[tgc]

Anyone know of any good backpacking trails around yakima or ellensberg or anywhere with canyons and sun? I've managed to find quite a lot of good day hikes, but nothing good for a backpacking trip of 2 or 3 days. Maybe these sorts of longer trails just don't exist over there, but I'd love to here any suggestions. Thanks all. -tyler

[Alan Bauer]

You are basically right in that the central and eastern part of Washington is butchered up so dramatically from the Columbia Irrigation Project that there are not large public land tracts really left. Some that do exist are long, skinny, and have a highway passing through the middle of them for the full length. The L.T.Murray and Oak Creek Wildlife Areas are the two key large tracts that could offer enough space to really get lost for 3 days of enjoyment like this. Some other lands offer pretty good length hikes...I've had many good 8-10 mile hikes when given a 15,000+ acre patch of land...but overnight trips are just not the norm (plus most places do not allow overnight stays anyhow---the Wahluke Slope Wildlife Area is huge, but no overnight stays are allowed). There is a lot of nooks and crannies to get away in throughout the lands east of Sun Lake State park. Good roaming there and overnight trips are feasible if you have good maps and cross country skills---can't really get lost there however. For the best multi-day desert trips in the NW you really need to go and appreciate the stunning beauty of Eastern Oregon. While the BLM is just now scrapping to pick up every 5,000-20,000 acre piece of land they can find in Washington's eastern side, Oregon has MANY BLM lands > 70,000 acres. Much of the eastern 1/3 of the state is public lands. The Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge is 240,000+ acres alone. Big land out there...and makes for about as prime of a spring trip that can be found anywhere! I dream of having a full week to go explore the Alvord Desert, Steens Mountains, Hart Mountain, Mahluer lands...and the list goes on so far and wide.

[tgc]

wow, thanks for all the details. I had no idea that Oregon was so superior in desert wilderness! -tyler

[crazyjake]

Have you tried around Cle Elum? Several trails back up the Teanaway river drainage. Know of one trail near Beverly that goes into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area.

[Greg]

Try Yakima Skyline Trail. You could make 2-3 days out of that and its got canyons and often sun. You could two two-tree days camping and exloring Uhmtanum Canyon in the same area. The Quilomene and Colockum wildlife areas north of Vantage allow camping and are vast; no trails per se, but lots of jeep track and wide open shrub steppe country. The crown jewel of central Washington is the Chelan Lakeshore Trail, 17-some miles of pure canyon bliss, although its mostly forested, not desert-like...

[Alan Bauer]

Does anyone know first hand if the Chelan Lakeshore Trail is open this season? It was closed last year out past Rex Creek from the previous years fires, and with the new fires last summer I suspect it may again be close this year. Anyone know?

[Larry]

Yahne Canyon: A really nice trip in the LT Murray Refuge is to go up Taneum Creek (maybe about 6 or 8 miles) to the old bridge that crosses the river (on the left...gated...you have to park and walk across the bridge), then follow the old road up Yahne Canyon. Just keep going up, once the road ends, staying on the right side of the canyon. You'll cross a few roads, but will eventually come out in the high subalpine country at the head of the canyon. About 3 or 4 miles tops. If you hit it right, the flowers will knock your socks off. A great juxtaposition between semi-desert and subalpine terrain.

[Alan Bauer]

Larry, I've hiked up Taneum Creek many times and that area does look fun to explore. I've hiked from well back of the bridge/gated area in early spring when snow is still an issue, and I've started trekking from the gated road by the bridge. I have never gone up that canyon region however yet....I always end up heading up the North Fork Taneum Creek and goofing off up in there to Lookout Mountain or something. The one time I did head up that road...well...I turned back from going on up after coming up behind mama bear and her twin cubs. They moved out of the way as I turned back. I waited 15 minutes for them to clear, and pushed on again. They were there AGAIN...so I assumed it was a rather important feeding area to them and didn't want to put any unnecessary stress on their day. Nor my own. I look forward to many days in this fast to reach area for me in the coming years. Kids will both be in school, it only takes me 90 minutes to get there from Fall City, and this area still gets VERY little hiking pressure compared to the mess north of Cle Elum that is developing. Motorbikes are a non-issue in my book...I never see them up there anyhow.

[Larry]

Yes, Alan. Interesting that you talked about the bears, because last year I was up there the first week of May [edit: June], and had just crossed above an old quarry and entered a major meadow. I sort of came up over a "lip", and there was a huge brown-in-color black bear staring at me from less than 30 feet away. I've seen lots of bears, but I'm no fool...I slithered sideways and diagonally away from that bear with heart pounding! It's amazing how well you can sidle and creep quickly backwards through windfall terrain without even thinking about it when the adrenaline flows. I'll have to admit...it was a warm day, but I really was sweating for a while!! Well, I made a wide berth, and got on up to the tundra/meadows, and was greeted by a virtual ocean of purple and yellow flowers. It was amazing, the whole color scheme rolling in the wind like a colored wind sock...like rolling fields of purple and yellow wheat, or something like that. I have a photo somewhere, but it wasn't very good. I need to go back with the big format camera and take my time. This would be a GREAT place to spend a night under the stars and explore some of the great upland swales that are an explosion of color. It's quite a place. I know that people visit the place, of course...but the three times I've been up Yahne I haven't seen anyone.

[Larry]

One more thing, Alan. NICE photo of Bitterroot!

[Greg]

Lakeshore Trail was reopened late last summer and will be open this season. Moore Point campground and Meadow Creek shelter are closed, but alternative sites have been designated nearby. Forest Service is cautioning hikers to watch weather because flash flooding is possible in creek basins. Most of the trail itself survived the fires in good shape. Slopes above were toasted badly...