Mid-June of this year (yes, it has been a while…) Seamus and I took off on a man’s overnight backpacking trip along the Yakima Rim Skyline Trail. It’s a loop trip that covers about 19 miles with about 2,100 feet elevation gain. The weekend we went it was hot hot hot, and since it’s pretty much a desert hike exposed to the sun the entire time, we had a scorching good time.
First, let me say that I highly recommend a ‘high-clearance vehicle’ to get to this hike. The Buick is not one of those. Let’s just say she made it, but I wouldn’t do it again. Fording streams in a LeSabre is never a good idea. Neither is rock climbing. :/
We camped at the North trailhead of the Skyline trail on Friday night, which was beautiful if not windy. Make sure to bring plenty of water with you if you do this, because you’ll need enough both that night and the next day’s hike since there’s literally no water along the trail. From the bluff, you’ll have a great view of Ellensburg’s city lights which was really quite pretty.
On Saturday, we set out for our 11-12 hike. This hike is mostly downhill – dropping about 2,000ft. Hiking poles are nice to have. We headed down the Skyline Trail until we got to the Rosa Road – by the time we got there, we were both parched and the pooch needed a break. We headed toward the Yakima River, crossed the railroad tracks, pumped some water and found a beautiful tree to relax and lunch under while the dog recovered. After a short rest, I dragged (literally) Seamus another 2.3 miles to our campsight for the night, the fabled “Birdsong Tree”. I wasn’t quite sure what I’d be looking for… but it turns out it’s hard to miss. It’s the only campsight along the over-grown road. There’s a very nice underground stream where you can get good water. Seamus collapsed. I enjoyed my whiskey and Mountain House. Everyone was happy.
The next morning, Seamus awoke to the plethora of birds (including Woodpeckers, which he hates!) – so we were up and out of camp by 6:30am. This was a good, good thing given the heat and the exposure to the sun on the ~9mile trip back to the car. There’s not much to speak of about the hike out. It was hot. There wasn’t much to see along the 2,000 ft assent home. But the challenge was nice.
Related: the ticks were incredibly thick. I really wish the dog had a tick collar or some Frontline before this trip – yikes, it was bad.