As some of you know, I volunteer my time to write for Washington Trails Association as a way to give back and help others get outdoors. Last fall when I was in Wenatchee in search of golden larches, an email went out to those of us on the “Hike It” team with a list of hikes they wanted to include in the next edition of their magazine. The pieces then become the hike guide description you see when you look up a trail on their hike guide.
One of the hikes happened to be just outside Wenatchee so I quickly emailed back that I would write it up (you have to be Johnny-On-The-Spot, people scoop up those hikes in seconds it seems). I had not planned to drive towards Chelan on this fall trip (I had done so just a few weeks before) but I had a few hours to kill so I left downtown Wenatchee and drove the 24 miles up Highway 97 to Daroga State Park to scout it out.
WTA has had a focus on urban hikes and hikes that are more accessible to a greater number of people for the last few years. The theme for this edition was the effects of our changing climate and an emphasis on trails you can get to with public transit. The hike didn’t end up being selected, not only because the public bus system didn’t travel quite that far up HWY 97, but because I learned that the state park is open seasonally so it wouldn’t make sense to promote it during the time you couldn’t actually access it.
This is all to say that I just finished editing the write up for the summer edition and so it seemed like the perfect time to share some pictures and thoughts from my time there. The summer magazine Hike It is about trails that offer more than just a stroll, a variety of activities for the whole family. I was impressed by what the state park had to offer and plan to visit again this spring.
This is the view from the road as you enter the main state park entrance. You see a lagoon below, the trail and then the Columbia River. Beyond that is the Entiat Wildlife Area.
I drove all the way into the park and parked my car in the third parking lot near the boat launch and main campground (which was closed for the season). I walked the trail that runs through the park northbound until it met the campground. There were views all the way up the Entiat Valley and across at Ribbon and Dick Mesas. The Sinkiuse called this river “nch’i-wána,” meaning “Big River.”
At the top I scanned out over the park, imagining it is quite busy in the summer with all those parking spaces. Daroga is owned by the Chelan-Douglas PUD and leased to the state park. Its 127 acres used to be a thriving orchard and ranch and before that it was the home of the Middle Columbia-Sinkiuse people. A typical story of Indigenous land lost over time due to treaties not honored and then the orchard was forced to move up to higher ground when the Rocky Reach Dam was put in (a fair amount of the orchard is underwater). Now it is a neatly manicured recreation oasis juxtaposed with the Columbia River Basin scablands.
There was a social trail down so I just took it to connect back up with the trail near the boat launch and along the parking area.
Now when writing hike guide descriptions for WTA, we adopt an accessibility lens when providing details about a trail so as to let possible users know if there are obstacles for those with less mobility. For instance, I noticed that this parking lot only had one (inconvenient) place where someone in a wheelchair could get up on the walkway (behind me by the boat launch) and the slope here would make using this bench difficult. Also, only the able-bodied could make it down to the shore here.
I dropped down the grassy slope to the water’s edge. It was so quiet and peaceful!
I then went back to my car and drove to the middle parking lot (there are three inside the main park) and followed the trail down to the waterfront. This parking lot is where I would park for the best overall accessibility to the trail and amenities. Daroga prides itself on its accessibility, all the buildings and kitchen shelters have paved access.
I could hear the faint echoes of summer fading with fall’s arrival as I walked along a promenade above the beach.
There was a path down to the sand, it was too bad it didn’t have one of those heavy beach mats they have for wheelchair users like at Lake Wenatchee State Park.
I continued walking through the middle of the park, admiring the leaves changing colors overhead. A family was playing up to my left on a ballfield. The pavement was impeccable and park’s staff were still mowing grass and blowing leaves even at this time of year. Often with pavement next to trees you will have roots causing buckling but none was to be seen here. I did notice, however, that this section did have some gentle rolls where the rest of the trail in the park was flat.
I was losing daylight (and thus any chance at good pictures for the piece) but it was pretty with the golden foliage. The trail stayed wide but the strip of land narrowed as I came around the lagoon.
The trail crossed the first of two outlets as I made my way around the lagoon. I learned later that this is a good spot for fishing for trout or small mouth bass.
There were multiple benches and even an abandoned rope swing as I passed the walk- and boat-in campground.
How do you know a campground sees a lot of wind? Windbreaks around the campsites, probably because they know that people can’t escape into their cars if it gets too bad (like you can at Sun Lakes State Park, for example).
The trail continued past the campground and across a second outlet bridge.
I didn’t go past this spot as I knew the trail continued next to a pocket of private property and shortly finished at the group campground (where you can reserve up to 300 people). A small inlet sat between a thin jetty, all must be designed to break the wind that blows down the Columbia. The group campground has its own parking lot outside the main entrance on S. Daroga Park Lane, this has great accessibility and offers the longest stretch of flat trail.
I slowly began my walk back to the car. The whole main trail from north to south is 2 miles but there are multiple side trails that add another half mile to the total.
I took the side loop through the walk-in campground and down to the dock where one might see kayakers or jet skis during the summer.
I wondered if someone in a wheelchair would be comfortable venturing down onto the dock, it did appear there would be enough room to turn around once on the flat decking.
Normally there would be a stack of wheelbarrows here for campers to use to haul their equipment to and from the parking lot.
The poplars were a deep amber, a sign that their leaves would not cling much longer before winter’s cold whisks them away.
The other side of the lagoon is more private property so I did my best to get an image without too many of its buildings, as well as avoid the highway and powerlines overhead.
I love the reflection of the trees in the water.
Back through the middle section I went. I bet this is the best time to be at the park, solitude must be elusive in the summer.
All in all, I spent about 75 minutes in Daroga. Since my time there, I have supplemented what I learned with information available on the internet. Family videos on YouTube of the group camping area and riding bikes along the trail, for example. This one was super cute, two brothers who tried their hand at fishing. History articles like this one. For example, the word Daroga is derived from the first letters in the names of the brothers who owned the orchard: David, Robert and Grady Auvil. And the orchard was the birth place of the Granny Smith apple and Rainier cherry!
This is one of the things I love about signing up to write about hikes I might not otherwise seek out, I learn so much more about the state I live in and how others are recreating in it. And hopefully with my descriptions, it encourages others to get outside.
Daroga State Park is one of several state parks along HWY 97 that are joint maintained with Chelan PUD. Lincoln Rock and Wenatchee Confluence are other ones. I have ridden my bike on the Rocky Reach Trail from Lincoln Rock to meet the Apple Capital Recreation Loop and around the town of Wenatchee, it makes for the perfect spring or fall jaunt. And no stop to visit Wenatchee is complete without a stop at Pybus Market for morning coffee or an afternoon snack. I’ll be writing up that spot here shortly.
So the next time you are somewhere around Wenatchee or Chelan, I hope you save some time to stop at Daroga State Park and check it out for yourself!
1 S Daroga Park Lane, Orondo, WA 98843
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