Doris the Explorist: April 2017

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Yurtastic Weekend at Seaquest

Everything's more magical if located in a forest right?

Dates glamped: April 8-9, 2017
Location: Castle Rock,WA Seaquest State Park (about 2.5 hrs south of Seattle)
Rented: 2 Yurts (sleeps 5 each)
Off-season cost: $74/night

Just a quick write up about my birthday weekend.

I had been eyeing booking yurts in Washington since January. There's actually a number of state parks that offer yurts, cabins, and what they like to call "rustic shelters" for rent (tipis and what not). They have off season and peak season prices. Having been unsure how fast yurts book up during off season, I started looking early just in case. I ended up settling booking yurts at Seaquest State Park. They have a total of 5 yurts here. All of them were booked last weekend, but it didn't seem they went too fast because it looked like there was still availability 2 weeks prior (I had booked the yurts by mid-February).

Anyways, our yurts included heat and electricity, a futon that slept two, and a bunk bed that slept 3, so 5 total. The yurts are pretty simple, not much fuss to them. In between the 2 yurts we booked was also a covered picnic area, which came in handy when it started raining and hailing lol. Each yurt also has their own fire pit.

9 of us stayed the night in the yurts. We ate snacks, drank sangria, cooked dinner over the fire pit, and just relaxed and enjoyed each others company throughout the evening. I would definitely do something like this again! Maybe next time I'll book one of them "rustic shelters" at another state park:)

Thank you to everyone who came out this weekend! Jaclyn, Bryan, Catherine, Catherine, Katherine, Sarina, Ryan, Paul, Cody, and Euzel!

Until next time Castle Rock!

Here's the link if you want to check out the other places you can rent:
http://parks.state.wa.us/403/Cabins-Rustic-Shelters-Yurts

Nature Trail next to the Mt St Helens Visitor Center

Yurt #2

Inside of the yurt

Glamping

Thank you for the birthday cupcakes and everything else Sarina!

Boys being boys

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Repeat: Ancient Lakes

A little bushwhacking in the canyon

Ryan lugging out wood!

Easy 2 mile hike out to the lakes

Tent Views

Tent shots are my favorite!

Location: Ancient Lakes in Quincy, WA (Central Washington)
Dates backpacked: April 1-2, 2017
Miles hiked: 7 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Permits: no permits needed, only need a Discovery Pass
Water: you have to carry it out, the lakes are not drinkable (for a 1 nighter, I carried out 4-5 liters)

We did the same backpacking trip around this time last year. We had such fond memories of the good weather and unique terrain, we headed back out there again this year! The weather is a lot better east of the mountains this time of the year, with Seattle still being in full gloom, we wanted some sunshine in our life!

We headed out with a larger group this year, last year was a head count of 4, this year was a head count of 8 people + 3 pups! We also learned our lesson last year, there wasn't much to forage for a decent fire, which had only last us 30 min. So this year, we each carried out a log of wood so that our fire would last all night, which worked out great!

Sarina, Ryan, Catherine, Cody, and I got to the trail head first. The others trickled in through out the day and met us. It's an easy 2 miles hike out to the lakes. We found a spot big enough for 5 tents and posted up near the lakes. The weather was perfect again this year! We setup camp, ate lunch, and hiked around during the day. At night we built a fire, made dinner, and had some s'mores to end the night.

Following morning was a quick breakfast, packed up, and hiked out by 10 am. It's about a 2.5-3 hour drive from Seattle, so it was nice to head back early to wind down from the weekend adventure.

Overall, it was an awesome time with everyone! Kudos to Caitlin for trekking out with us at 7 months pregnant! The 3 dogs got a long just fine, and there were no big mishaps. Another great weekend to add to the books.

Until next time Quincy!