a lot more of it along the grade. The Yakima River is close but not in sight much of the way. I had one really good look in the first mile. In the fall the river is small but this day it was from edge to edge with few rocks showing through In and near the ditch to the right I started seeing big skunk cabbage plants. What I did not see were many yellow spathes. This trip had by for the most skunk cabbage plants.
I was scanning back and forth looking for small flowers to the sides of the trail. I spotted some color and it turned out to by ballhead waterleaf I saw a lot more of this one too. Off to the right side I saw one then half a dozen more blooming trillium. They were all pretty fresh. At 1.5 miles I reached the spot were the Teanaway River mets the Yakima. Often in spring the Teanaway is dark brown but this year is was clear. Trees are closing the view of the Teanaway but it is still visible. On the right side of the grade I found one small patch of blooming Oregon anemone. I found some after all! These looked perfect and I took lots of photos coming and returning. Farther along on the right is a steep bare slope. Several times over the years a big slide has come down and buried the grade. Now, there are trees all over it. It is not all that obvious unless you are looking for it. The skunk cabbage continued and I still saw few yellow spathes. This end of the trail has large evergreen and deciduous trees that overhang parts of the trail. I had some shade going in both directions along here.
The Turkey Gulch Picnic Area comes next. It just has a picnic table. The route is part of the Palouse To Cascades State Park Trail. It includes rest stops and small campgrounds for mountain bikers and hikes. The trail soon moved farther from the river. To the left I could see a meadow. A close look showed some arrowleaf balsamroot in bloom. This is the start of a great patch of wildflowers. To see much of it requires dropping off the grade and an easy short bushwhack. I was very careful to check for snakes. I have not yet seen a rattlesnake on this route but they are here. There are some evergreen trees in the meadow leaving some shade and sunny spots. The balsamroot were near peak. A few were just beyond peak. I also saw some prairie stars, death camas, Oregon grape, lupine, and spring beauty. There was only a little lupine here. Most of it will be blooming in a week or so. The meadow continued downriver but I went back to the grade. A short way farther I found a tail leading to another meadow. I headed over for another photo stop. The flowers were similar to the previous detour but with even more. I picked up my pace and headed for the Ponderosa Campground. I had one more really good view down to the Yakima River.
Just before the campground, I saw more flowers to the right. There were also tents set up. I walked through the arrowleaf balsamoot, death camas, and some brightly colored peas. I talked with one of the biker/campers. The other was down fishing in the river. After this break I took advantage of the only outhouse on my route. It is fairly new and in great shape. I was now about 3 miles into my trip. A short way longer I came to the first of two gates. They request that you close the gate behind you. This one was already open. I have seen park vehicles come through and leave the gate open until they return. I left it open. Both gates were open in both directions. Near the gate is a big pond. It has a lot of last year's cattails. I heard a lot of bird songs here. I managed to get one photo of a small bird atop a cattail. The route then goes under multiple big powerline pylons. Across the river is a big meadow. The canyon falls away to the right too. It is a big open area with no shade. That was not bad in the morning but it was really hot in the afternoon. I saw some more flowers along the road here. They included some Hooker's balsamroot as well at fernleaf biscuitroot again, desert parsley, and prairie stars.
Just before the 4 miles mark and halfway down the grade, I saw the big water slide. It drains meadows above and looks like a slide. It has a moderate flow this day. From the first gate for the next few miles there is almost no shade. The river is close by but mostly out of view. There is a formation of columnar basalt rising above the grade. Broken parts litter the ground below it. Arrowleaf balsamroot shows up at times with a few blooming lupine flowers. At about 5 miles is the remains of an old train depot. It continues to deteriorate but is still standing. Near 6 miles is a new to me sign. It says "Horlick". The map shows Horlick near the depot but the sign is farther east. The grade has more small gravel than I recalled. It is fine for a park vehicle but is slower to walk on. It was more difficult to hike on than most old roads turned trails. The flower show picked up considerably the last two miles. To the left, I was seeing bright yellow bitterbrush flowers and some balsamroot. To the right rock walls rose steeply. They included some large flowered phlox. In one spot the hillside was covered with arrowleaf balsamroot and phlox.
