August in Washington: Travel Recap

We spent almost a full month in Washington during August, and it still wasn’t enough! This will probably (hopefully) be just part one for Washington travel recaps, because it definitely was our favorite state by far, so we’d really love to go back ASAP.

Our first stay in the state was a boon-docking spot at a sno-park right next to Lake Wenatchee. This spot was a just a gravel lot in the forest a little ways off the road, but it had FANTASTIC service on all carriers, so that was definitely a win in my book. If you decide to stay here, definitely drive into the lot and then follow the road at the back to the airstrip behind it. Turn left once you hit the airstrip, and there are some much more secluded campsites back in that area that we discovered while exploring the area that would be better to stay at.

We stayed here a little over a week here, and it was a great location for relaxing at the lake and checking out Leavenworth, the famous Bavarian town. We spent quite a few days with our chairs in the water at Lake Wenatchee, because if you walk right across the road and walk through the forest for a minute, you’ll hook onto a trail that leads right down to the water so you can skip all the crowds at the state park entrance.

Leavenworth is a really cute town that happens to be super dog-friendly, which was really nice for us. I recommend going around 10am on weekday here, because it get’s extremely busy later in the day and on the weekends. Spending just a few hours here one day was plenty for us, so I wouldn’t recommend planning for more than 1 or 2 days here at most. We grabbed coffee and a danish at a German bakery, went into lots of different shops (even Sam got to go into a few), and grabbed some drinks at one of the many dog-friendly breweries/restaurants.

Since it was so hot in this area while we were here (the Eastern side of the Cascade Mountain Range has much hotter summers than on the Western side) the only other activities we did were hiking the Hidden Lake Trail, the Old Pipeline Bed Trail, and the Lake Valhalla Trail. The first two hikes weren’t anything special, but they were short and easy, which is all that matters when its around 100 degrees every day. I’d probably pass on the Hidden Lake trail, since it just goes to a small lake up into the mountains that isn’t that great for swimming (Lake Wenatchee is better), but the Old Pipeline Bed Trail goes across a unique bridge that was cool to check out.

Lake Valhalla was definitely the best hike we did in this area. The trailhead is in a national forest, so you’ll need Washington’s annual national forest pass too for almost any hike since they’re mostly in the national forests. This hike was a little over 3 miles each way, so 6-7 miles in total, and it’s mostly all uphill on the way to the lake. We got an early start (around 7am I think) and the mosquitoes and flies weren’t awful on the way to the lake, but they were HORRENDOUS at the lake and on the way back, so definitely bring lots of bug spray, wear long pants, and even use mosquito netting over your hat if you have it to protect your face and neck (I was super jealous of the hikers we passed with those.)

Our next stay was at the Lester Hilde Trailhead Horse Camp in a state park. If you’re traveling to Washington, I highly recommend purchasing their annual state parks pass, called the Discover Pass, which is $30 for a year and it allows access to all state parks property in the state. This boon-docking spot was free, but does require the State Parks Pass. The internet here was a little hit or miss for uploading and downloading, but it ATT worked well for streaming with our booster, and T-Mobile service as well. I had no cell service with Verizon though. We stayed here in the Skagit Valley for about a week, and we really liked the area, which far enough removed from big cities, but only about 30 minutes from a major town with all the good grocery stores, shops, and restaurants.

Boon-docking at the Lester Hilde Trailhead Horse Camp

The Discover Pass gave us free access to Rasar State Park, which is a really pretty , family friendly campground right on the Skagit River, which was a perfect spot to bring Sam to swim everyday. If you’re near this area, definitely go to Cascade Burgers to eat!

One day at sunset we did the Sauk Mountain Trail, which is a little bit more of an adventure than we were looking for. This trail is definitely not for people who are afraid of heights (aka, ME) because the whole trail is a series of switchbacks climbing up the sheer side of a mountain (that is more like a cliff with grass) and is completely exposed. The photos really don’t do it ANY justice on how steep the side of the mountain was and how high up it was! Most of our hike was completely fogged out, which hid just how high over the valley we actually were. We got short glimpses of the view during the first half of the climb, but once we got near the top we were completely in the fog so we couldn’t see the view, which is supposed to be amazing. We didn’t even end up doing the whole trail, because once you get to the top, the trail keeps going along the summit, which meant that BOTH sides of the trail were completely exposed, instead of just one on the way up (which was scary enough). So we called it quits before the end, and on the way back down the fog and clouds split JUST enough for the most amazing golden light to flood the valley. It was one of the most magical things we’d ever seen. If it hadn’t been for that sunset, this hike definitely would not have been worth it because of the fog and all the terror it inflicted upon me, but on a clear day I’m sure its gorgeous, if not even more terrifying probably!

A peek at the view on the way up when the fog cleared for a minute.

Sitting down at the top so we don’t fall off the mountain. We were truly IN the clouds at this point.

