Closing Washington State Parks Cost Twice as Much

Times are tough, and governments are having to close purse strings. Here in the State of Washington, state leaders are facing a potential deficit of nearly nine billion dollars. The governor recently asked Washington State Parks to figure out how to cut its budget by 23%, or $22.9 million, with direction to transfer some park properties to other jurisdictions, reduce service at others, and completely mothball still more.

The resulting list includes 33 parks that would be “mothballed,” or temporarily closed. The public could still access the listed parks, but only by foot. Parking areas and restroom facilities would be closed and park staff would either be reassigned or laid off. State Parks would realize roughly $8.4 million in savings should they and the Legislature ultimately agree on this approach.

This effects local parks like Lewis & Clark, and Rainbow Falls along with others that wildly popular like Millersylvania Memorial and Beacon Rock that I have written about in this blog.

This creates problems for many parks that have delicate land grant origins. Schafer State Park near Montesano was deeded to the State under the condition that it remain a state park, open to the public. in the absence of that stipulation, the State would have to give the park back to the Schafer family. Discussions of this sort are taking place all over the state.

Closing and shutting down our state parks is the wrong thing to do and many in Olympia know that. Many of them are built from the hard times during the depression era when leaders opened up public lands out of a stimulus necessity. A love affair was born, but ill-fated ideas during this latest round of financial troubles have different priorities in the lead.

State Parks are more often visited by local, lower and middle income user groups that can’t afford to travel farther to other regional and national parks. This takes away local opportunities from communities that are struggling to keep their own local parks, let alone campgrounds and other types of recreation available to its citizenry.

Let’s not forget the number of employees that will lose their seasonal and family wage jobs. The potential damage here is two-pronged with recreational opportunities limited while 33 local communities will feel a sharp financial jolt due to job losses and lost tourism.

We shouldn’t be closing parks. We should be keeping them open as the havens they are during tough times.

Beacon Rock State Park Offers Many Opportunities

With the middle elevations of Lewis County still covered with snow, it is back to plan “B”. The Columbia River Gorge is just 90 minutes away and there are so many opportunities that await.



On a recent, picture perfect day, my boys and I headed to Beacon Rock State Park 35 miles east of Vancouver. The best route from our area is I5 to I205 and then head east on Highway 14. We had two goals. One was to hike the rock, the volcanic dike that is the center piece of the 4,500 acre state park. Our second goal was to hike into a pair of waterfalls on the north side of Highway 14.

I planned nine hours to drive to the park, complete the two hikes and drive back home to Winlock. I was back in seven, and could have been home in five had it not been for our usual explorations this time around Cape Horn.

The trail up to the top of Beacon Rock is a fantastic piece of trail engineering. With 52 switchbacks and 22 bridges all bolted to the side of a vertical cliff. The ¾ mile-long trail was constructed between 1915-18 and cost an incredible $15,000 (1918 dollars of course) to build.





One web account that I had read stated that the top of Beacon Rock was “a good place for a picnic”. To that I say nix! There was room for maybe 20, standing, well balanced people. This is not a place to gather the quiet solace of nature! On any given summer day, there may be several hundred people on the trail at one time.



Upon finishing the hike to the top of the rock, we moved our vehicle across the road and found one of the last parking spaces at the Hamilton Mountain Trailhead. A ranger was actually directing traffic. A sure sign that we were in the backyard a couple of million people.

We hiked 1.4 miles up a pretty good slope to Rodney and Harvey Falls. The combination of drops was impressive, but my personal favorite was the upper Rodney Falls. For fans of natural carnival rides, you have got to stick your head into the “Pool of Winds”.



It may not be the “backcountry”, but there is no snow. That is about all many of us can hope for this spring!