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OUTSIDE WALLA WALLA

OUTSIDE WALLA WALLA

Grow Them Wild, Recreating with Kids

Rose Springs Sno-Park (Photo Credit: Gwen Dildine)

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By Gwen Dildine

Before we grew our family, Steve and I knew we wanted to raise our kids engaging with the outdoors as much as possible. This site is the result of a giant research project, and the kids are always along for the ride. Plenty of naps happened on a trail in the backpack carrier, and now they often outpace my hiking stride.

Walla Walla has a well-deserved reputation as a premier destination for some of the best wines in the world, but it is also a wonderful place to raise a family or perhaps explore for the first time.

Whitman College Campus Sculpture Walking Tour (Photo Credit: Gwen Dildine)
Sculptures integrated into the campus offer moments of reflection and a layer of interest to the gorgeous grounds. Stop and reflect and even play as you make your way to each art installation.

Walla Walla Walks—Art, Trees & History

Parks are always a great place to start. They are a hub of activity and host all the community’s special events from 4th of July in the Park in Pioneer Park to the Balloon Stampede at Tietan Park.

My very favorite in-town activity is a handful of self-guided tours that double as scavenger hunts—Walla Walla Heritage Walks, Big Trees of Walla Walla, City of Walla Walla Sculpture Walk, and Whitman College Campus Sculpture Walking Tour. To help everyone navigate, print the PDF and let the littles find their way from attraction to attraction. The Big Trees of Walla Walla loops at Pioneer Park and Whitman College as well as the Whitman College Campus Sculpture Walking Tour are the best off-road options, meaning very limited exposure to driving traffic.

If enjoying Whitman College, don’t forget to stop by Cleveland Commons, which is the college’s main cafeteria. Depending on the time, the whole family can have a wonderful selection of delicious and nutritious food, or enjoy the café, serving up coffee, hot chocolate, and generous proportions of pastries.

Big Trees Meet Sculpture Walk (Photo Credit: Gwen Dildine)
Trees are a great marker of time. Historic photos often show little saplings not much taller than the person in the picture. Now walk through campus and enjoy shade under trees taller than most buildings. That is a big tree!

Walla Walla Outdoor Recreation

Many of the recreation opportunities in Walla Walla are well suited for kiddos. These destinations are run by the National Park Service, US Army of Corp of Engineers, and the local Parks & Recreation Department which means programing to engage their curiosity!

Whitman Mission hosts a Junior Ranger program that acts similar to the scavenger hunt concept, building activity into the outing. Rangers also lead guided tours of the mission, folding in history and providing context of how the valley evolved over the last few hundred years.

The Fort Walla Walla Museum is a must see. The diligence and intention of their ever-evolving collection is worthy of repeat visits. Adjacent to the Arthur G. Rempel Nature Trail, Planet Walk, two play structures, the BMX and skate park, and ultimate frisbi course, it is almost certain everyone in the family can agree on a handful of activities.

In addition to the museum’s living history events, the (hopefully) annual Oregon Trail Game & Ice Cream Social might just rival the original Macintosh game that likely the generation reading this blog grew up playing. It is such an engaging, interesting, informative experience—everyone will have an awesome time despite the threat of dysentery.

Another family favorite activity is fishing. Bennington Lake hosts a fishing derby once the reservoir is filled. The lake is surrounded by a trail system, so it is a great place to practice for bigger hikes or learn to ride a bike on gravel and dirt trails.

Two paved off-road community paths on opposite ends of town further support new bike rides: Mill Creek Recreation Trail and the West Whitman Drive Path. These paths also enjoy wide open viewscapes of the mountains, so if you need a little break from the learning process at least it’s in a peaceful environment.

Umatilla Rim Trail (Photo Credit: Gwen Dildine)
The Umatilla Rim Trail is a beloved multi-use path that checks so many recreation boxes. Biking the trail is a great way to cover a lot of ground, as it is a long, out-and-back with three trailheads. It is also one of the few trails that stays up on the ridge, which saves piggyback rides up the side of a mountain.

Outdoor Recreation with Kids—Wild Style

Just about every activity write-up on the site included our kids as part of the research process. We wanted to explore as a family. Our daughter first hiked Grouse Mountain Trail without any piggyback rides when she was five years old. Obviously, we took breaks and brought plenty of snack.

The point is to include the kids in outdoor recreation. It really doesn’t matter if you make it 100 feet from the trailhead or 10 miles down the trail. The goal has nothing to do with distance. To get started, here are my top five places to start adventuring with kids.

Lewis & Clark Trail State Park—The short hiking loop feels like you are in a secret garden. Accessing the river is pretty easy, and at certain times of year tubing the short section of the park shoreline is quite entertaining. If new to camping, the proximity to Walla Walla makes it simple to try and well supported by neighboring Waitsburg and Dayton.