When the clouds and fog split and flooded the valley with golden sunset light.

We were definitely happy to make it back to the parking lot on this one!

Josh was really excited to find snow at the trailhead.

Then on two separate days, we drove over to Whidbey Island to explore that area. We checked out Deception Pass on the first day, ate at Bob’s Chowder Bar (which was delicious and dog-friendly) and then the next time we went all the way down to Double Bluff Beach, which is the most dog-friendly beach in Washington. The beach is huge and is all off-leash, so Sam loved getting to run around freely and meet all the other dogs.

In between our next planned big adventure, we went to Bellingham to run some errands and we stumbled upon Whatcom Falls Park, which is a really cool park with a rain-forest vibe, cute bridges, and even waterfalls. Then we went to Baker Hot Springs, which is quite the adventure because of the forest service road you take to get there. The road is only around 2 or 3 miles long, but it legitimately takes you about an hour to drive it because there are approximately 10,000 potholes. The road is COMPLETELY covered in them, so you have to do your best to go around and through all of them. If you don’t have a high clearance vehicle, don’t even bother trying to go here. We passed a small car that had to turn-around and go back, which was a smart move. There’s no way a low-clearance vehicle could get down that road without either destroying the underside of the car, getting completely stuck, or both most likely. With that being said, the hot springs was definitely a cool find. It’s small, but it was super clean when we went and we had it all to ourselves since we went earlier in the day during the week.

Our last adventure while staying in the Skagit Valley was to head up to Artist Point in the North Cascades, which was a little less than a 2 hour drive. This is supposed to be one of the best views of the North Cascades, but we unfortunately went on a super smoky day, so we couldn’t see much of the view at all. When the road running through the Mount Baker Ski Area is open, you can drive all the way to Artist Point. But since there was a landslide next to the road early in this season, it was closed for the whole summer. To get to Artist Point now, you can either take a trail (that isn’t dog-friendly) to it, or you can hike up the road, which is around 2 miles. We had to go up the road since we had Sam, and it wasn’t the most fun walk, but the view (what we could see of it) was still super pretty. We knew we probably weren’t going to be able to see much at Artist Point because of the smoke, but this was our only day to do it, so we tried anyway.

All that we could see at Artist Point, which is really gorgeous, unless you’ve seen photos of what the rest of the view was supposed to look like!

The second Washington campsite was our favorite location, but the third was our favorite campsite itself by far. We tend to go for packer camps/horse trailheads because they’re always easy to get a large vehicles in, and this one was SO nice! The Sahara Creek Horse Camp is free with the Discover Pass, and there are TONS of campsites to choose from. Most of which can fit large vehicles, some smaller vehicles or tents, and there are even group camping areas. The whole camp is filled with mature trees separating each campsites and there was not a single piece of trash in the entire place, which is crazy. Usually you can walk around and find small (and even large) pieces of trash left, but this campground was impeccable, and there’s even a big field in the middle that was perfect for playing fetch with Sam. Throughout our week here, the place got pretty busy on the weekend with both horse trailers and regular RVs, but for a couple days during the week we almost had the whole thing to ourselves with just two other campers there. The ATT and T-Mobile internet was a little hit or miss here even with our antenna, and I had zero cell service on my phone, but we still managed to stream TV and I was able to do some uploading and downloading for work.

While here, we went to Alder Lake to take Sam swimming, had dinner at the Rainer Base Camp Bar, and did a couple hikes.

On two evenings we went to a spot so I could try to photograph Mount Rainer at sunset and at night with the stars. The first evening the clouds hung around the mountain at sunset, and the next night we went back during dark and I was able to get a couple shots of the whole mountain finally.

The first hike we did was to Little Mashel Falls. We went a little before sunset and had the falls all to ourselves. Alltrails doesn’t mention that there are 3 different falls here, but the middle falls is the best one that is the most worth going to.

Our last hike here was very spur-of-the-moment, because it was our last day at the campsite and we were just looking for something to do. It was the High Rock Lookout trail, which would have been INSANELY gorgeous, if it hadn’t been super foggy of course, so we ended up not being able to see the view. It’s a short hike, but you gain around 1,200 feet in elevation in less than 2 miles, so it’s definitely a workout. You hike up through the forest, which was really magical in the heavy fog, and then you come out on a rocky summit with a platform which apparently overlooks Mount Baker. The platform is super sketchy up on the cliff, especially with Sam, because there were a bunch of chipmunks running around that Sam wanted to chase right off the cliff. I didn’t even end up taking any photos because the fog was so thick, but now that we know what the hike is like, we’d really like to come back and do it at sunrise on a clear day.

That’s all for Washington for right now! There are still sooo many other areas we’d like to come back to explore, like the Olympic Peninsula, and areas we’d like to hit again when it’s less smoky, so we’d really love to come back sooner rather than later.