Bitterroot Trail

Ater our hike at the Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area, we did the short drive to the Wild Horse Wind Farm to check out their Bitterroot Trail to see if the bitterroot and cacti were in bloom. This is a short trail next to the visitor center, about 1 mile round trip with 150 ft of loss/gain. We saw bitterroot blooming on the lower half of the trail and one basalt cactus in bloom along with other wildflowers. Nice color along the trail!

We also had distant views of Mt Adams, Mt Rainier and the Goat Rocks

Some of the bitterroot we saw in bloom

A budding basalt cactus and a blosssom on a basalt cactus

Other wildflowers seen along the trail

Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility Trails

We drove up to the Visitor Center at the Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility, east of Ellensburg, and discovered there were 3 connected short trails with wildflowers in bloom. We hiked down the Bitterroot Trail (1 mile round trip/185 ft loss then gain), continued down the Bluebird Canyon Trail (1.7 mile round trip/ 315 ft loss then gain), returned up to the start and went out on the Ridgeline Solar Trail (2.4 miles round trip/320 ft gain then loss). After a lunch break at the picnic tables at the visitor center, we went part way back down the Bitterrroot Trail to find that several of the bitterroot flowers had opened up, they are so beautiful. Overall, we hiked 5.5 miles/850 ft of gain. Beautiful with the wildflowers in bloom, but very windy!

horned toad lizard

Bitterroot blosssoms above and some of the other wildflowers we saw in bloom below: