Washington by road: Bunkers, ghost towns, deserts, and more
Like last year, part of my summer Homeland Holiday has been road around Washington State with Daddy. We set out on Saturday morning with a known destination then spent the next few days making it up as we went along. In the end, we made a tour of old military bunkers and forts along the peninsula, a couple of lighthouses, a ghost town, and the desert – with plenty of geocaches along the way.
We didn’t have a solid plan, but rather a couple of rough ideas for routes. We also knew that wildfires across the state would require us to be even more flexible than normal. However, since Daddy wasn’t carrying his passport (something to remember for next summer) we couldn’t add Canada to our list of alternatives. But, as always, we were prepared to sleep in the car if it came down to it, and we carried plenty of water and food with us just in case it was required.
Road closures and extreme heat meant that we had to change plans often. And in the end, we cut the trip short by a day or two as it was just too hot and smoky. But we’ll make up for that with a little geocaching trail later today!
Warning: This is a long post. If you just want to see the photos, you can click here to go straight to the gallery.
Day 1: Cle Elum to Silverdale and bacon-wrapped marshmallows (Geocaches: 2)
We set off from Cle Elum after a leisurely start to the day that included a 6-mile walk with a friend before Daddy woke up. As with last year, we drove across the state via I-90 and SR-18 before connecting to I-5. Then it was across the Tacoma Narrows (SR-16 to SR-3) for our first stop: Silverdale. Only, unlike last year, this was our destination for the night!
Once we got to Silverdale, we made our way to my sister, Celeste’s, house as she and her husband were hosting a summer campfire. As it happened, I found a great “recipe” for bacon-wrapped marshmallows on the drive over, which I shared with Celeste. So, shortly after Daddy and I arrived, Celeste and I took off to town to get supplies for our sweet-and-salty treats.
Of course, we also stopped for some geocaches because, well… that’s what I do! Unfortunately, the first attempted find didn’t work out (logs suggest it might be AWOL). However, I/we did manage to find two good hides in town. More importantly, we found the bacon and marshmallows for the evening’s culinary treats.
Back at Celeste’s, we prepared a simple burger and hot dog dinner for just the four of us, ahead of guests arriving for the summer campfire. It was a lovely evening of laughter and bacon-wrapped marshmallows, which were really nice and certainly worth a bit of experimentation to get the process just right. Yum!
Day 2: Silverdale to Port Townsend with forts in between (Geocaches: 6)
For Day 2, we knew we wanted to make it to Port Townsend for the night, but we didn’t really have a plan in mind for how to get there. We set out from Silverdale (SR-3 to SR-19) after a hearty breakfast, reviewing maps and geocache locations along the way.
Our first stop was on Indian Island for a quick geocache before continuing to Marrowstone Island to visit the coastal artillery fort at Fort Flagler. We didn’t explore all the batteries, as they were all generally the same, but as we walked around, we did notice a little more of the metal workings than we saw in some of last year’s fort visits. Unfortunately, there was very little interpretive signage, so we had to use our combined knowledge and experience to identify some structures.
There is a marine research field station on the edge of the fort in an old lighthouse structure. Our interest in this additional stop, however, was a geocache. The cache is part of the Track the Dragon series (some of which are archived) and led us to find a really interesting bronze dragon track nestled in the rocks along the beach.
Leaving Marrowstone, we reconned to SR-19 then SR-20 as we continued to Port Townsend. After we checked into a little water-side hotel, we made our way to Port Wilson Lighthouse and the batteries at Fort Worden. The lighthouse was open to the public for tours, including the light tower itself. It was built in 1879 and is still in use today, albeit as an automated station since 1976.
We didn’t spend too much time exploring Fort Worden as there wasn’t really anything different there than what we’d seen earlier in the day. However, the structure itself was impressive just because of the size of the main building.
At the end of our sightseeing activities, we found ourselves at the Bayview Restaurant by the ferry docks. We each ordered Reuben sandwiches and quickly agreed they were one of the best either of us had had in a long time. Absolutely delicious! (Read my review here.)
Oh, and we grabbed a couple more geocaches after dinner, too. Because that’s what I do and Daddy is my enabler.
Day 3: Port Townsend to Monroe and a bit of Wienerschnitzel (Geocaches: 7)
On Day 3, we made our way to the ferry terminal to get an early crossing – only to find the first ferry was cancelled and we had a 90-minute wait until the next sailing. So, we got into the queue and whilst Daddy stayed with the car to read and nap (not at the same time), I made my way out for a couple of nearby geocaches – one of which took me to a 42-foot whale skeleton called Gunther. The delayed ferry also meant that the local candy shop was opening as I made my way back to the car, so I got some liquorice for Daddy and some delicious gummy sweets for me. I also had plenty of time to watch the birds before the ferry set sail.
Arriving at Keystone Ferry Landing (SR-20), we quickly decided that Fort Casey needed to be our next stop. After all, old batteries and lighthouses are kind of a staple for us! I think we both agreed that Fort Casey was one of the better batteries we’ve visited. Yes, they all have their merits and special characteristics, but Fort Casey has some amazing “disappearing” Big Guns that really give a sense of the place and it makes for an amazing adventure park for kids. Although a bit safer now that it’s not an active military installation.
The Admiralty Head Lighthouse has been decommissioned but is situated in the fort quite nicely. And as there was a geocache hidden in the woodland behind the house, I went in search of that whilst Daddy made his way to the car. And on the way out of the park, we hit another two caches. Bonus!
