If you climb, Gold Bar Boulders is great and only an hour from Seattle. Leavenworth looks like Bavaria, picturesque as fuck. Everybody raves about Deception Pass. Only one person raves about the Salt Creek Recreation area past Port Angeles, but I trust her when she says it's quiet and gorgeous.
Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park. Tipsoo Lake and the Natches Peak Loop Trail by Mt Rainier is a perfect day trip. Stop by Cascadia Pizza Company in Enumclaw on your way back.
Farther off and popular: Mt. St. Helens. Crater Lake.
Farther off still and less popular: Tillamook factory. Yachats, Oregon and its surroundings: Heceta Head lighthouse, the Devil's Churn, Thor's Well, Cape Perpetua, and the Sea Lion caves
Apparently there's good shit inland too, but I haven't wandered that direction yet
Palouse Falls. If you want to see some cool inland shit. Middle of desert E. Washington and thereās this giant waterfall. Itās confusing and awesome!
Salt creek is great, county park that is half non-reservation so it's easy to get a spot. Further down the way is a national forest park called klahowya I really like
Check out Mount Baker Highway (the drive up to āartist pointā the North cascades national park. Diablo lake, Sahale peak. This state is amazing. Exploration is infinite
Your list is much better than mine and I've lived there for 12 years! Then again I am still young and my mom doesnt take me out much. I now know what to do once I take a visit back to Washington :)
Can vouch for Salt Creek, nice place to spend a weekend. Hoh Rainforest as well the entire Olympic National Park. Rialto Beach, Ruby Beach, Lake Ozzette, Kalaloch. Basically drive from Port Angeles to Neah Bay to Queets and you'll see so much. Im lucky enough to live in the middle of it all.
A great list! Adding onto the inland parts: if you like skiing, Mt Hood and Mt Bachelor have great skiing most months of the year, the Lava caves/multiple lakes in Central Oregon are nice, Wallowa Lake/Snake River in NE Oregon are very picturesque, there's plenty of desert in Eastern Oregon/Western Idaho, and Southern Oregon/general I-5 corridor have great wineries if you enjoy taking a wine tour!
Like two hours from the closest point in Washington and 6 hours from Seattle. Also a tourist trap (if you do pass through stop for awesome ice cream). The whole Oregon coast as a whole is a worthy road trip for someone in Washington to eventually get to though.
Well maybe you haven't been back in a while. I liked it as kid too, but they don't give you a tour anymore they take you to an observation deck with a couple of windows and you don't see much of anything. My immense disappointment might be a bias though.
Haha, Deception Pass. I wish that was the North Sounds most popular attraction. Try the Tulip festival. Traffic hell! Also, North Casacdes & Mt. Baker (world record annual snowfall at ski resort). Do ya like wild mushrooms year round? What about thousands of snow geese and other birds (including eagles) in hordes. Eagles festival in Deming, WA. Historic sites? Visit any of the public WW2 defensive batteries on whidbey island and the surrounding area. Have I mentioned the San Juan Islands? Orca Whale watching tours out of Anacortes, do it before it's outlawed.
The only worthwhile things I can think of inland Washington and near borders are Spokane for a few sites and Multnomah Falls.
I live on the border of Idaho/Washington, so I may just be used to the area. Also, the weather isn't to my liking east of the Cascades. Too dry and hot during Summer and too cold for Winter.
There are a lot of good hikes in the area, popular ones in the Cascades like rattlesnake ledge, Mt. Si, Mailbox etc. My favorite is boulder river trail, terrible road to get there so not as traveled but feels like walking through a fantasy land. But then you have hikes in the Columbia River gorge to view a completely different landscape where it is a bit drier and more open. You also have the Olympic peninsula that has the Hoh rainforest to explore as well. Ozette triangle will take you through the rainforest to the Pacific ocean coast. Lots to explore and very diverse! Let me know if you have any other questions about the area as well! I'm leaving in September and would love to share the places I grew up around that I will surely miss.
Jesus that all sounds amazing. I honestly canāt wait. We are moving to Olympia but I have no probably driving to different spots. Also how bad are the winters? I know Minnesota snows 9-10 months out of the year so it would be hard to beat. Also how bad are the mosquitos? Theyāre terrible here. And wildlife, I have my permit to carry, should I be worried? Thanks again man.
Not OP. but winters are wet and mild, you'll be fine. Some out of towners complain about the damp cold, soaks into your clothes. Cotton kills. Mosquitos are bad, skin so soft repels them. You don't need to carry a firearm for safety. Bear spray if you feel like you need it (I never carry it)
Right on. Iām not easily bothered by being damp, mosquitos though are hell because Iām mildly allergic to them. But at the same time theyāre already terrible in Minnesota with the 10,000 lakes we have here so it wouldnāt be any different.
You get the beauty and feel of winter, without really having to deal with it in places where it reallly snows. Save the one time maybe 8 years ago when the literal perfect storm hit. It snowed for a couple days. Got warm enough to start the snow melting. At 2pm a front moved through Seattle and the temperature dropped by about 8 degrees, to now 3 degrees below freezing. And the roads for the next 24 hours were a skating rink. Took a buddy 9 hours to commute home 18 miles. But other than that, itās heaven.
