Total Miles Traveled: approx. 250 miles roundtrip
We love camping. We love our grandkids (and our kids, too). And we would love to have our grandkids love camping as much as we do. So about once a year, we pick a date, and find a place that is not too far from home, but far enough to be away from home, and tell the kids to pack up the grands and come join us. This year, we had scouted out Sawmill Flats Campground off of Highway 410 in the Okanogan Wenatchee National Forest. This campground isn’t very big, but the campsites are spread out enough to where you’re not right on top of the neighbors. The Naches River runs along one side. We had identified sites 16 and 17 as the ideal spots for us, and could accommodate the everyone if the entire family showed up. Our little teardrop trailer would comfortably fit in the driveway of what was deemed “walk in” campsites. These two side-by-side sites backed up to the river and were very spacious, giving an abundance of space for the kids to run rampant without continually being underfoot or annoying the next campsite. The campground is dry camping, with hand-pump potable water, and pit toilets. Pit toilets and squirrely-preschoolers make me a bit nervous, so I was thankful to have the kid-sized toilet available in the trailer!
We arrived on July 2 and quickly settled into camp, helping to entertain the grandkids while their parents wrestled with setting up the tent. We were surprised to discover that despite the current drought and dry weather, we were allowed to have a campfire! Roasted marshmallows it was, for dessert!
The next day, we made a trip to Boulder Cave. This was a 2-mile round trip hike with a 300 foot elevation change. There were spots along the way with unprotected drop offs, but the trail was mostly loose dirt or gravel, with some exposed roots (to trip over, if you’re not paying attention). A reservation is required through Recreation.gov to hike this trail to the cave, due to the potential damage to the fragile ecosystem of the cave and the bats that live there. The cave itself is only a few hundred feet long, but long enough to where a flashlight is helpful to navigate the rocks and narrow foot path. It is, however, friendly enough for moderately adventurous kids — not so long to be scary, but long enough to give them the feeling of being in a cave. What was disappointing, though, were the people (idiots….there, I’m just going to say it…idiots) who blatantly disregarded the posted signs and documents received via email when making the required reservations, who brought their dogs into this protected site! Dogs pose a health hazard to the bats who live in the canyon and cave, and yet people still brought them in. I wish people would respect places like this.
By day 3 of camping, we were enjoying the river, throwing rocks and soaking our feet in the cool water, watching tiny fish and bugs swim by. We did some camping-crafts: painting rocks, and making a beaded suncatcher which the grandkids decided needed to be a decoration for our trailer.
Sadly our long weekend of camping came to an end, and we headed home on Sunday mid-morning. We enjoyed this campground, and would return to it in the future….maybe even next summer!
Please note that some of these photos were taken by grandchildren :)
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