[pika]

On Saturday (4/17/2004), Laurie and I headed east to the sunny side of the state. We dropped Laurie's car off at the dealership early in the morning, knowing we had to be back at 6:30 PM to retrieve it before the place closed. Our hiking venue was Umtanum Ridge, halfway between Ellensburg and Yakima. It's not really a trail. Most of the route follows an old jeep road. It felt weird to be hiking out in the open with no trees. The 360 degree view was spectacular. And the wildflowers: wow! So this is what spring is like! We rambled down to the Yakima River in bright sunshine. Laurie brought ingredients for a great pasta recipe, so we cooked that up for lunch. The climb back up from the river was tough. Had we really lost this much elevation? Now we were paying the price, and gaining it back. I guess the weather can change rapidly in the desert too, because we were soon enveloped by cold wind and rain. We hurriedly put on warmer jackets and ran part of the way back to stay warm. After a 15 mile day, we piled into the car and cranked the heat full blast. We drove sleepily back over the Cascades and pulled into Kirkland Honda at 6:33 PM. Either we've gotten really good at timing our hikes, or we were really lucky. I'm thinking the latter.

I have more photos at: http://pbehmer.com/epics/20040417

[marta]

Great photos and a very nice web design.

[JimK]

Thanks for the update on one of my favorite spring hikes. Your timing looked to be perfect. Lupine, Balsamroot and cactus all blooming at once. Not to mention all the other flowers. Very nice flower photos at your site.

[MooseAndSquirrel]

Beautiful pics. But I'm baffled when you say Eastern Wash. doesn't have many hiking opportunities!

[kiliki]

Alan will set him straight.

[pika]

I've changed my wording to: I am not familiar with many hiking opportunities in Eastern Washington... And I would welcome any suggestions for more Eastern WA goodies. The change of scenery was refreshing. I'm making plans to try the Chelan Lakeshore Trail in a couple of weeks.

[MooseAndSquirrel]

[Newt]

Nice report and thanks for all the neat photos. Looks like things are popin' up all over there. I need to get a photo of the cactus. Newt

[Dslayer]

I was up on the eastern end of Umptanum Ridge last Sunday-actually all over and up and down the Roza Drainage and the flowers were spectacular. I was thinking how many of you really enjoy flowers and need to enjoy this while the getting is good-we had a wet winter, then we got a pretty good rain last night. Heck, just the green grass right now is amazing. I'm nowhere near the flower aficionado that many of you are-what I do know is that is sure a pretty right now! Great pictures!

[frankm3]

I will concur that this really is an awesome area. Just the drive through the Yakima River canyon is really great in it's own right. Zoe and I hiked around/ camped out in the same area Dslayer is describing last weekend and it is truly beautiful. As he mentions the flowers are out in full force too. Here is my flower of the week from this trip (Death Camas). Frank <----off the hook for a full report

Death Camas

[kiliki]

Pika-search through old trip reports here and read everything by Alan Bauer. There are other reports from e. Wa, but he especially knows the area.

[MooseAndSquirrel]

Plus he has a new book coming out in fall on WA Desert Hiking trips that will fill a serious gap in finding great steppeland romps and roams!

[Alan Bauer]

Kiliki; M&S--I greatly appreciate your comments regarding what knowledge I have in dealing with the Columbia Basin shrub steppe lands in Washington (aka "Washington desert"). It at least makes me smile to reinforce that the uncountable hours of research and time I've spent since Feb 2000 going over the hills wasn't just a whim to fill a need to myself! Most areas are indeed large enough where 2-3 very distinct and separate good hikes can be created in them. You initially may think that 16,000 acres isn't very large. But that is thinking in terms of terrain where you are following a tree-lined trail that really only goes one place. The desert is different....instead of following a trail in most cases, you follow contours of the land. The ecosystem and terrain invite you to discover your own sense of adventure. To uncover clues to nature. It all sits there waiting for those with keen eyes. Yes, there are shell casings and garbage...but isn't there at most FS trailheads also? Many I've spoken to claim it isn't "pristine" due to this concept of yahoo hillbillies who have abused areas. I proclaim misuse by city dwellers in the wilderness is worse....but all misuse isn't justified. The areas covered in the book all need more eyes to witness them and a few more people to appreciate and love them. They will in turn be better and encourage even more public acquisitions to keep occuring by the BLM and DNR where lands otherwise would sit idle but in private hands. You won't believe some of the huge ranch lands which were picked up in the late 1990s by the BLM! So yes we'll be sharing 100 areas/parts of areas as examples of where to find your own adventures in the desert natural world. Expect information on how to find these places--the hardest part of the equation! But don't expect and hand-holding of what is behind every rock, what exactly is waiting for you over the ridge...much needs to be left for the hiker to discover on their own! But general directions to explore and following of our examples are equally as OK. Just they are not "the only way" nor are they encouraged to be followed as the only way to enjoy an area. Thanks again, and thanks for listening to me and putting up with my enjoyment of more than just the mountains! NOW....back to planning my return to the Inland NW for 2004! Next up in 10 days: a 3-4 day trip to the Okanogan Highlands of B.C.!!! And the Kootenai regions! Ahhhh....

[MooseAndSquirrel]

Did I say it right Alan? The stuff ya told me to say? Okay, no one's listening......write that check out to Mr. MooseAndSquirrel, and I don't want any problems cashing it this time, ok?

[Alan Bauer]