Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area

We drove out to the Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area east of Ellensburg to hike along the closed roads (the open May 1st) and enjoy the wildflowers in bloom. We hiked 7.5 miles round trip with 750 ft of overall gain.

There were lots of lupine in bloom,

along with large headed clover,

phlox, guldenweed,

and balsamroot (mainly Hooker's balsamroot today).

Some views along the road:

We hiked up to the top of this hill for our turn around point.

Views from the top of the hill, to the west

zoom of Mt Adams,

zoom of Cascade foothills and peaks,

zoom of Mt Rainier

View to the southeast and the Columbia River

View to the northeast

We saw lots of snowball cacti that were budding and in bloom: 

views as we returned along the road to the trailhead:

some of the wildflowers we saw in bloom today: