Traveling Southwest Washington State
I recently took a trip with my family to the southwest part of Washington State along the Columbia River. Our route took us from Bellingham, WA down I-5 south to Kelso, WA where we then followed Hwy 4 west along the Columbia River to the town of Naselle, WA.
We joined an uncle & his wife in Naselle to fish King Salmon on the Naselle River. What a beautiful area of Washington State with the great Columbia River directly south and the Pacific Ocean to the west. The climate there makes for a lush woodland sanctuary for a variety of animals, plants and vistas that recall earlier times when the pace of life was much slower.
The area is held up primarily by the logging and fishing industries with many quiet, quaint towns dotting the highways and byways sustaining the friendly hardworking folks who call this area home.
I had read an article in the Sunset Magzine about Southwest Washington and had always wanted to visit the area ever since. It’s not the first time we read one of Sunset Magazine’s article’s and before you knew it, we were off exploring.
We stayed four days and 3 nights in one of only three motels in the Naselle area and were quite comfortable. My uncle and I fished near by on the Naselle River several times over the next couple days. It’s an incredible feeling being on the river in nature, enjoying all the sounds, the color of the landscape & trees and waiting for the alluding King’s coming up the river.
One of the several highlights was the visit on the river of three playful river otters. They kept their distance but were as curious about us as we were of them. We also had a pair of grey cranes that fished most of the time we were on the river. It was truly a naturalist’s wonderland.
After lunch one afternoon we made our way up to the Naselle Fish Hatchery. Our timing couldn’t have been better with the entire crew at the hatchery in full swing collecting all the King Salmon that made their way up the fish ladder to spawn. The workers would collect all the female (Does) salmon on one side of the pen and the males (Bucks) on the other. Basically they would gather the eggs and sperm, mix them and after they had about 25 good size buckets full, they took them back up to the hatchery buildings to continue the spawning incubation process. The public is welcome to come and learn about the salmon hatchery anytime but I must say stopping by during mid-fall is really a good bet.
This area has a ton of history and if we had more time and not fishing, we could really fill the day touring all the sites. I saw several signs along the Columbia River about the Lewis and Clark expedition. The town of Naselle, WA & Astoria, OR celebrate their Finnish heritage every other summer with a Finn Festival.
One late afternoon we took Hwy 401 south to Hwy 101 and then the Astoria Bridge over the Columbia River into Astoria, Oregon. We enjoyed an awesome dinner along the Columbia River at one of several restraunts to choose from, what a beautiful site. We toured the historic town of Astoria after dinner and then returned that evening to Naselle.
On our way home Friday we decided to take another route along the Washington coast to see a different part of our state. The weather was a beautiful sunny fall day, especially for viewing all the fall colors. I wish we had more time, there was so many places worth stopping.
Our route took Hwy 4 out of Naselle and then north along historic Highway 101. We stopped several times along Hwy 101 to enjoy the beautiful views of Willapa Bay and some peak boo views of the Pacific Ocean. The road pretty much stays along the water all the way up to the town of South Bend (the oyster capital of the world). Then we continued along thru the logging town of Raymond and then North on Hwy 101. We eventually took Hwy 107 east and then north into the town of Montesano. From there we took Hwy 12 and then Hwy 8 into Olympia. From here all the way home was back to the busy freeway of I-5.
What a beautiful tour of the Southwest area of Washington. The colors really were awesome, and unlike any other area of the country you have the mixture of our state trees, Douglas Fir & Redwood Cedar, mixed in with the maples, alder and all the other deciduous leaf trees of Western Wasshington.
Another trip you might want to do, when your down in the Southwest corner of Washington is take a trip out to the Long Beach Peninsula and the Pacific Ocean.