Final 2009 Train to Trek – Board a vintage train near Freighthouse Square in Tacoma before 9 a.m. Oct. 3 and take a scenic trip to Northwest Trek. Naturalists and railway historians will regale you with interesting facts while the kids enjoy on-board hands-on wildlife activities. Reservations are required.
Wolf Awareness Weekend – Special wolf exhibits and activities will be set up throughout the park Oct. 16 to 18. Come and stroke a wolf pelt, touch sharp wolf teeth and learn about these amazing animals from their Northwest Trek keepers. The same weekend, the local town of Eatonville celebrates its centennial (www.eatonvillecentennial.com).
Hoot n' Howl – For two evenings, Oct. 23 -24, visitors will be able to explore the park after dark, play games and ride on a special tram tour by moonlight. Reservations required.
It was a sunny Tuesday in June when a friend and I piled our four kids into one car and headed out for a unique adventure.
Northwest Trek Wildlife Park located near Eatonville (approximately 20 miles south of Puyallup) encompasses 723 acres of meadows, lakes, trails and forest. It took us about an hour and half to drive there from Seattle. My friend had wisely printed out the Northwest Trek Map of Animals from their Web site before our trip, and it really helped to occupy our kids on the journey as they tried to find and name all of the animals that we were going to see that day.
Arriving at 10:30 a.m., we had just enough time to catch the next tram, so we made a quick stop at the restrooms and headed straight for the station. (Yes, a mundane detail, but a crucial one as there are no bathrooms aboard the tram and no pit stops during the 55-minute tour). Before boarding, our tour guide gave us a great lesson on the types of animals we would be seeing as well as a quick quiz about antlers, accompanied by examples from mountain goats, deer, elk and moose.
We scrambled onto the tram, sans windows for the summer season, and off we rolled hoping to see a few animals. We were not disappointed. We saw bison and elk and mountain goats and moose and deer and bighorn sheep. And many of them were just a few feet from the tram! For the few minutes that animals were not in view, it was easy to just sit back and soak in the beautiful terrain as we rolled through meadows, up hills, past the swamp and beside lakes.
I have to admit that I had been a little nervous about the length of the tram ride, especially since our kids are under 5 and we had just spent the morning sitting in the car, but my fears were unfounded. There were so many things to see, one right after the other, that the trip was over before we knew it.
Fresh from our time with the herbivores, we felt it was only appropriate to see how the other half lived before munching our lunches. So we headed deep into the forest on paved walking paths for the carnivore tour. (This is a good place for another side note on the restrooms: Make sure you use them before the walking tour. The only set on the trails is near the bears, which, we learned, does not help you when you are near the cats.)
The carnivores are safely in their own spaces, separated from the visitors by fences, streams and woods, but Northwest Trek has done such a good job of camouflaging those barriers that you can easily imagine the animals interacting with their prey in the wild. It definitely raised a few goose bumps, particularly as we watched the cats pace and slink softly through their habitats. In addition to bobcats, cougars and lynx, the walking tour takes you by coyotes, foxes, wolves, bears, wolverines, badgers and more. If your legs need still more stretching, Northwest Trek also boasts five miles of nature trails where you can seek out birds, bugs and butterflies.
We were starving now and headed back to the picnic meadow close to the main entrance. There are plenty of picnic tables across the lawn or you can choose to eat under the covered picnic pavilion. We had brought our lunches with us, but the Fir Bough Café located next to the picnic meadow has a wide array of options from simple snacks to burgers and salads.
A few feet from the picnic area, you will enter the Trek Birds habitat and can view bald eagles, golden eagles, barn owls and other large birds.
For those who enjoy hands-on exploration, there are two education centers at Northwest Trek. The Baker Research Cabin is located on the Walking Tour and is decorated like an old trapper's retreat. Use the interactive computer program to learn about wolves or study the remote cameras to see what they are doing when humans aren't around. The Cheney Family Discovery Center is located near the Tram Station and is full of interactive activities for the entire family. Observe honeybees busily building their hive or stroke the real fur pelts from Pacific Northwest animals. Great activities, puppet shows and animal facts are built into the exhibits.
You might have seen the billboards around Seattle proclaiming, “Take a Daycation at Northwest Trek.” They couldn't have come up with a better slogan. By the time we returned to Seattle in the late afternoon, three of our four kids were sound asleep in the car and my friend and I were feeling highly satisfied with our adventure. We had escaped our usual routines for a day in the wild without having to pack all the camping gear.
The directions to the park were clear, the Web site informative and once there, it proved to be an easy public place to manage four small children. I've been hearing rumors lately that the animals get playful when it's cold. I think we'll be making another “daycation” to Northwest Trek the next time it snows.
Erika Bigelow is a Seattle freelance writer, photographer and mother of two.
IF YOU GO
Where: 11610 Trek Drive E., Eatonville
When: Opening days and times change seasonally. Sept. 8 to Oct. 2: Monday through Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; trams depart hourly starting at 10 a.m. Oct. 3 to Dec. 24: Closed Monday through Thursday; Friday through Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.; trams depart at 10:30 a.m., noon, 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Cost: Adults $15.50, seniors (65 and older) $14, youth (5 to 12) $10.50, tots (3 and 4) $7.50, children younger than 3 free; additional discounts for Pierce County residents, AAA and military.
