Bake's school started a week after B'ham public schools so a couple weeks ago, we headed to the eastside--Leavenworth and Wenatchee--for some late summer fun. (In fact, you can read all about it in this Thursday's Seattle Times Northwest Weekend section
www.seattletimes.com.) I stumbled upon this amazing place in the foothills just west of downtown Wenatchee. It's called the Sage Hills Trails area and it's incredibly beautiful, in that eastside way, and fun. I climbed and climbed some 2,000 feet of elevation on non-technical singletrack (as you can see, no downed logs, limbs, very few rocks, etc.) which I kinda get a bang out of. I know lots of riders like more stuff to jump and huck and hit and hop er whatever but I really enjoy this kind of riding too.
On much of the way up you have these grand, sweeping views of the Columbia River and the Wenatchee Valley. Wenatchee has one of the most amazing settings of any city in Washington, but Jeez, it's got some hellish sprawl you crawl through just to get downtown. Every uninspiring chain motel, gas station, big box store, mini-mart imaginable, one after another in a two-mile stretch. It's like when Fred runs through his house in the Flintstone's and every few seconds he passes the same chair, table and lamp over and over again.
On the way home we did, what else, checked out the Aplets and Cotlets tour where we got to wear hairnets and watch folks make candy that people of my parents' generation love.
Bake's school started a week after B'ham public schools so a couple weeks ago, we headed to the eastside--Leavenworth and Wenatchee--for some late summer fun. (In fact, you can read all about it in this Thursday's Seattle Times Northwest Weekend section www.seattletimes.com.) I stumbled upon this amazing place in the foothills just west of downtown Wenatchee. It's called the Sage Hills Trails area and it's incredibly beautiful, in that eastside way, and fun. I climbed and climbed some 2,000 feet of elevation on non-technical singletrack (as you can see, no downed logs, limbs, very few rocks, etc.) which I kinda get a bang out of. I know lots of riders like more stuff to jump and huck and hit and hop er whatever but I really enjoy this kind of riding too. 
On much of the way up you have these grand, sweeping views of the Columbia River and the Wenatchee Valley. Wenatchee has one of the most amazing settings of any city in Washington, but Jeez, it's got some hellish sprawl you crawl through just to get downtown. Every uninspiring chain motel, gas station, big box store, mini-mart imaginable, one after another in a two-mile stretch. It's like when Fred runs through his house in the Flintstone's and every few seconds he passes the same chair, table and lamp over and over again.
On the way home we did, what else, checked out the Aplets and Cotlets tour where we got to wear hairnets and watch folks make candy that people of my parents' generation love.
Well, darn. Here I was hoping you wouldn't praise Wenatchee Confluence State Park. Instead you found all of the things we like about that park from the trails to the smallness of the place; hope this doesn't increase the reserving of our favorite site. As it is we have to reserve @ 7:00 am exactly nine months in advance to get anywhere near the site we like. Lovely park and except for the urban sounds of the fruit trucks loading and unloading up the hill from the park it's a special place.
ReplyDeleteAplets and Cotlets, here we were just visiting the area and were commenting about how we always got those things for christmas AND we are your parents age. We were just laughing about how we have never met anyone who actually likes that stuff.
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