We drove out on the Umptanum Road south of Ellensburg to do an exploratory hike in the Wenas Wildflife Area. we saw a couple of mountain bluebirds on the drive. We parked at the trailhead that is 0.3 miles beyond the Umtanum Creek Falls Trailhead. We followed a trail, old jeep/4wd tracks, went cross-country, followed the Umtanum Ridge Road and then cross-country down to another old jeep track that took us back to where we started, making a large loop. 10.5 miles (including some back tracking) and 1,800 ft overall gain. This area was affected by a wildfire last September.
We headed up the trail from the parking area, after 1 mile, we realized we had missed the trail off to the left we wanted 0.5 mile back, so went back and found it.
Soon the trail was out in the open going up and down over rolling hills near Umtanum Creek. From a distance the hills appeared bare with some grass, on closer look, wildflowers could be found. The balsamroot was just beginning to bloom.
View across Untamum Creek to a ridge with balsam columns
We were looking for the "Break out through to the Other Side" route, but we missed and decided to head up hill to where the Umtanum Ridge Road is located. This is after where we took a steep up hill approach.
Part way up, we began to get views of Mount Stuart and nearby peaks.
View looking out from near the Umtanum Ridge Road, we followed this road for about 1 to 1-1/2 miles before looking for a spot to go downhill and join the track that would take us back to the trailhead.
zoom of Mount Stuart
Deer on the ridge above the Umtanum Ridge Road
We were happy to find the old jeep track that would lead us back to the trailhead.
Looking back up to where we've been hiking.
Some of the wildflowers we saw in bloom along the trail today:
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