Yakima Sportsman State Park

Yakima is located in south central Washington, in the high desert and eastern elevations of the Cascade Mountain Range. You can see Mount Rainier from the north and Mount Adams from the south. It is known for it apples, wineries and other fruit. We stayed in Yakima Sportsman State Park. It was a very average park, and surprisingly not very crowded in mid-July. Possibly due to all the mosquitos!! It did have a coupe of trails and Mike got a few good photos. I spent most of my time biking and running on the Yakima Greenway. The trail needed some maintenance and was largely along the highway. However, it did go by some the Yakima river, nature preserves, lakes, and even a waterfall. I absolutely loved the town of Naches at the end/start of the trail. It was such a cute town with a train depot and miles of light posts with big flower pots.

The best part of our stay was driving on the White Pass Scenic Byway and exploring the Oak Creek Wildlife Area and the Tieton River Nature Trail. We drove our truck on a bumpy trail through Oak Creek, which was our first off road adventure in our new vehicle. It was definitely a better ride than we were used to in our old CRV. The hike along the Tieton River and across the suspension bridge was really pretty and Mike enjoyed birding on the trail.

Next stop: Mount Rainier National Park!