75 Summer Kids Adventures
Friday is the last day of school for most children in the South Sound, and starting Saturday they'll be pestering their parents daily with plaintive cries of "There's nothing to do."
But how does one pry them away from the Xbox, put a GPS receiver in their hands rather than a cell phone or get them to turn off the latest episode of One Tree Hill and get off the couch for some family fun?
Well, The News Tribune's intrepid Adventure team has searched high and low to come up with suggestions to educate, entertain and enthuse your young ones. To put a charge into your summer, we've got ideas for biking paved trails or long distances, hikes that are easy and hard, recommendations on where to pitch a tent, a tip on where you can let Rover run free at a dog park or places to get wet and dirty exploring tide pools.
In all, we've got 75 things to do - all outdoors, or course - on 75 days of summer vacation.
1. Dangle from a parasail 500 feet above Commencement Bay and try to pretend you're not nervous. On nice days, flights leave regularly from The Ram on Ruston Way; $60 for singles, $95 tandem; 253-272-7979.
2. Take a dip in the 110-degree waters of the Goldmyer Hot Springs. The dirt road to the hot springs, 25 miles outside of North Bend, is recommended for high-clearance vehicles only; $12 per person; goldmyer.org; 206-789-5631.
3. Paddle the Nisqually Delta while looking at seals, eagles and ospreys on Azimuth Expeditions - most popular sea kayaking tour; $60; azimuthexpeditions.com.
4. Take a private 90-minute surf lesson on the beach at Westport. The Steepwater Surf Shop offers lessons (including board and wet suit) by appointment; $80; 360-268-5527.
5. Get in a hike while checking out the natural mystery that is the Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve. Are the large mounds ancient burial grounds, or were they formed by aliens? Take Exit 95 on I-5, drive west and turn right on Waddell Creek Road.
6. Ride your bike on a 21-mile paved trail from Yelm to Lacey on the Yelm-Tenino Trail. The trailhead is across Highway 507 from Yelm City Park.
7. Get a workout on the Mount Si trail, Washington's most popular trail. Climb 3,400 feet on an eight-mile round-trip hike. Take Exit 31 from I-90, drive east on North Bend Way, then turn left onto Mount Si Road.
8. Rent a motorboat at the Point Defiance Boat House and try your luck at fishing in the Dalco Passage; $50 for a three-hour rental; 253-591-5325.
9. Get in a swim or fish on secluded but popular Packwood Lake. You'll have to work to get there, it's a nine-mile hike round-trip; $5 per-vehicle Northwest Forest Pass; www.fs.fed.us/gpnf.
10. Take a walk into the clouds with a day hike to Camp Muir, at 10,000 feet on Mount Rainier. Prepare for bad weather, and carry and know how to use a detailed map, compass and GPS receiver; $10 per-vehicle park entry fee; www.nps.gov/mora.
11. Explore Layser Cave, about 10 miles south of Randle. The cave was shelter for prehistoric people and wasn't discovered until 1982; $5 per-vehicle Northwest Forest Pass; www.fs.fed.us/gpnf.
12. Hike back into history to see what Mount Rainier National Park's Longmire used to look like on the one-mile Trail of the Shadows, which starts and ends at modern-day Longmire; $10 per-vehicle park entry fee; www.nps.gov/mora.
13. A short hike down the Harmony Trail in the northeast corner of Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument is the only way to get to Spirit Lake; $5 per-vehicle Northwest Forest Pass; ["www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/mshnvm":http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/mshnvm.
14. Camp in one of 14 Deer Park campsites near the summit of Blue Mountain in Olympic National Park, where a one-mile hike will get you to the top and bring stunning views; $10 per-vehicle park entry fee, $8-16 campground fee; www.nps.gov/olym.
15. Picnic, swim, hike or spend a few nights camping at Baker Lake on Highway 20 north of Concrete. Peak through the thick trees for views of Mount Baker; $5 per-vehicle Northwest Forest Pass; www.nps.gov/noca/challenger/ch8.htm.
16. If you get sick of the sunshine, head to the Queets Valley Rain Forest in Olympic National Park, where it rains about 145 inches per year. The area is packed with hiking and camping opportunities; $10 per-vehicle park entry fee; www.nps.gov/olym/queets.htm.
17. Explore the three-mile Willapa National Wildlife Refuge at the tip of the Long Beach Peninsula, where you'll see seals, wildflowers and as many as 200 species of birds. Beware of the mosquitoes; 360-484-3482.
18. Rent one of the Olympic National Forest's three cabins. Cabins, which hold between four and six people, make good base camps for hiking, fishing or climbing adventures; $30 to $40 per night; www.fs.fed.us/r6/olympic/recreation-nu/cabins_1.shtml; 1-877-444-6777.
19. Try not to get lost on the 50-mile web of mountain bike trails on the 4,719-acre chunk of land in Bonney Lake known as Victor Falls. Park at the Christmas tree farm south of the intersection of 120th and 198th streets.
20. Camp at Ohanapecosh in the southeast corner of Mount Rainier National Park, but make your reservations in advance. This is the park's most popular campground; $10 per-vehicle park entry fee, camp fee $15 to 40; www.nps.gov/mora.
21. If a flat, beginner hike is what you want, try Skookum Flats just off Highway 410 near the Buck Creek Campground. Hike over a suspension bridge and admire Skookum Falls; $5 per-vehicle Northwest Forest Pass; 360-825-6585.
22. Sunrise Visitor Center at Mount Rainier is a popular place to launch hikes, picnic or just take in views of the mountain. And it's often less crowded than Paradise; $10 per-vehicle park entry fee; www.nps.gov/mora.
23. If you don't mind falling on your tail, grab a skimboard and head to Dash Point State Park. Run and jump on the skimboard and slide on top of streams of water running across the beach; $5 per-vehicle parking fee, skimboards cost $40 to $250, parks.wa.gov.
24. Take one of the Olympic Peninsula's most popular hikes, a flat 11-mile round trip on the Dungeness Spit to a lighthouse that has stood watch since 1857. To reach the trailhead, travel north on Kitchen-Dick Road from U.S. Highway 101 west of Sequim; $3 per-vehicle entry fee, 360-683-5847.
25. Take an auto tour of Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest by following U.S. Highway 101 and its many spur roads around the peninsula; www.nps.gov/olym/tourmap.htm.
26. Spend hours underground trying to navigate the 2.25-mile Ape Cave on the south side of Mount St. Helens. Headlamps, a high-powered lantern and extra batteries are required; $5 per-vehicle Northwest Forest Pass; 360-247-3900.
27. Climb almost 3,000 feet to the 6,280-foot summit of Mount Townsend for views of the Olympics and Hood Canal. To find the trailhead, take Penny Creek Road west for 14 miles from U.S. Highway 101 south of Quilcene and follow the signs; $5 per-vehicle Northwest Forest Pass; 360-877-5254.
28. Take one of many day hikes on the Wonderland Trail in Mount Rainier National Park, or take 10 days and follow the loop for 95 miles around the mountain; $10 per-vehicle park entry fee; www.nps.gov/mora.
29. Grab your bike on July 31 and pick a Tour de Kitsap route of 12, 30, 65 or 100 miles. The race ends in Silverdale's Old Town; $17 adults, $12 youths 18 and younger; westsoundcycling.com.
30. Play the relatively new hide-and-seek game called geocaching. Try to find one of thousands of stashed containers in the South Sound area with the help of global positioning satellite receiver; geocaching.com.
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75 Summer Adventures