Umatilla Rim Trail—Any trail in the Blue Mountains that has access to a vault toilet is a gem in my book. In addition to this convenience, three different trailheads provide access to this long, ridge-line trail. Get to know this trail over time—different parts are well suited for a variety of activities. For example, starting at the Ninemile Trailhead heading toward the Horseshoe Prairie Trailhead seems to work well for our family to mountain bike together. If it is hot, try starting at the Lake Creek Trailhead and enjoy hiking in the shade for a few miles.

Bennington Lake—There are a lot of different ways to use Bennington Lake. While its purpose is flood mitigation, it doesn’t feel like an industrial destination. The view is hard to beat. Bring bikes and ride a few different loops. Start at different access points to vary distance traveled. Carry binoculars and looks for nesting owlets. Do you have a horse, fishing pole, or snowshoes? Well, all those activities are possible as well. Don’t forget about the airport district just down the road—the promise of the Walla Walla Roastry, food truck at Quirk or Burwood Brewery, and others is added motivation.

Whitman Mission—This spot tops the list for all the reasons previously discussed. To add a layer of engagement, pack a picnic and utilize the covered tables near the parking area. It’s also fun to watch the kids gain familiarity with a place—they will start to take you to the spots they enjoy most.

Lyons Ferry State Park—In addition to facilities and protected swimming area, one of our favorite places to spend a summer evening is paddleboarding (and attempting to fish off a paddleboard) at the confluence of the Palouse and Snake Rivers. Check out our write-up on the Palouse River for our beloved spot to launch, which avoids the jetties. Obviously, everyone should wear life jackets. A typical evening for us involves swimming a little, lounging on a floatie, fishing, checking out the basalt cliff walls for often giant spiders, and birdwatching.

Middle Point Ridge Trail (Photo Credit: Strategy Northwest)
A little trail maintenance project offered an opportunity to learn a little about trees. Can you find hibernating lady bugs in old tree trunks covered in leaf litter? What little creatures are in a puddle after a rainy spring day? Beyond the destination, learning how to slow down and observe is a special opportunity to connect as a family.

Tips & Tricks

Time for a little honesty. There are plenty of meltdowns on the trail, shivering on the shoreline, and especially on the ski slopes. Waking littles up early only to walk uphill for a few miles is likely not the first thing they ask to do. We have never heard regret from our kids that we went outside. We hear you parents—it is tough to stick with it. With that in mind, these are a few favorite games we play to move through more disgruntled moments.

Find the Rainbow—When you look at the landscape, sometimes the eye sees a dominant color, but if you look closely, there is a kaleidoscope of colors everywhere. Challenge the kids to find each color of the rainbow along the trail. You could even take a picture and work to identify the find at home. I’m sure the phone could do the research, but the act of using a guidebook is skill builder as well.

Matching Game—I love my Pocketbook naturalist guides. I used to carry several books in my backpack, but that valuable real estate was quickly filled with extra water bottles and snacks to bribe forward progress. Anyway, these are laminated guides that reflect the most common species to a specific region. It is easy to match up flowers, birds, trees, mammal footprints or scat, and even the night sky. They are hard to find, but Amazon and REI are great places to start.

Creature Adventure—Our kids grew up watching Wild Kratts on PBS. Let’s be honest, I learned so much as well. When the family is out and about in the mountains, have a creature adventure! A great spot for such things is a puddle. That’s right, a puddle after rainstorm often houses so much life. It is an easy spot to find and observe.

Nature Journaling—Bring little notebooks for the kids to write down observations and perhaps even sketch their surroundings. This is especially helpful as they get tired and/or hot and need a break. Find a shaded spot, get out the water bottles, and let them jot down whatever catches their attention.

Lewis & Clark Trail State Park (Photo Credit: Strategy Northwest)
The Touchet River is the northern boundary of the park. This family friendly park is great for camping, short nature walks, birding, fishing, and at certain times of year a little tubing. Don’t let the park’s proximity to the highway deter you. In fact, it is a great spot to explore with kiddos–there isn’t much time for the “are we there yet” question.

Organizations & Outfitters

Engage with the community. Like finding life in a puddle, there are unexpected places offering outdoor-themed experiences. Follow our events page and keep an eye out for related programing from the Walla Walla Public Library, films presented by the Gesa Power House Theatre or at Cordiner Hall, the ski swap at the Walla Walla Fairgrounds to accommodate growing kids without the full-price investment. The Water & Environment Center at the Walla Walla Community College hosts Return to the River. Tri State Steelheaders work in the classroom as well as provide at-home resources.

Blue Mountain Audubon Society welcome the entire family at bird walks on Tuesdays. Greg with Adventure Fit is great with kids and teaches the entire family how to have fun and be safe on the water. Bicycle Barn carries a robust inventory of kids bikes and helmets, and more importantly, can recommend the appropriate size to maximize usage as kiddos age.

Those are just a few examples of local resources for local recreation!

Go Wild

Our time exploring the Walla Walla valley and Blue Mountains are by far my favorite memories and what I look forward to the most. Outdoor recreation is a precious opportunity to go back to basics and just explore and play as a family—get a little dirty, cool off in a river, or ride a ski lift for the first time. The possibilities are truly endless, so let’s get out there and grow them wild!