Trip Report
Day Hike - Black Canyon (Umtanum Ridge)
We hiked up Black Canyon to Umtanum Ridge, topped out at Rattler Benchmark and made a loop along the ridge back to Black Canyon.
Richard Burt
- Sat, Apr 14, 2018
- Day Hike - Black Canyon (Umtanum Ridge)
- Black Canyon (Umtanum Ridge)
- Day Hiking
- Successful
- Road rough but passable
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The road up Black Canyon was driveable in a Forester but anything with less clearance would be difficult.
Some mud on the trail, aggravated by the convoys of ATV's driving the area.
The route was essentially snow-free. Cleman Mountain had only areas of snow cover at the top. As noted by folks on the ATV's, this has be an exceptionally low snow year in the area. So low that the elk were not fed during the winter.
It's a little early for spring flowers here, but the were abundant on Cowiche Mountain and present in Cowiche Canyon, where we had been the previous two days.
Seeking to evade the precipitation on the west slopes of the Cascades, we a chose hike on the south facing slopes of Umtanum Ridge. In fact the whole ridge is now snow free. We essentially followed the loop route described in the Best Dessert Hikes book, hiking the road system in the area. We added on a short excursion to Rattler Benchmark (Pt. 4224), which I believe is the high point on Umtanum Ridge.