Tieton River Nature Trail

We scouted this to see how the land is recovering post fire. We used our discover pass and parked across the street at the Oak Creek area, the visitor center bathrooms were open, but if not there are 2  out houses. We carefully crossed hwy 12 and proceeded across the foot bridge. You have to enter a fenced area and then are on the trail. This is a popular area for climbers I'm told. 

Trail is full of wildflowers right now! Too numerous to name. Trail is generally good the first mile or so. A water irrigation system above the trail has spung a leak and causing water to stream down on to the trail and make a portion, wet and muddy. I reported it to the volunteer at the center. There is a suspension bridge after the muddy part, we observed some people using it to access the trail. 

Be careful after the bridge for snakes, locals report this is the area most are seen. We hiked in almost 3 miles, the large Oak is still standing but the companion pine was fire damaged and cut down. Repair work has been done on shoring up the river, replanting  of trees and plants, straw is on the ground. 

We saw a snake on the trail near the rock wall, perhaps a rubber boa? Then before the suspension bridge someone cut the head off a rattle snake and left it on the trail. Head was missing. I reported that to the volunteer as well. 

We had lost so questions about the geology of the area and one of our party sent this video for a follow up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkz-ziKjkt0

It is a long drive from the Salish Sea but lovely in wildflower and the fall for seasonal color change. Amazing recovery of this burned area. We did cross paths with one friendly local mountain biker and saw paw prints on the trail.