Wine and wildflowers bloom on spring trip to Yakima Valley

YAKIMA VALLEY, Yakima County — Washington’s wildflower connoisseurs anxiously await summer snowmelt so they can frolic in alpine meadows with their favorite budding beauties. But for a springtime taste of trailside wildflowers, the conserved canyons in the Yakima Valley offer one of the earliest flourishes of the wildflower season. Pair a morning hike with an afternoon wine tasting and you’re looking at an ideal weekend getaway to the natural and cultivated delights of the Yakima Valley, whose closest end to Seattle is an easy two hours by car.

Read on for tips on where to find flowers, which wineries are on the up and how to stay satiated and well rested as you roam the region’s hills and dales.

Flower power, canyon style

Come May in Seattle, you can’t help but stumble across flowers bursting out of every yard. We are blessed with a bloom of verdant proportions. But one of the geographic quirks of our region is that if you travel a little over 100 miles east on I-90, the climate changes dramatically. The 46 inches of average annual rainfall in King County are wrung out to a mere eight in Yakima.

Make your way south on I-82, or take the scenic route on the Yakima River Canyon Scenic Byway, and your windshield fills with the east side’s muted brown palette. But it’s precisely the earth tone of the rocky hillsides framing the Yakima Valley that make a springtime pop of color such a visual treat.

The best way to get up close and personal with the Yakima Valley’s spring wildflowers are on the 40-plus miles of trails maintained by the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy, just a stone’s throw from downtown Yakima. The Palm Springs of Washington (or so an infamous billboard claims) is blessed to have such a well-maintained, well-marked trail network close at hand. Check cowichecanyon.org for detailed maps and directions.

Plunge straight into the canyon on the 3.1-mile Cowiche Canyon Trail. The flat path is perfect for hikers of mixed abilities and the half-mile or so starting from the east trailhead is a gravel path suitable for all-terrain wheelchairs and jogging strollers. On a spring Saturday morning, I saw several families with young children. Along the way, I spotted flashy displays of yellow balsamroot and purple lupine as my family meandered alongside burbling Cowiche Creek. Adhere to good trail etiquette: Don’t veer off trail, or worse, trample the wildflowers. (Dogs are allowed and must stay under owner’s control at all times.)

For a more arduous but rewarding hike, stitch together a route that involves the undulating South Rim Trail. Climbing upward from the canyon floor (max elevation gain 800 feet) will put you on single-track switchbacks and expose you to the full desert sun — pack a hat, sunscreen and plenty of water — but also afford panoramic views of the Yakima Valley’s orchards and the mountains beyond.

Don’t get distracted by the distant views of snow-capped Mount Adams. Pay attention to the botanical display close at hand — you’re in luck.

“This year is a particularly good bloom because we had a lot of moisture this spring,” said the conservancy’s executive director Celisa Hopkins.

As May rolls on, expect less lupine and balsamroot but more buckwheat, which can sprout small red, yellow and white flowers. Bitterroot also blooms purple and pink at higher elevations. To track some down, Hopkins recommends the conservancy’s Snow Mountain Ranch property, an additional 12 miles west of Cowiche Canyon. The suggestively named Wildflower Trail is a reliable place to start, and you can reach a high point on Cowiche Mountain (2,970 feet) where the clearest days reveal a volcanic trifecta: Mount Adams, Mount Rainier and the tippy top of Mount Hood.

While the flowers may appear modest to a Seattleite whose senses have been dulled by the Emerald City’s springtime riot of vegetation, Hopkins makes a compelling case for both the fragility of the wildflowers that cling to the rocky soils of the Yakima Valley and the value of careful observation. “They are a beautiful reminder that even in the harsh conditions of heat and dryness, life persists,” she said. “You might drive down the freeway and think there’s not much, but if you get up close you’ll see there’s all kinds of life in the desert.”

A quest for natural Washington wine

There’s no disputing the thirst-quenching potential of one of the Yakima Valley’s celebrated craft beers after hitting the trail. But the arid climate is also ideal for growing grapes. The Yakima Valley is home to a half-dozen of Washington’s 20 American Viticultural Areas, or AVAs, each with distinct microclimates.

While I typically reach for an Evergreen State-brewed beer, a lower price point often lures me to imported wine. Ahead of my first Washington wine country excursion, I resolved to begin drinking more local vino.

