At $7.50/hour the canoe rentals are an excellent deal at the Waterfront Activities Center. It’s too bad they don’t rent kayaks though - just canoes and row boats. The arboretum provides plenty of places to wander around, with ducks and geese and even beautfiul blooming lily pads in season. This weekend we had the awesome opportunity to get pretty close to a blue heron sitting on a log.
Since its only February, it was not very crowded at all, and we were able to get a boat and launch in less than a few minutes. However, we have gone in the middle of a warm, sunny summer weekend day, and it was incredibly crowded on the dock. Just remember - it’s cash only and they require you to leave your ID at the front desk and pay when you get back. There’s plenty of parking since it’s located right next to Husky Stadium.
Between La Push, WA. and Forks, WA off HWY 110 (Closest to the Hoh Rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula).
We decided to take a short weekend getaway vacation to celebrate our birthdays in early March. This lodge was an excellent place to unwind and our hosts were equally great. We decided against camping because it was just way too cold to sleep outside in a tent, but we wanted to stay close to the Hoh Rainforest and some Pacific Coast beaches.
I paid about $109/night to stay for a Friday and Saturday night in the Lily of the Mohawk room. Because of the layout of the main lodge, this was by far the best room in the house. This B&B does not serve a set meal in a large dining room like other places - instead, you get an ample breakfast “basket” set out for you to eat however you see fit. This is a great option for us, since we planned to eat well then head out for some local hiking. The basket idea does sort of take away from getting to know your fellow lodgers, but in the end, the convienence was more important to us. Also, there was a personal patio table that looked out from the deck across the main lodge area and fireplace - it doesn’t get any better than that.
Other awesome features:
- free wireless access; I used my laptop to check weather reports and driving directions to various hiking places.
- good selection of coffee/tea/hot chocolate; They also provide a personal toaster, microwave, and coffee maker in your room.
- semi-secluded location; Just far enough off the highway to be in a quiet and relaxing forest yet easy to find and get around to other places.
- books & games; the scrabble set was missing 40 tiles (it made an interesting game!) but there were plenty of other activities and artifacts to look at.
I personally would probably just camp most of the times I visit the Olympic Peninsula, but if I had to stay in any place on the west side, it would definitely be at this lodge.
As for the hiking part of the trip, I’ll add those entries in later. Overview of the trip:
Friday - took the Edmonds ferry to Kingston and drove straight to the lodge. Total trip was about 3.5 hours, we left Bellevue about 3:30pm. We ate dinner in Forks at Pacific Pizza (? unsure of the name), at the end of town on HWY 101. It left something to be desired (how can you mess up pizza?).
Saturday - went on a completely secluded and totally hard to find trail near the South Fork Hoh River. In the afternoon, we went to Beach 4 near Kalaloch and Ruby Beach and it had awesome tide pools. We ate left over pizza for dinner, probably a bad idea.
Sunday - packed up and checked out, went to the Hoh Rainforest Visitor Center and hiked the Hoh River Trail up to Tom Creek. Drove back to Kingston/Edmonds in the afternoon.
We just did a 4-day backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon on the Havasupai Reservation. It was awesome and beautiful and tiring. I’ve only backpacked once in my life, so it was quite a trip, but I’d do it again for sure.
More pictures to come, plus more descriptions and all of what we did. I’m also hoping to add our packing lists and trip itinerary to let others know what things I figured out before and during my trip, but that’s kinda secondary. Right now, I’m home trying to reconnect with the modern world.
Lake Wenatchee District Campgrounds
This is a group campground, so you have to call ahead to reserve, but if you have a large family outing planned, this would an awesome place for you! We went as part of a 10 person or so group from work.
There is no potable water here, so you must bring your own or bring a filter and use the creek running right along side the campground. There is one vaulted toilet on the premises, though. There was a large group firepit with a grill and three tables in the center, and two smaller tables/firepits on either end of the campground. Plenty of trees and it seemed like there was also plenty of small trails to follow — though we never got a chance to explore any of them.
There were 5 couples when went, and I figure there could be one or two more tents without it being kinda uncomfortable. If everyone were more familiar with each other (we weren’t) I’m sure you could even squeeze some more in there.
Good location close to Lake Wenatchee and the Wenatchee River, and plenty of hiking…we completed these 4 small hikes on the same weekend trip:
My only complaints:
There were sooooo many yellow jackets. Bring 2-3 traps per table. It was very bad, though another couple had camped there before and said it had never been like it was this August. I didn’t have any traps, so we set a piece of sausage far enough away from the cooking area and it worked for a while.
It was pretty dusty. It’s probably only because we are in a drought after all, but it was still pretty annoying and I felt that my lungs were caked in crap.
This is a Clallam County Park owned campground, and it was well maintained and very nice to stay in for the weekend. It’s just outside of Sequim, Washington, and very close to the Dungeness Spit which is an awesome place to spend the day.
