Longer days and shorter nights are coming, and sunny days are beginning to blip on the weather forecast. The itch to get outside is brewing, and Washington State Parks have just the thing to scratch it.
Every year Washington State Parks offers nearly a dozen opportunities to get about and explore Washington’s wild places without the cost of park entrance. These Fee-Free Days are designed to allow more adventurers access to the state’s awesome mountains, beautiful valleys, rushing rivers and pristine lakes in every season.
For 2016, wanderers have nine more days left to get out and enjoy the great outdoors with friends, family or solo. The list of remaining slots for 2016 includes:
- March 19: State Parks’ 103rd birthday
- March 26: Saturday Spring Day
- April 22: Earth Day
- May 8: Sunday Spring Day
- June 4: National Trails Day
- June 11: National Get Outdoors Day
- 25: National Park Service Birthday
- 24: National Public Lands Day
- 11: Veterans Day
Moran State Park: A little bit of everything
While this day trip involves both a drive and a ferry ride, Moran State Park on Orcas Island is a wonderful place to celebrate the 103rd birthday of our state’s park system (which falls on March 19 every year). Robert Moran, the Seattle entrepreneur who donated land for this park, made it his mission to put land into the hands of the government years before the parks were officially established in 1913. He is considered by some to be the “father of the State Park system,” and his legacy is well-honored at this versatile site.
Fourteen trails offer miles of hiking with spectacular vistas. The trek up the tower steps to Mount Constitution leads to a stone tower that’s worth the trip. On a clear day, this summit has been lauded as one of the best maritime views in the world and affords a 360-degree view of Puget Sound, the Olympics, Mount Rainier and the Seattle skyline. There’s plenty on offer at Moran; dozens of campgrounds and boating at Cascade and Mountain Lakes offer a little bit of something for everyone.
Lake Sammamish State Park: Float your boat
Lake Sammamish State Park in Issaquah is a 512-acre day-use park with 6,858-feet of waterfront on Lake Sammamish. A wonderful place for paddler’s, fisher-folk and bird-watching, visitors can explore the lake, keep their eyes peeled for herons (this park is one of the largest heronries in the area with 80 to 100 nesting pairs) and amble through the forest and wetlands along the shore. A salmon-bearing creek and a great-blue-heron rookery are among the site’s highlights, as well as 1.5 miles of hiking and biking trails and plenty of picnic tables and barbeque grills for when you’ve worked up an appetite. If you have little ones in tow, there is also a bath house with dressing rooms and two large toy children’s play areas.
Battleground Lake State Park: One sandwich short of a picnic
Located a few miles off freeway 21 northeast of Vancouver, Washington, Battleground Lake State Park is a 280-acre deep forest camping park situated in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. A wooded trail completely circles the scenic spring-fed Lake Battleground, which is of volcanic origin and is often compared to Oregon’s popular Crater Lake. Plenty of sheltered areas, fishing and lake views make this a great early spring spot for picnicking with the family. The park contains five miles of biking and horse trails, as well as a primitive equestrian campsite and ten miles of trails for hikers.
Saint Edward State Park: Child’s play
This park, a 3116-acre day-use park that features 3,000 feet of freshwater shoreline on Lake Washington, is a very good destination for a day-trip with kids. Saint Edward State Park is home to a former Catholic seminary, and the majestic historic building stands as an icon over the park. With beautiful natural nooks for reflection and a variety of wooded trails that lead hikers to the shores of Lake Washington, Saint Edward’s features plenty of grassy grounds and a very popular interactive playground that gives kiddos plenty of room to spread out and run. Nature lovers will spot bald eagles, otters and other wildlife. The Seminary’s sylvan grounds and architecture are a scenic location for events and weddings, and hikers can tackle the low-impact three-mile trail through the dense forest to the shoreline.
Rainbow Falls State Park: A little fairy-tale haven
This 139-acre park lies along the Chehalis River in beautiful Southwest Washington. A forested beauty of an old-time park, Rainbow Falls State Park features beautiful historic log and stone structures built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the Depression Era. Three miles of interconnected trails weave through a forest of cedars, hemlock, Douglas-firs and Sitka spruce and loop back to the trailhead so there’s of chance of getting lost. A small cascade—the Rainbow Falls—are crowned with an ever-present rainbow that’s been drawing visitors since the park was established, but there are plenty of trails, bridges forest scenes that are equally worth the trip.
Iron Horse State Park Trail: Take a hike
Once part of the path of the Chicago-Milwaukee-St. Paul-Pacific Railroad, the Iron Horse State Park Trail is part of a 1,612-acre park that extends from Cedar Falls to the Columbia River near the Snoqualmie region. High trestles provide spectacular views of the valley below, and the 100-mile John Wayne Pioneer Trail in Iron Horse is a viable day-trip for South Sound adventurers. Beginning at the Cedar Falls trailhead, just outside of North Bend, bike or walk along the trail, picnic, take in the views and head east a few miles, then return. The trail is smooth and follows a gentle grade, so little ones can manage on their trikes and little bikes, too. (Check trail conditions and experience the Snoqualmie Tunnel section of the trail from May 2 to October 31 if you want to see a few historic sites along the way.)
So what are you waiting for? Check out Washington State Parks’ complete list of over 125 parks (broken down here by region) to find the ones you’d like to explore this year.
