If you are from Washington you are probably familiar with the 70 roads in Greenwater and the shooting areas. If not, you may have seen that recently The Seattle Times released an article in regards to the shooting area near Greenwater being closed:
I have seen the mixed emotions about this first hand from the residents (old and new) from Enumclaw. That being said, I thought now would be a good time to point out all the wonderful things that are in Greenwater, that aren’t known to most.
Hitting the road with a former Enumclaw resident at the wheel, we decided to take a look at what Greenwater was and what Greenwater is becoming!
People who are familiar with Greenwater, WA tend to know the shooting area (from the article), the surrounding camping sites, and wheeling trails; and maybe some of you might even know where the waterfall is! Greenwater has so much more to offer us though, here are a few things some people might not realize about Greenwater.
Christmas Tree Cutting: Greenwater has some popular places to go for cutting down Christmas trees. This is actually one of my fondest memories growing up; when I was little, we would gather a big group of family friends, drive up in the snow, have a fire and cook our meal then head out to go cut down our Christmas tree! Once we got the tree, it was time to go sledding and play in the snow; great fun if you have kids or even if you just like playing in the snow! I would most definitely suggest having a 4WD car or chains though.
Disc Golfing: There is a disc golf course right after the Ski Inn, however because it’s so unknown, no one plays it enough to keep the course up. It’s still a bit of fun if you are looking for an adventure though!
Skiing: Of course, Greenwater is the gateway to Crystal Mountain where the skiing is amazing! I will have to do a separate article on it at some point, it’s definitely worthy of it!
Mud Mountain: Mud Mountain Dam is actually closer to Enumclaw than Greenwater, it’s very much in the middle of the two and unfortunately, they have since closed off “the lookout”. You can still get there on foot, but you won’t be able to drive out there. Right accross from “the lookout” there is a field where the deer like to gather, if you are there in the evening, take a moment to shine (a small) light on the field and you will see tons of eyes turn and look at you! Kind of spooky, but still an amazing sight!
Waterfall: There is a waterfall accross the bridge going into GreenWater. As you drive in, you will drive under a bridge, if you pull over on the right and walk accross the bridge you will find a trail hidden on the right hand side of the gravel road (very hard to spot) take that trail and you will come out next to a waterfall that you may hike to the top or climb to the top of.
These are just a few of the things Greenwater has to offer, but I encourge everyone to go out and see for youself. Greenwater is a big area and there is always something fun to do!
Traveler of Lands 