With hundreds of wineries to choose from, where to start? I consulted the Washington State Wine Commission, which runs a helpful website (washingtonwine.org) and the Map My WA Wine app. I was looking for funky natural wine — the kind on pour at Capitol Hill wine bars like La Dive, Light Sleeper and Otherworld.

The commission pointed me toward Gilbert Cellars, a 20-year-old boutique winemaking operation with serious valley pedigree: The Gilbert family has been growing tree fruit here since 1897.

The winery’s centerpiece is a Quonset hut, once a tractor and farm equipment storage shed turned into a rustic chic event space. Old workbenches are now serving tables. Smudge pots, an oil-burning device historically used to keep frost off fruit trees, have been repurposed as light fixtures. Couches invite you to relax shielded from the harsh desert sun while you sip and snack — most weekends feature a food truck. The soundtrack leans into KEXP-friendly bands like Khruangbin and Parcels and a summer concert series, Music in the Vines, hosts up-and-coming bands. It was an aspiring millennial wine dad’s dream come true.

I got the skinny from an actual millennial wine dad, proprietor Charlie Gilbert, fresh from grilling sliders at his daughter’s birthday party. “Our role is to push what you can do in Yakima,” he told me between pours, explaining how Gilbert was among the first in the valley to make bubbly pét-nat (short for pétillant naturel, a type of sparkling wine; the 2023 vintage runs $28 per bottle) and orange wine among its 7,000 annual cases. While you’ll be hard-pressed to find those in Yakima restaurants — the valley’s tastes still run “classic,” I was told — the 2023 skin contact riesling is available by the glass at Seattle’s Mr. West. For more traditional palates looking for a familiar, approachable style, Gilbert recommends the red blends Left Bank or Allobroges (2021 vintage, $25 per bottle).

Mexican fare, vineyard stays and a skateboard-themed bottle shop

Another Yakima Valley claim to fame is superlative Mexican food, thanks to immigrant families who power the labor-intensive business of fruit picking and packing. Enjoy a seasonal asparagus and pepper jack tamale ($2.50) from the takeout counter at James Beard-winning Los Hernández Tamales in Union Gap and bring a cooler; the frozen variety travels well. For a sit-down meal, prepare for big portions of all the staples — tacos, burritos, enchiladas and more — at Antojitos Mexicanos in Yakima.

Make your agritourism trip more intimate by spending the night among the vines. A couple of wineries offer on-site lodging with a built-in perk: wine tasting mere steps from your bed. Desert Wind Winery in Prosser plays host to a luxury inn, while VanArnam Vineyards in Zillah operates a cottage.

My family of four rented a spacious one-bedroom unit in a duplex at Freehand Cellars ($335 per night). The vaguely midcentury modern design, replete with hot tub, made for eminently comfortable digs — though threadbare towels and noisy landscapers detracted from the stay. White apple blossoms beckoned along neat rows, but workers warned us to stay away because of recent pesticide application. (Vines won’t be plump with grapes until later in the summer.)

The tasting room, however, was a gem, serving elevated picnic food like a surprisingly delectable vegan pavé made from butternut squash and sweet potato ($16). A bright, fruity Sangiovese rosé quenched the fire from spicy chicken skewers ($17) and piquant poached eggs in marinara ($18). Bring a jacket as the hot days quickly transition to cool desert nights, and prepare to turn in early — Freehand closed at 8 p.m. on a Friday night — but the golden hour combination of live mandolin and guitar plus food and wine made it clear why locals congregate at wineries. Freehand’s lush lawn holds a commanding view of the valley’s irrigated orchards and vineyards. Kicking back to watch purplish and pink sunset colors arc over the sky while the last gasps of alpenglow fade from Mount Adams felt like a classic Northwest rural tableau.

The vinting prowess behind Gilbert Cellars is head winemaker Dusty Jenkins, who was raised in the Yakima Valley. Jenkins also runs his own micro-winery, Sage Rat Wine, producing a scant 1,000 cases annually. I scooped up a pét-nat rouge, a rosé and a red blend on my way out of town at Yakima’s Apple Valley Emporium, a combination skateboard and bottle shop. To each their own with wine, but between Gilbert and Sage Rat, I’ve begun a love affair with Washington-grown grapes that pairs well with an ardor for Washington wildflowers. Spend a weekend in the Yakima Valley, and you might just do the same.