The eager kindergartener in front of me was pulling her backpack on wheels behind her as we made our way up from the middle falls to the upper falls at Wallace Falls State Park. I turned to the 5th grader dragging his feet slowly up the steep steps behind me with a pokey attitude and said with a smile, “If a five-year old can do it, so can you.” His eyes looked up and told me my challenge was accepted. He continued to keep up with the group, albeit reluctantly.
More than 15 years ago I had another life as a summer camp director for the YMCA of Snohomish County and yes, I was one of those people who would take a bus load of 70 children on field trips to outdoor places. Wallace Falls State Park was perfect for it. Tons of parking, varying levels of trail and not within a wilderness boundary.
I always broke the kids up in to groups of 10 or less and sent them out with their counselors and directions to get lost. No, not really. But I told them they needed to find their own path and do some exploring. We weren’t a conga line. I loved encouraging kids to pee behind trees and get a little dirty. Okay, maybe a lot dirty.
Nowadays, Wallace Falls State Park provides a wonderful place for me to get out into nature with a short drive from home and year round access. I tend to go in the winter mostly when crowds are fewer and it is easier to escape into solitude. And although I wouldn’t list it as my favorite trail of all time, it is my favorite winter time trail to suggest to others who want to get outdoors.
The great thing about Wallace Falls State Park is that it is more than just the series of three falls that it is named after. It has over 12 miles of trails to adventure on and three lakes (maybe more) to enjoy if you are willing to put in a few extra miles. Most people never go beyond the upper falls, so even when the parking lot is filled to capacity, you can easily find some space away from the crowds.
Let me show you just some of the beauty at Wallace Falls State Park from today that is NOT a waterfall…
I was out for 13 miles and saw only one other person when I was NOWHERE near a waterfall. Otherwise, I enjoyed having all of this to myself. All this just up from downtown Gold Bar, you can literally take the bus here.
Okay, maybe one waterfall picture…
This week’s topic for the Nature Writing Challenge is “What Is Your Favorite Trail on Public Lands and Why? I do have to say that after a season and a half of this challenge, I have written about quite a bit about my favorite trail, the Pacific Crest Trail. I even included it on my favorite public lands piece. I decided to give you a break.
So for this challenge, I went to my trip reports here on the blog and counted which trail had the most amount of visits that I hadn’t talked about recently. After the Index Town Wall it was a tie, so I picked the one most accessible year round and to varying abilities to break it. The trail that “lost” was the West Fork Foss River Trail. Don’t worry, it will most likely show up in a future challenge post.
But if you are looking for an amazing winter trail to hike with access year round for a wide range of abilities and the opportunity to be one with the crowd or go beyond and find a bit of solitude, Wallace Falls State Park is just what you are looking for.
Visit Wallace Falls State Park Yourself
For more information about Wallace Falls State Park, visit the Washington State Parks website. You will need a Discover Pass and you can learn about that here. This park does have a pay station on site and you can even rent cabins and stay overnight! I suggest if going that you get there early as the large parking lot fills in the beginning of the day and you can not park along the road outside the gate.
This post was written in one hour for the #naturewritingchallenge. Check out Twitter to learn more or see my other posts from the challenge here. If you would like to here about this particular loop hike I like to do in Wallace Falls State Park, you can read more about it here.
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