Washington is one of our favorite states to explore. We tend to shy away from big cities like Seattle and focus on hiking, kayaking, and adventuring. Although we spent many months in Washington, there is still a lot of adventuring in this state on our bucket list. Below is a list of our favorite explorations in Washington and future explorations on our bucket list.
Our Favorite Explorations in Washington
Mount Rainier National Park
Mount Rainier was one of our favorite national parks to hike and explore. We visited the park several days while staying at Paradise RV Campground Thousand Trails in 173 Salem Plant Rd, Silver Creek, WA 98585. Our favorite hikes in the national park were the Freemont Trail, the Skyline Trail, and Comet Falls. Although we visited the park in July, there was still some snow on the Freemont Trail. We hiked the Skyline Trail in several inches of snow. It required quite of a bit of exertion and caution. The Skyline Trail is the one hiking trail that we wish we had hiking poles. To come back down from the Panorama Point, Jessica had to slide on her butt part way.
The Freemont Fire Lookout was Windell’s favorite trail until we explored Zion National Park in Utah. However, we are not finished with Mount Rainier. When we return, we want to hike the Tolmie Peak Fire Lookout and the Sourdough Ridge Trailhead. Of course, we will probably be adding more explorations to the list as we continue watching Wandering Washington on her excursions.
Olympic Peninsula
The Olympic Peninsula is truly an amazing place to visit. The temperate rainforest, Pacific coastline, lavender farms, and the extraordinary features of this area will simply take your breath away. We stayed at KM Resorts – Diamond Point Resort 294 Industrial Pkwy, Sequim, WA 98382, which is one of our RPI membership parks. Sequim, Washington is a fabulous place to visit lavender farms and hike the spit to the Dungeness Lighthouse. Read our blog regarding hiking the Dungeness Spit with the tide tables.
While we were there, we also visited the Olympic National Park for some amazing beaches and hikes. Our favorite hike was to Rialto Beach during low tide. We never saw so many different colored starfishes and sea anemones in our lives. Split rock was our favorite spot to explore during this hike. If we return to the Olympic Peninsula, we will be hiking this beach again. We did have to check our tide schedule and we have a short blog on Hiking Rialto Beach.
We also hiked Hurricane Hill and Kalaloch Beach 4. However, they were not our favorite explorations. When we return to the Olympic Peninsula, we would like to attempt to hike the Mt. Ellinor Lower Trailhead and Mount Storm King. We did not attempt these at the time simply because we weren’t sure of our abilities. However, since hiking and pushing ourselves more, we are more confident in hiking more elevation and Jessica is a little less afraid of hikes.
Crescent Lake is a sight to behold. The lake is incredibly blue and many people were jumping off the bridge into the Devils Punchbowl. We kayaked this lake in the afternoon after hiking to Marymere Falls. However, next time we will kayak it in the morning with less wind!
San Juan Island
We love sea creatures and chartering boats to see wildlife in the oceans. While staying at La Conner RV & Camping Resort 16362 Snee Oosh Rd, La Conner, WA 98257 Thousand Trails, we booked a ferry from Anacortes to San Juan Island. We love Washington ferries! Taking a ferry to an Island is a great way to get some scenery and maybe see some wildlife.
Exploring a little of the San Juan Island was fun. However, our main reason for going to the Island was our booked boat charter to see some Killer Whales. Besides our YouTube video, we also wrote a short blog on our Killer Whale Adventure. We had an amazing time, although the boat trip was a little colder than we expected. When we return to this area, we would like to explore more of the Islands, including Orcas Island. Maybe Jessica can even convince Windell to kayak around the areas.
Future Desired Explorations in Washington
Leavenworth
Although we explored the town of Leavenworth and did a few hikes, there are some amazing areas that we did not know about or explore while we were there. When we return, we want to hike the Cascade Pass Trailhead to Sahale Arm Trail, and especially The Enchantments. The Enchantments will be an intense one day hike. We want to apply for a backpacking permit to stay overnight. This hike is our main bucket list item in the Leavenworth area, although we realize it will be extremely challenging.
North Cascades
We did not visit the North Cascades National Park or surrounding area while we were in Washington. At the time, there were many vehicle break-ins while they were repaving parking lots and we didn’t want to chance it. However, as we watch our favorite YouTubers hike the North Cascades, we have discovered many hikes to add to our bucket list, including Trappers Peak, Sourdough Mountain Trail, Lake Ann Trail, Hidden Lake Lookout Trail, and many more. We are sorry we did not explore this area more while in Washington. Thousand Trails has a campground near North Cascades National Park. It is Grandy Creek 1000 Trails 7370 Russell Rd, Concrete, WA 98237 or you can reserve Goodell Creek Campground State Rte 20, Marblemount, WA 98267 or another National Park Campground.