We went on a relatively cloudy weekend in May of this year, and there were not too many people in the campground. There are plenty of trees and more secluded campsites, campsites that are good for RVs (i.e. with pull-thru parking spaces) and a nice beach trail along the cliff. Water and normal bathrooms with showers were available.
My only complaint was that on Saturday early evening it was incredibly windy, and sand was everywhere and on everything. It was really horrible, so we opted to stay in our tent and read. Later on the wind died down and it was mostly gone, so maybe it was a temporary thing?
- Length: 1.2 miles one way
- Elev. Gain: none
- Rating: 2/5 stars
This is more of a ‘walk’ than a ‘hike’, but it wasn’t the worse place to be on a sunny afternoon. There’s nothing to see when you are going along this trail - just dirt and bushes and bugs. It’s really sunny and there’s no shade, so bring a hat and lots of water.
A plus side - there is a wide beach with some shady bushes available on the trail side of the Wenatchee River, which makes it an awesome spot to lay out and/or go swimming. Nice wide and deep part of the river to swim in, with a great view of the climbers and falcons on Castle Rock.
Don’t go here expecting hiking, but do bring sunscreen and your swimsuit on a warm summer day. Our group headed out in the early part of the afternoon, I think it was probably before noon even. We managed to snag the beach before anyone else. I noticed, though, that as we were leaving (2pm or so) there was a significant increase in people.
attack of the gallery pics
- Length: 0.75 mile one way
- Elev. Gain: 230 feet
- Rating: 3/5 stars
Kind of a family hike, but still a good hike to go and relax by some water and take in pretty views of forest, mountain, and water. Just a small, not to steep hike up the hill and it opens up to the middle of one side of the lake.
There are trails all over the place to follow, but make sure you use the same trail you came up to go back to your car - there was one trail that started to lead sharply downhill and several families made the mistake of going down and trudging back up. I heard someone say something about it leading down to Lake Wenatchee, but I don’t really know.
If you don’t have a family this may be a little annoying - plenty of small gremlin-like children running back and forth at the lake’s shore. I’m sure you could find a more secluded lake spot to sit at, however.
Northwest Forest Pass required to park here.
attack of the gallery pics
- Length: 0.5 mile loop
- Elev. Gain: 140 feet
- Rating: 3/5 stars
Maybe it’s a little touristy, but I really enjoy small nature hikes if there is lots of water to marvel at. This small interpretive trail goes through nice cool forest and follows the Tye River and Deception Creek. Nice little informative signs and quotes along the way. Worth the stop if you are driving through on Hwy 2, and definitely a good place to eat lunch in the forest.
My book says that a Northwest Forest Pass is required to park here, but I didn’t see any signs while I was there that indicated such a thing, and there are enough tourists stopping through that it just wouldn’t be feasible anyway.
attack of the gallery pics
- Length: 1.0 mile one way
- Elev. Gain: 970 feet
- Rating: 5/5 stars
Forest Service Entry
It’s a nice climb through cool dark dense forest. lots of knobby tree roots in the path, rock formations here and there. Passing one particularly large group of rocks, my hiking mate said “if I were a cave man, I’d live there.”
The hike is all up, up, and more up, but it’s very short and I think it took us about 45 minutes to get to the top (with quite a few stops). Be sure to bring a good camera with adequate zoom - there are all kinds of good things to see from the lookout deck (six stories tall with a cabin on top).
All in all I think this is one of my favorite hikes so far. A really simple hike with obvious rewards at the end. Also, a big plus, there was no other hikers to be found - we only briefly passed a woman on her way up when we were headed back to the parking lot. Don’t know if this is typical or not, for reference, we went on a partially cloudy Sunday afternoon.
One important tip, there is no real ’sign’ to tell you where this trail actually is. It’s hidden and maybe that is why there are so few people on the trail itself. When you are driving along Hwy 2, you’ll see a wide gravel space on the north side of the road (it’s easier to see when you are driving west on Hwy 2). You’ll know you’re at the right place if there is a small trail at the west end of the gravel lot, and up a little ways on the trail there is a typical forest service trailhead sign that says “Heybrook L.O.” - but you’ll only see it after going into the forest a little.
Parking here requires a Northwest Forest Pass - you must purchase it beforehand since it’s not sold at the trailhead.
attack of the gallery pics
- Length: 0.5 miles one way to bottom lookout
- Rating: 1/5 stars
the sheer number of lazy, garbage producing, annoying families and the like wandering aimlessly throughout the lookout points and small trail make this place far less appealing than it should be. i love waterfalls, and these ones are quite beautiful.
the hike was very small and maybe not worth it since so many people congregated at the bottom that trying to get a snapshot of the falls pretty much wasn’t going to happen. it was also incredibly hot today which made it ten times worse to go up and down the hill.
maybe in the winter when the falls are sure to be more impressive - and maybe if the day was colder/rainier which makes the crowds disappear very quickly - it might make for a better place to visit.
i do, however, still enjoy the snoqualmie falls pancake and waffle mix 