The small building across the river finally came into view. I was now getting close to the tunnel. Above the ridge ahead and across the river wind turbines came into view. At long last I reached the tunnel. It was now hot. I went into the tunnel and it was much cooler. Google Maps and Gaia show the distance as 7.9 miles. My phone Gaia gps showed it as 8.4. That is about the 5% high I expect. With my flower detours, I was right about 8 miles in so far. It was 11:31 am. With many photo stops I took 3:16 to hike those 8 miles and lost about 150' of elevation. That is nearly flat at less than 20' lost per mile. My first visit was on 4-14-90. This one was just over 36 years later. I am a little slower now but still going strong. Of course, I still had 8 more miles to go. I enjoyed my cool break but I had to get moving. It was 11:57 am when I headed back. The first thing I did was to pull out my chrome dome. Instant shade made a big difference. The first 5 miles going back was 90% in sunshine as the temperature rose. It made a big difference for me. So far I had seen half a dozen bikers. I saw a few more than that on the way back. For the most part I had a whole lot of solitude.
Coming down I saw one garter snake zoom off the grade before I could get out my camera. I also saw a snake that looked like a small rattler but with a small head and no rattle. It may have been a bull snake. I did not notice it until I was very close. It did not move at all. I thought it was dead. I marked the spot and on the way back it was gone. I guess it wasn't dead. I also saw a big meadow a mile from the tunnel. The view was blocked coming in the other direction. It was the single best arrowleaf balsamroot display of the day. The were really thick. In the last two miles I saw quite a few blooming lupine. They were right at peak. From the tunnel back to the campground at 3 miles it was hot even under the umbrella. I stopped a few times and found a light breeze blowing in my direction of travel. I felt zero wind while walking. I passed the Horlick sign, the water slide, and the powerline corridor before reaching Ponderosa Campground.
I stopped again. Almost the entire campground was in the sunshine. Three picnic tables were blazing hot. I found one spot with shade and sat down on a rock. I arrived at 1:43 pm. I had covered 5 miles in 1:46. Even with stops, I averaged about 21 minutes per mile.That was pretty good. Looking about 20' away I spotted a chocolate lily. I have trouble seeing them when they are right in front of me. I am amazed I saw this stem with two flowers on it. The brown color blends in to everything. That was the only chocolate lily sighting for the day. Just before I was ready to leave a very large line turkey walked by me. It did not seem to care about me. I guess it cleans up any food dropped in the campground. The turkey just walk by slowly posing for me. At 2:07 pm I headed on. I checked out the balsamroot in the campground but did not take any side trips on the way back. I did stop for the Oregon anemones and the Teanaway River view. The last miles did have more shade and that helped a lot. I reached my car at 3:09 pm. The sky was still mostly blue but to the north there were big puffy white clouds. The contrast was neat enough that I took another dozen photos. My drive home turned out to me very easy for a Sunday afternoon.
This trip provided everything I was hoping for. The weather was cool in the morning and warmed up all day. The 80F degrees at the end was more than forecast and more than I like but with a chrome dome, it was acceptable. 16 miles is a long day and doubly so on a hard gravel road. Almost no elevation gain helped a lot. The trip provided river views, evergreen forest, deciduous trees. Several great patches of wildflowers and others off and on. I saw very few people as few others come here for the wildflowers. I saw one other hiker all day long. This trail is very good for wildflowers if you time it right. I did. It also is good for fall leaf colors. I have had some great trips here in the fall and even a few with snow. This trip was one of my better spring visits.
Click on thumbnails to get
larger pictures.
Trips - 2026
Home
I headed up the grade looking for more flowers. Desert parsley showed up almost immediately. It was glowing thickly alongside the trail. Next came tall fernleaf biscuitroot. I can never remember the name. The flower is dark brown. It looks a bit like desert parsley but much taller and brown not yellow. Five minute in the flower sighting were ahead of schedule. The trail then enters the canyons. The river is off to the left and the canyon wall goes up steeply. On the right is a ditch that mostly still had water. That meant more flowers ahead. A small bridge crosses the ditch and usually has blooming Oregon anemone this time of year. There were none at all. I was disappointed as that is one of my favorite flowers on this hike. Right after that I saw the first serviceberry bush in bloom. I saw a lot more of it along the grade. The Yakima River is close but not in sight much of the way. I had one really good look in the first mile. In the fall the river is small but this day it was from edge to edge with few rocks showing through In and near the ditch to the right I started seeing big skunk cabbage plants. What I did not see were many yellow spathes. This trip had by for the most skunk cabbage plants.
