Manashtash Ridge is a hiking trail near Ellensburg in Washington state. The trail itself is only 1.9 miles long but has steep inclines at several places. The trail goes all the way up to the summit of the Manashtash Ridge and takes hikers through the bushes along the ridge. This trail does not require any permit and thus no prove of payment is required.
We got to Manashtash Ridge trail head early in the morning around 8AM. There were already a lot of cars there but there were still parking spaces available on the right side of Cove Road. The start of the trail was quite mild and not very steep. We were quite enjoying the trail at the start with the sun over our heads.
After about 10 minutes, the trail started to climb steeply. This was our first hike of the season and it was taking us out of breath quickly. As we hiked half way through the trail and reached middle point of the ridge, the wind started to blow really hard. It became extremely all of a sudden and the wind was blowing our hats away.
We got to the top of the ridge after about an hour and it was unbelievably windy. Although it was windy, the view at the top was still undeniably beautiful. We could see the wildflowers on the hill side and see the snowy mountains on the far side. There was a large wooden log placed near the edge of the hill, we sat there for a while and enjoyed the view.
Manashtash Ridge was an interesting hiking trail, but it could get very tiring due to no shade along the trail. Thus if the weather is very hot, it could get exhausting very quickly.
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