Black Canyon — Saturday, May. 9, 2020

This was my backup trail for the day, but what a lovely experience. I parked with my dogs outside of the gate on Black Canyon Rd, but I did see that others were able to open the gate and drive through the parking lot that was about 3/4 mile closer to the trail. The road to the trailhead is a bit rough - I don't know that I would be comfortable doing it without a high-clearance vehicle, but some of the other cars parked there were sedans... so do what you will. 

The trail itself was lovely. It begins with a nice-gentle grade through the canyon. There were lots of shady areas, which were nice because it was fairly warm out. Wildflowers were in bloom - most notably balsamroot and lupine, but there were others. The trail steepens to the top of Umtanum Ridge, where you have some great views of Rainier to the west and the Stuart Range to the northwest, and some lovely valleys to the north and east. 

The pups and I descended the ridge a bit to find a place to eat, and found a shady spot under a Ponderosa pine overlooking Black Canyon and Ponderosa pine forest above it. Walking around the ridge, I saw plentiful signs of elk and mule deer, as well as some squirrels. 

All in all, it was a lovely hike. Bring water! It was quite warm and dry, and my dogs definitely needed more than I thought.