By the time we left Fort Casey, it was clear that the wildfires wouldn’t allow us to cross the state on SR-20, so we would need to take an alternative route across the state. We decided to take US-2, which would allow us to explore an old ghost town. But first, we carried on north a bit to cross over Deception Pass (SR-20, still).
We started with a stop at Deception Pass Park where we enjoyed views of the bridge from afar – and took a scenic route (read: we were lost) through the park in search of a geocache. Thankfully, we discovered a more direct route back to the car after we found the cache! (But the adventure did provide us with views of the bridge we wouldn’t have otherwise enjoyed.
The bridge spans over a small island (Pass Island), with a couple of viewpoints on either side. We stopped on the north side of the island and as I made my way below the bridge for a geocache, Daddy walked across the bridge for the views. As it happens, that also gave me a great opportunity to take a video of Dad walking along the bridge. Win!
From Deception Pass, we made our way (slightly) east to connect to I-5 before dropping south to Everett for dinner at Wienerschnitzel. The best part of that was Daddy telling me the story of taking Mum there after her transplant surgery nearly 20 years ago. He told her he was taking her somewhere nice for dinner, but didn’t tell her where they were going. As soon as she saw the Wienerschnitzel place, she pointed it out excitedly because it was a new location. She didn’t realise that was where he was taking her… and boy, was she happy!
By now, it was getting late, and we were both exhausted. So, we made our way along US-2 to Monroe another 20 miles away. We tried a couple of different hotels before finding a great little mom-and-pop place (the Monroe Motel) to stay for the night. (Read my review here.)
It was a long day, but one filled with fun and adventure.
Day 4: Monroe to Okanogan by way of the ghosts (Geocaches: 4)
We set off early on Day 4 with a rough idea for the day, but no real idea of the timing. The known quantity was a ghost town and that would be our first stop. Well, by way of a (related) geocache and a (related) train tunnel at least.
By now, we were travelling eastbound on US-2 and had limited (often no) phone signals. However I had downloaded a lot of geocache data for offline use, so we weren’t completely without direction. Our first stop was at a small rest area to access the Iron Goat Trail Head just outside of the unincorporated community of Scenic (aptly named). The stop was specifically for a geocache that was “less than half a mile” as the crow flies at the Windy Point Viewpoint. However, my total clocked distance was 2.5 miles over 1 hour and 18 minutes because it was steep switchbacks the whole way. But the views made it all worth it!
More on the climb and the related railway adventures to follow in my Ghosts of Wellington post.
From the geocache stop, we made a short detour to investigate the Cascade Tunnel West Portal before making the winding drive to Wellington for more tunnels, the other side of the Iron Goat Trail, and the remains of an old railway snow shed and stories of ghosts. This time, Daddy joined me on the walk as it was relatively flat – and he was as keen as I was to explore. We logged about 2.3 miles and even had time to enjoy a little picnic lunch. (Again, more on this in the next post.)
By this point, we decided to make our way to Okanogan, inviting ourselves to my sister, Jessica’s, house for dinner and lodging – and breakfast the next morning. We had time to spare before she would be home, so we made our way along US-2 to US-97 slowly, collecting a couple of geocaches along the way.
At Jessica’s, we enjoyed a nice dinner with some of her husband’s family and then we started to plan our route for the next day. The fires were still raging, and the heat was increasing, but we had some good ideas for anchor points that would allow us to enjoy some great views, easy walks, and (of course) some geocaches.
Day 5: Okanogan to Cle Elum with rocks and dams (Geocaches: 7)
We left Okanogan via SR-155 on Day 5 without much of a plan other than a first stop at Balance Rock because it’s an amazing 40-ton erratic granite boulder that travelled from Canada but also because there was a geocache to be had! Again, Daddy stayed in the car whilst I climbed the hill. But that meant he was able to get some good, staged photos of my attempt at holding the rock up with my great strength (reminiscent of Grandpa Eberle’s strength, as shown side-by-side below).
By now, our plans were becoming quite nimble and were changing with each turn based on fires and heat. We decided to start by heading further south along SR-155 towards Grand Coulee Dam. It was getting very hot by then, and the air was getting smoky, but we managed to walk around the dam a bit and went up above to Crown Point overlook to take in the full scale of the structure. And yes… there were geocaches to be had!
After looking at fire patterns, we decided to head a little further south leaving the dam towards Coulee City and Dry Falls along SR-17. We stopped at the falls for a picnic lunch in the shade and then made our way further along the road towards Lake Lenore Caves with a plan to enjoy a gentle hike – and another geocache or two. Unfortunately, and very wisely, we decided it was far too hot (100°F+) for hiking in the desert, so we abandoned that idea before we really got started.
It seemed that all our options were going to be hampered by fires, high temperatures, or smoke from the fires. So, we decided to point the car towards home – with a couple more geocaches along the way. When we got to Cle Elum, we stopped for dinner and then retreated to the relative coolness of the house.
Once again, we logged a great deal of miles for the day. But we also logged a lot of adventure hours!
Day 6: Cle Elum to Ellensburg and back again (Geocaches: 11)
As we were still “in holiday mode” when we started the next day, we decided to carry on with some geocaching in Ellensburg. Daddy found a nice little trail for us to hit, along with a couple of random caches in town. And so, we set off along the old highway (SR-10) after a leisurely start to the morning.
Most of the caches we grabbed were “boring” hides in guardrails as part of the “Riding the Rails in Kittitas Valley” series. Although there were a couple of fun hides mixed in – including one that was cleverly hidden behind a chunk of bark on a tree.
And then, with the caching done for the day, we returned home to get ready for a busy weekend of chores. But we were already starting to make plans for more mini adventures over the rest of my summer holidays!
Geocache total, for those keeping count: 37
