WA Opens More Snow Parks To Prevent COVID Crowding

OLYMPIA, WA — If you're looking to get out and enjoy Washington's winter wonderlands, there are five new options you might want to consider.

Washington State Parks says they're seeing a lot of people making the best of the pandemic by getting out and enjoying the wilderness while the cities are shut down, but so many people have been getting out that it's left many state parks congested and crowded.

To meet the rising demand, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission have opened four temporary snow-play areas and one new permanent Sno-Park.

Of those temporary areas, three can be found along the I-90 corridor: Easton Reload, 29 Pines, and the Cle Elum River Campground.

Easton Relead is a new snowfield found next to the Easton Reload motorized Sno-Park south of Lake Easton State Park.

29 Pines offers a 1-mile snowshoe trail that can be used to connect to the longer routes along Jungle Creek Road> it's located near the Teanaway Community Forest north of Cle Elum.

Finally, the Cle Elum River Campground offers a short trail along a river to a picnic area.

The fourth temporary snow area is in Southwestern Washington at Oldman pass, just north of the Columbia River near Carson. It offers 25 miles of ski trails and a new sledding hill.

And last but not least, the permanent Sno-Park is the brand new Silver Star Sno-Park, nestled in the Methow Valley northwest of Winthrop.

Parks organizers say the new park has five miles of groomed tracks for riders and skiers, not including the backcountry, and offers scenic views of the Liberty Bell, Golden Horn, and Early Winter Mountains.

Find information on all these snow areas and more parks along the I-90 corridor at the Washington State Parks website.