I was scanning back and forth looking for small flowers to the sides of the trail. I spotted some color and it turned out to by ballhead waterleaf I saw a lot more of this one too. Off to the right side I saw one then half a dozen more blooming trillium. They were all pretty fresh. At 1.5 miles I reached the spot were the Teanaway River mets the Yakima. Often in spring the Teanaway is dark brown but this year is was clear. Trees are closing the view of the Teanaway but it is still visible. On the right side of the grade I found one small patch of blooming Oregon anemone. I found some after all! These looked perfect and I took lots of photos coming and returning. Farther along on the right is a steep bare slope. Several times over the years a big slide has come down and buried the grade. Now, there are trees all over it. It is not all that obvious unless you are looking for it. The skunk cabbage continued and I still saw few yellow spathes. This end of the trail has large evergreen and deciduous trees that overhang parts of the trail. I had some shade going in both directions along here.
The Turkey Gulch Picnic Area comes next. It just has a picnic table. The route is part of the Palouse To Cascades State Park Trail. It includes rest stops and small campgrounds for mountain bikers and hikes. The trail soon moved farther from the river. To the left I could see a meadow. A close look showed some arrowleaf balsamroot in bloom. This is the start of a great patch of wildflowers. To see much of it requires dropping off the grade and an easy short bushwhack. I was very careful to check for snakes. I have not yet seen a rattlesnake on this route but they are here. There are some evergreen trees in the meadow leaving some shade and sunny spots. The balsamroot were near peak. A few were just beyond peak. I also saw some prairie stars, death camas, Oregon grape, lupine, and spring beauty. There was only a little lupine here. Most of it will be blooming in a week or so. The meadow continued downriver but I went back to the grade. A short way farther I found a tail leading to another meadow. I headed over for another photo stop. The flowers were similar to the previous detour but with even more. I picked up my pace and headed for the Ponderosa Campground. I had one more really good view down to the Yakima River.
Just before the campground, I saw more flowers to the right. There were also tents set up. I walked through the arrowleaf balsamoot, death camas, and some brightly colored peas. I talked with one of the biker/campers. The other was down fishing in the river. After this break I took advantage of the only outhouse on my route. It is fairly new and in great shape. I was now about 3 miles into my trip. A short way longer I came to the first of two gates. They request that you close the gate behind you. This one was already open. I have seen park vehicles come through and leave the gate open until they return. I left it open. Both gates were open in both directions. Near the gate is a big pond. It has a lot of last year's cattails. I heard a lot of bird songs here. I managed to get one photo of a small bird atop a cattail. The route then goes under multiple big powerline pylons. Across the river is a big meadow. The canyon falls away to the right too. It is a big open area with no shade. That was not bad in the morning but it was really hot in the afternoon. I saw some more flowers along the road here. They included some Hooker's balsamroot as well at fernleaf biscuitroot again, desert parsley, and prairie stars.
Just before the 4 miles mark and halfway down the grade, I saw the big water slide. It drains meadows above and looks like a slide. It has a moderate flow this day. From the first gate for the next few miles there is almost no shade. The river is close by but mostly out of view. There is a formation of columnar basalt rising above the grade. Broken parts litter the ground below it. Arrowleaf balsamroot shows up at times with a few blooming lupine flowers. At about 5 miles is the remains of an old train depot. It continues to deteriorate but is still standing. Near 6 miles is a new to me sign. It says "Horlick". The map shows Horlick near the depot but the sign is farther east. The grade has more small gravel than I recalled. It is fine for a park vehicle but is slower to walk on. It was more difficult to hike on than most old roads turned trails. The flower show picked up considerably the last two miles. To the left, I was seeing bright yellow bitterbrush flowers and some balsamroot. To the right rock walls rose steeply. They included some large flowered phlox. In one spot the hillside was covered with arrowleaf balsamroot and phlox.
The small building across the river finally came into view. I was now getting close to the tunnel. Above the ridge ahead and across the river wind turbines came into view. At long last I reached the tunnel. It was now hot. I went into the tunnel and it was much cooler. Google Maps and Gaia show the distance as 7.9 miles. My phone Gaia gps showed it as 8.4. That is about the 5% high I expect. With my flower detours, I was right about 8 miles in so far. It was 11:31 am. With many photo stops I took 3:16 to hike those 8 miles and lost about 150' of elevation. That is nearly flat at less than 20' lost per mile. My first visit was on 4-14-90. This one was just over 36 years later. I am a little slower now but still going strong. Of course, I still had 8 more miles to go. I enjoyed my cool break but I had to get moving. It was 11:57 am when I headed back. The first thing I did was to pull out my chrome dome. Instant shade made a big difference. The first 5 miles going back was 90% in sunshine as the temperature rose. It made a big difference for me. So far I had seen half a dozen bikers. I saw a few more than that on the way back. For the most part I had a whole lot of solitude.
