First time hiking Joe Watt Canyon today. There were many many balsam root stems so I guess they were gone this year. But lupine is still there where there are pine trees, which was a lot. Never seen so many lupine.

I started on Watt Canyon Road, turned right at the abandoned wooden cabin, took next left and went up the hill towards Tomarack Ridge Road, then went downhill to Hutchins Road and back to car. Tomarack was rocky and slippery, but Hutchins was wide and easy to walk on. Watt Canyon Road had the most lupine, final road walk did not have much wildflowers now but offered an open view of Kittitas Valley, although it was the most windy part too.

There were 2 or 3 places were somewhat overgrown, otherwise the trail condition was perfect. Just saw one person on the way up, one very curious dear in the lupine and pine field, a group of automobile drivers on the Hutchins. But I didn’t feel “quiet“ due to the sound of winds.

Joe Watt Canyon is within the LT  Murray Wildlife Area which totals over 100,000 acres within the forested ridges between Kittitas and Yakima counties. Since we can no longer elevate and do the mileage to the top of this canyon, we drove the Watt Canyon Road to the ridge top to explore the roads and enjoy the wildflowers stopping along the way to meander among the flowers.  At about a mile from the gate lupine were lining the Ponderosa forest floor and they added a nice fragrance to the area. The remains of a cabin are seen 2.4 miles from the gate. Two beautiful lavender lilac bushes, chokecherry and some balsam root added color to this area. The skeletal remains of a horse were seen at the start of a trail which leads to the top of the ridge above the cabin remains. The highlight of the flowers along the roads and meadows at the top of the ridge were the many meadows of camas flowers blooming! Buckwheat and many other flowers were just beginning to bloom. Our highpoint was almost 4000 feet, the day was cloudy until 3:30 and the temperature was 53 with a cold wind blowing much of the time. Page Pasture Road was the main road driven with short trips along Ainsley Canyon Road, and other unnamed roads. Driving east on the Page Pasture Road gave us many bitterroot blooming at 3800 feet. I have included a link to a map of the area which names some of the roads in the area. When we arrived at the gate, 3 women on horses were starting their trip. The only other person seen was a man on a quad who had come to check his 3 wildlife cameras. Jacob's ladder, lupine, balsam root, arnica, paintbrush, penstemon, bitterroot, camas, phlox, big-head clover, Larkspur, Thompson's paintbrush and spring beauty were flowers seen. This area is closed mid-December until May 1st to protect the elk and farmlands on the other side of the fence. 500-1000 elk can be seen in the winter feeding on hay brought to them by the State Department of Fish and Wildlife.

After reading the recent trip reports, we decided to check out this hike on the dry side of the Cascades.  Since the trail map at the entrance to this wildlife management area is aimed at off road vehicles, the green dot roads are all identified, but the trails are not even marked. So plan ahead or choose your own adventure. A couple of recent trip reports provided maps of their hikes; I also found some useful maps on websites aimed at mountain bikers (e.g. trailforks.com).  

We decided to go clockwise by starting up Joe Watt Canyon Road. We took the first foot/bike trail to the right and went from there, generally taking a right when we had a choice. Although we hoped to eventually intersect Hutchins Road, we ended up hiking parallel to the road as we went downhill towards the cars.  Out total distance was 5.5 miles.   Next time, we'll start out clockwise so we can follow close to Hutchins Road. It is possible to drive through the gate (closing it behind you) and park at one of the turnouts on Hutchins Road near one of the trail heading to the left. 

Lots of flowers in bloom - see AlpsDayTripper's report for an exhaustive list. The lupines amongst the ponderosa pines were especially nice. 

We only encounter 2 other hikers along the trails. The only other people we encountered were with a group of several RVs and horse trailers in the lower meadow along Joe Watt Canyon Road

Drove up Watt Canyon Rd 1 mile past the gate, where it is intersected by a road/trail. From there, we hiked a 3.5-mile, counterclockwise loop.

Road Conditions. The first half mile (to the end of the open meadow area) was in good condition. Then the road gets steep/rocky/uneven/narrow, good to have high-clearance and AWD.

Trail Conditions. No obstacles, just one easy stream crossing. But there is no trail signage, and there are lots of trails and roads, plus the Ridge Trail was faint in a few places.

Highlights. Lots of elk droppings everywhere. Wildflowers were neat, too.

Crowds. Passed by several parties camping with horses in the open meadow area, but only encountered two parties (both on foot) on the trails.

We chose this hike because of the wildflower descriptions -- it was my one chance for a balsamroot/lupine wildflower hike this year! -- but we never even found the trail. We're completely perplexed. There was a beaten-down line through grass going up a hill on one side of the parking lot, so we followed that -- to nowhere. On the way back down to the parking lot, we saw three trucks coming out through the huge chainlink gate, so we ran to them and asked if they knew where the trail was, and they said they weren't aware of any trails, but if we were just looking for wildflowers, we could go through the gate and drive on Hutchins Road to look at them. So that's what we finally ended up doing.
We didn't know we were allowed to drive through the gate -- it's very imposing and official looking -- so that's important to note if you go here. You just have to close it behind you.
We drove up Hutchins Road, and there were indeed some beautiful flowers along the way, although nothing like you'd see at Sauer's or Dog Mountain. Mt. Stuart etc. was lovely, seen across the valley. The road was rough but passable in my Outback. We finally parked the car at the intersection with Tamarack Ridge Road and walked a mile or so up that road (which was much rougher than Hutchins), just to get in at least a little exercise. We never once saw a trail anywhere, though, and we found the map at the trailhead/parking lot to be completely useless. :-(
Not at all what we were hoping for, but we still had a fun adventure together out in the sun! :-)