Snow Mountain Ranch

Managed by the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy, this hiking loop offers spectacular views of the Yakima Valley and Washington's central Cascades. Starting out at the Snow Mountain Ranch Trailhead (0.0 miles), take a picture of the map at the kiosk and then set out on the Cowiche Mountain Loop by heading towards Cowiche Creek and crossing the bridge. Then follow signs for Cowiche Mountain Trail West. This combination double-and singletrack trail will take you up through a ravine above Cowiche Creek on a moderate slope onto a shrub-steppe landscape where your views will be expansive and you'll get a view of Cowiche Mountain above. The moderate angle will increase as you gain more elevation until about 0.5 mile from the summit, where you'll bear east on a gentle rise towards the summit tower. Along the way, much of the singletrack trail is lined with wildflowers: grass widows and desert-parsleys early in the season followed by balsamroot, lupine, phlox and fields of big-headed clover. Look out West into the Cowiche Basin and you'll spot elk herds in the distance. Once you reach the top (3.0 miles), take a break at the bench near the junction of Cowiche Mountain East & Cowiche Mountain West trails, and soak in the views of Mt Adams, Cleman Ridge, and the Ahtanum Valley. Experienced trail runners may want to continue east past the tower on the Connector trail and explore the nearby Rocky Top Trail system, which adds a 4 to 10 mile loop option with return to the same bench here at the Summit . To return to the Snow Mountain Ranch trailhead, follow the Cowiche Mountain East trail back towards Cowiche Creek and turn west onto the Riparian Trail (5.2 miles) for a shady retreat along the creek.