Coming down I saw one garter snake zoom off the grade before I could get out my camera. I also saw a snake that looked like a small rattler but with a small head and no rattle. It may have been a bull snake. I did not notice it until I was very close. It did not move at all. I thought it was dead. I marked the spot and on the way back it was gone. I guess it wasn't dead. I also saw a big meadow a mile from the tunnel. The view was blocked coming in the other direction. It was the single best arrowleaf balsamroot display of the day. The were really thick. In the last two miles I saw quite a few blooming lupine. They were right at peak. From the tunnel back to the campground at 3 miles it was hot even under the umbrella. I stopped a few times and found a light breeze blowing in my direction of travel. I felt zero wind while walking. I passed the Horlick sign, the water slide, and the powerline corridor before reaching Ponderosa Campground.
I stopped again. Almost the entire campground was in the sunshine. Three picnic tables were blazing hot. I found one spot with shade and sat down on a rock. I arrived at 1:43 pm. I had covered 5 miles in 1:46. Even with stops, I averaged about 21 minutes per mile.That was pretty good. Looking about 20' away I spotted a chocolate lily. I have trouble seeing them when they are right in front of me. I am amazed I saw this stem with two flowers on it. The brown color blends in to everything. That was the only chocolate lily sighting for the day. Just before I was ready to leave a very large line turkey walked by me. It did not seem to care about me. I guess it cleans up any food dropped in the campground. The turkey just walk by slowly posing for me. At 2:07 pm I headed on. I checked out the balsamroot in the campground but did not take any side trips on the way back. I did stop for the Oregon anemones and the Teanaway River view. The last miles did have more shade and that helped a lot. I reached my car at 3:09 pm. The sky was still mostly blue but to the north there were big puffy white clouds. The contrast was neat enough that I took another dozen photos. My drive home turned out to me very easy for a Sunday afternoon.
This trip provided everything I was hoping for. The weather was cool in the morning and warmed up all day. The 80F degrees at the end was more than forecast and more than I like but with a chrome dome, it was acceptable. 16 miles is a long day and doubly so on a hard gravel road. Almost no elevation gain helped a lot. The trip provided river views, evergreen forest, deciduous trees. Several great patches of wildflowers and others off and on. I saw very few people as few others come here for the wildflowers. I saw one other hiker all day long. This trail is very good for wildflowers if you time it right. I did. It also is good for fall leaf colors. I have had some great trips here in the fall and even a few with snow. This trip was one of my better spring visits.
 Big Bluebell Bush |
 Close Up Of Bluebells |
 Giant Oregon Grape |
 Oregn Grape Close Up |
 Desert Parsley |
 Fernleaf Biscuitroot |
 Serviceberry Flower |
 First View Of River |
 Ballhead Waterleaf |
 New Deciduous Leaves |
 Trillium |
 Goose & Ducks |
 Leaves & Pine Needles |
 Walls Of Trees |
 Oregon Anemone |
 Teanaway Meet Yakima |
 River & RR Grade |
 Tree Fell On Grade |
 Yellow Skunk Cabbage |
 More Skunk Cabbage |
 Lone Balsamroot |
 Prarie Stars |
 Bunch of Balsamroot |
 Death Camas |
 Shadows & Colors |
 Balsamroot & Grass |
 Beautiful Lupine |
 Spring Beauty |
 Dark & Light Green |
 Pink Peas |
 The First Gate |
 A Bird On Cattails |
 Powerline Corridor |
 Shady Grade/Trail |
 Hooker's Balsamroot |
 Nice Bunch Of Color |
 Purple Lupine |
 Water Slide |
 Field Across River |
 Columnar Basalt |
 Red Winged Blackbird |
 Horlick Depot |
 Yakima River & Ridge |
 Bitterbrush |
 White Phlox |
 Horlick |
 Serviceberry Tree |
 Train & Balsamroot |
 Snake |
 Dense Balsamroot |
 Balsamroot & Lupine |
 Floating The River |
 Tunnel Finally In Sight |
 Bee On Oregon Grape |
 Big Meadow |
 Perfect Balsamroot |
 More Of Meadow |
 Tiny Flower |
 Mt. Stuart |
 Yakima River |
 Boat Fishing |
 Chocolate Lilies |
 Tent In Campground |
 Turkey |
 Oregon Anemone Again |
 Welcome Shade |
 Stuart Range |
 Puffy White Clouds |
Trips - 2026
Home