The south side of Mount Mara is very rugged, with many bluffs, cliffs, canyons, hoodoos, and rocky slopes.   We usually hike on two trails on the south side, but there are a number of hard-to-get-to areas requiring scrambling on steep terrain.   To the west of the main canyon is a “hidden vale”, untouched by cattle grazing, wildfires, or human activity.   There are several ways into the small valley, but they all involve off-trail steep traverses on loose material.   We have been to this area a few times, and on this spring day, we approached from the southwest side of Mount Mara.

The Stone Guardian watched the ramp that we climbed to enter the gap into the vale.

 

Just below us, the other trolls watched our progress uphill.

 

The whole route is off-kilter, angular, rugged, and challenging to hike.

 

Scrambling through the gap into the vale requires crossing some loose talus slopes and steep sidehills.      Hoodoos, towers, and ragged outcrops are on all sides of the vale.

 

The vale itself is full of rocky mountain juniper, one of the largest groves in the Interior, allowed to age and multiply in the absence of wildfires.

 

Ragged cliffs, air pocket alcoves in lava flows, columns, and gargoyles can be found but are hard to get to.

 

A few scrubby trees grow on the rocky hillsides.

 

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On top of the hill above the vale we found Okanogan fameflower budding out ready to bloom, rooted into barren, exposed, gravelly slopes.

 

Bighorn sheep watched us, wondering what humans were doing in this challenging terrain.

 

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We have hiked through Hidden Vale on our way up to the summit of Mount Mara, but on this outing, we went up and down various difficult slopes investigating alcoves, rock formations, slide zones looking for agates, and possible new routes in or out of the vale.   Progress was slow, but there were many small discoveries to reward us before working our way back to easier terrain.