Umtanum Creek Canyon

Eagle's Nest across River

While we were in Yakima over Memorial Day weekend, we spent Sunday traveling up the Yakima River Canyon between Yakima and Ellensburg.  It was a lovely day, with a little bit of haze, but generally sunny and warm enough that we were comfortable in t-shirts.   We drove up the canyon in part because there was a geocache every mile or so.  We saw a Bald Eagle nest, Swallows in their cliff dwellings and other birds.

Foot Bridge at Umtanum
Creek Canyon

Near the end of the day, we made it to Umtanum Creek Canyon.  This is a popular hike near Ellensburg, both by the number of cars in the parking lot as well as by the number of geocaches along the trail.  The hike begins with a crossing over the Yakima river on a foot bridge.  Zoe started over the bridge fairly confidently, however, as the bridge began to swing she began to walk more hesitantly, finally slipping through one of the cracks on the bridge.  No harm done, but she stayed close to her master.  

The hike follows the Umtanum Creek through an old homestead while the canyon narrows.  The cliffs and valley walls were covered in scrub brush and prairie grasses, with stands of aspen growing in the wet areas. We ended up walking about a mile up stream (finding four geocaches), before resting our feet in the stream and snacking on trail mix. 

By the end of the day, we added 21 cache finds to our log (a new daily record for us) and walked a few miles.