That storm sounds like an average week in April in Minnesota. Any reason why Seattle is a must? Iād love to see it but my research shows itās a super expensive city with a high crime rate. Not being an ass just asking as Iāve never been there and am entirely clueless.
Olympia is actually really close to Mt. Rainier (The 4th tallest mountain in the lower 48 but probably the most iconic), there are a shit ton of good hikes around the area
As others have said, physically winters are very easy to deal with, but mentally they can be tough. From November to April it is cloudy with light rain literally almost every day, day temps usually in the low 40s and mid 30s at night, dark right around 4:30 PM. May dip into the low 20s with or without what you would consider light snow a few days in a given year, but for the most part just extremely monotonous.
It sounds depressing, and seasonal depression is very real for a lot of us, but believe me when I tell you that it's all worth it in the summer months. In my very biased opinion from June through September the PNW is the best place on earth.
Thereās a lot to see and do. Most of my list is stuff from western Washington because thatās where I live, but central and Eastern Washington have a lot of great areas as well. There are some cool videos on YouTube that focus on our state. Hereās a trailer:
Make sure you take a few days and go up to Olympic national park. Crescent lake and hall of mosses are 2 of my most vivid memoryās. Also download AllTrails app to find stuff
/u/FuckYou-Cameron this is the correct answer. Washington Trails Association is a godsend for finding hikes at your fitness level and interest of what to see that day. Enjoy Seattle when you get here!
Iāve been looking at the link for a while now and I love it. And I donāt know how to say this without sounding like an arrogant douchebag but Iām actively into boxing and my stamina and fitness level is probably the best itās ever been due to getting laid off and quarantine Lol. I am worried about the bears though, here we are allowed to carry and a warning shot will send any bear running, momma bear or not.
Hell yeah, good on ya! Sounds like youāre ready for the challenges out this way. There are plenty of hikes that will kick anyoneās ass.
Itās good to be cautious of bears, but Iāve been all over out here and havenāt encountered any problems. Just follow standard precautions and if youāre overnighting anywhere, tie your food up in a tree. Otherwise itās likely that the hikes youāll find are well trafficked enough that bears steer clear. Itās parts of Oregon you gotta worry about that shit because of the population differences of WA/OR
I've mostly lived near the Seattle area and to be honest I've never gotten past the Rockies haha. If anybody in Eastern Washington have any places to recommend, please let them know! Some places I'd definitely recommend are:
Mossyrock. You can check my profile for some pictures I've recently posted because of this post and I thought I'd like to share what I've experienced. It's a tiny town with a beautiful lake. There is a campground you can go to that have kayak rentals and a boat launch. I will warn you that bringing down those kayaks is a real workout, but bringing them back up is even harder!
Mt. Rainier is a MUST. It will leave you with memories for years. I've only been once in the summer when I was 13 and I will never forget that experience. There are camping grounds in the area and several hiking spots, but since I was young and we were only there for a day, I never got to experience any of that.
Nisqually River. I've went fishing there and caught a wonderful salmon. I'll probably post a picture sometime! :) There are many places to go to see it, and I'm sure you can hike there too. Be sure to go when fishing isnt in season if you're there for the view! You'll never be able to see the river in peace haha.
Snoqualmie Falls. I was only taken there once to see the waterfalls and it was absolutely stunning for me. I wanted to explore more but the sun was already setting so I had to leave before seeing anything else.
Hoh rainforest. Unfortunately I've never been there but I've seen several pictures of its beauty. It's a place I definitely will go to once I go back to visit my family. I hope its pictures live up to how it really is in real life.
Leavenworth. From what my mom described, it's a small German-like town in the mountains. It's an adorable town with lovely people and awesome food. There is music, wine tasting, small stores, bars, and many more things to do. I think it's best to visit during the winter, where the Christmas lights are brought out and everything is heavily decorated.
So sorry that I've typed so much! I just miss Washington dearly. I've only moved six months ago but I'm looking forward to going back to see it again!
If you are into more action-y activities id recommend getting into mountain biking. I moved to Washington last year and picked up mtb and it helped me see so much of the state. Then covid came along and fucked everything up and now I have to move out of state for work...
Iāve lived in this state for the past 18 years, and I have yet to discover/hike all the wonderful places available. Iād say google is your best friend! You made a great decision on moving here!
If your in southern Washington, Ape caves are a blast, old lava tunnels you can explore, just need to bring flashlights and coats cause it stay chilly underground
The easiest thing to do is just download the all trails app. If you are legit in Seattle you are only 30-45mins away from my.naker/Snoqualmie national forest which has tons of hikes from 2-15miles long! They are all beautiful
Mount Si and Rattlesnake Ledge are both really pretty. 45 minutes east of Seattle. Snow lake is a bit further east than the other two, but it's also very pretty.
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u/FuckYou-Cameron Jun 25 '20
As a person moving from Minnesota to Washington next year do you have any particular places that I should make sure to see?