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Day Hike - Cowiche Canyon

Trip

Day Hike - Cowiche Canyon

2 hikes in 1, a 6 mile, 850', slow-paced, uplands, early wildflower hike, with the option of adding 7 miles and 1000' that include going into the canyon and returning via the North Rim trail. Reading the leader notes is required, if you want to know what you are signing up for.

Contacts

Richard DuBois
Richard DuBois
Primary Leader
  • Easy, Strenuous
  • Challenging
  • Mileage: 13.0 mi
  • Elevation Gain: 1,800 ft
  • High Point Elevation: 1,741 ft
  • Pace: 1.25-2.25 MPH see notes

The Cowiche Uplands trailhead at 8:30, use google maps and this link https://goo.gl/maps/EgfQYtobvzdjL4Rt5 

One carpooling option is the East Sunset Way Trailhead in Issaquah at 6:15. I will need at least 1 driver that is willing to stop here (I have no car and I need a ride). Here is the google maps link https://goo.gl/maps/rareshc1f5jKAfjX9
I will send out city, zip, and which option the person is hiking info in the 'hello hikers' to let people self-organize additional carpooling. 
From Lara Linde (thanks Lara!) "I was just out there last weekend (March 17, 18) and haven’t got around to posting a WTA trip report. Thought you might want an update. I think your date choice is excellent. We were seeing a few buttercups, sagebrush violets and yellow bells. The greatest number of blooms were grass widows. I can imagine this area will be covered in flowers by your hike date. Also saw a couple magpies and a marmot."


It should be a good year for flowers near Yakima, precipitation for the water year (Oct-Sep) is above average https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/climate/yeardisp.php?wfo=pdt&year=2022&span=Water%20Year&stn=KYKM

The tale of two hikes - We will hike 5.5 miles around the Cowiche Uplands, all of it on trails that have spring flowers. This will be at a 1.25-1.5 MPH pace. There will be time for observation, photos, and a few short talks. Towards the end of this portion we will have lunch at an overlook of the canyon. After lunch, the folks doing the shorter option will return to their cars (it is a short distance, very simple, and well-signed). The rest of us will hike another 7.5 miles at an average moving pace of 2.25 MPH (a lot of this portion is flat and good tread). This portion will include going up to the winery via a bootpath (and back down to the canyon via the trail), 2 miles inside of the canyon, and a traverse on the North Rim trail which has many pockets of spring flowers. 


The green route on this caltopo map https://caltopo.com/m/107NP is the 6 mile option and the red route is the add-on for the 13 mile hike.

This link is a google slide show that gives you a little information about the environmental conditions in March/April at Cowiche Uplands and the plant adaptations that allow flowers to thrive there https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17uKiHMNJghrNUF4BtZGncIvYxwK-FosZiobRcNVEJ38/edit?usp=sharing

This link is a youTube playlist that will take you through 8 short (20 seconds)  videos. Each video gives a little information about a flower that we will see (common and scientific name, family information, where in WA the flower can be found, and a graph showing when it blooms and at what elevations), you can pause the video at any point to take in more of each slide (if you have the internet bandwidth, I'd recommend setting the 'quality' higher in the settings/ a gear)  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNSoR3X44-NOC7eIX3bfL6vY5Qpi_pqUJ 

An ebird list from a similar time https://ebird.org/checklist/S66261104

Route/Place

Cowiche Canyon

Roster
Required Equipment

Required Equipment

The Ten Essentials

  • Navigation
  • Headlamp
  • Sun protection
  • First aid
  • Knife
  • Fire
  • Shelter
  • Extra food
  • Extra water
  • Extra clothes
Trip Reports