Esswine is an amazing spot outside of Granite Falls, WA. It is well worth the $60/night price to reserve a private campground which fits up to 25 people and several cars. Dogs welcome. A stone’s throw away from a peaceful river and short driving distance to many transcendent hikes.
We were unable to check out the ice caves due to a road closure, so instead we hiked the stone train track ruins of the Old Robe Trail. This was some serious Indiana Jones shit.
We scaled rocks and fallen trees, crossed streams on logs…
…and walked through tunnels.
The trail was alongside a rushing river most of the way. It felt exciting but still safe. It ended right after the second cave, dropping off into the river.
And oh my god, was it beautiful.
The rest of the time, we played Bocce Ball, ate our weight in camping treats, smelted aluminum in the fire to make treasures and giggled our way through the weekend. What a great group of people! What a kick-ass spot! What a delightful way to kick off the Summer of Love.
Granite Falls also seemed like a pretty cool little town. One of these weekend, we have to go back, get a motel room, and absorb the local color via their several taverns, one of which boasts Friday night karaoke.
Summer Aught Eight!!!
3 Comments
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
That looks cool. Is it just the one site? I checked em out and there did not appear to be any other smaller campsites.
Love the ice caves we were allowed to go back into them about 20 years ago to shoot a film, the Legend of Mystery River. Cool and drippy
The first river pic is from the Esswine spot. The Old Robe Trail was a nearby hike. There were many hikes near by but you mostly had to drive to the trail heads because the road to them was very narrow. Still, Esswine itself was a conveniently located, private spot with many places to put tents and several fire pits. It’s off Highway 7 about 11 miles from the ice caves.
ESSWINE WAS MY GREAT GRADNDPA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!