Snow Mountain Ranch

The  Cowiche Canyon Conservancy, with help from the Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board, the Bonneville Power Administration, and the Trust for Public Land, purchased Snow Mountain Ranch in 2005.

Snow Mountain Ranch encompasses 1,800 acres, with an elevation gain of over 1000 feet from the South Fork of the Cowiche Creek to the summit of Cowiche Mountain.  As a  ridge of the Yakima Fold Belt, an east-west spur emanating off the Cascade Mountains, the mountain and ranch have a complex topography with high bioddiversity including shrub-steppe plants, wildflowers and a large variety of birds.  This land acquisition provided an opportunity to enhance salmon migration up Cowiche Creek, protect an important community resource, and provide public access to a remote and beautiful area in the Yakima Valley.  Two designated backcountry loop trails are available to hikers at Snow Mountain Ranch.  On a clear day, from the top of Cowiche Mountain, one can see Mt. Rainier (Tahoma), Mt. Adams (Pahto), and Oregon's Mt. Hood, along with sweeping views of the Yakima Valley.  

Snow Mountain Ranch was a special place to the former Supreme Court Justice, William O. Douglas. The ranch was a stopping place for visiting his close friends, ranch owners, Elon and Joan Gilbert and was often a starting point for horseback and hiking journeys into the Cascades.

Snow Mountain Ranch is an important community resource, providing public access to a remote and beautiful area of the Yakima Valley.  It is a key component of the nascent Yakima-Cowiche-Tahoma, "William O. Douglas Trail" that is envisioned to stretch all the way from the Yakima Valley to Mt. Rainier, following some of the historic footprints of Native Americans and Justice Douglas.