Craig Romano’s latest Mountaineers guide helps you pick a lowland trek around Olympia and environs.
Now’s the perfect season for another of the pocket-size “Urban Trails” guides from Mountaineers Books and prolific scribe Craig Romano. While upland trails are still snowbound, grab his recently published “Urban Trails: Olympia” for a pocketful of ideas on where to go for a lowland, late-winter or early-spring hike around the scenic South Sound.
This guide ranges from delightful Nisqually Delta boardwalks, with all their birds, to bucolic Harstine Island. In between, it takes in the mysterious Mima Mounds Natural Area (what caused this bumpy landscape: weird ice-age forces or big gophers?), sprawling Capitol State Forest (where all trails are motor-free through April), and the lovely undeveloped beach at The Evergreen State College.
You’ll also find useful maps and narrative for exploring our state capital city, whether circling Capitol Lake or getting up close to Tumwater Falls during your next visit to the Legislature. (Mountaineers Books, November 2017, $16.95)
— Brian J. Cantwell