Category: Places to take visitors

Sweet Spot

You can get ice cream in Sequim, sort of. But there wasn’t a dedicated venue, at least not one I’d ever found. Until Sweet Spot opened last week, though it isn’t ice cream. It’s frozen yogurt. Even better. More calcium. Less butter fat. Or so I’m told.

Enter this colorful space. Take a cup. Choose your yogurt and fill the cup. Add toppings. Weigh and pay. In the middle of the afternoon yesterday there were about a dozen of us there. I guess the word’s out.

There’s a place like this in Silverdale, an hour away, so I though I was safe from temptation. This one is in the Sequim J.C. Penney shopping center. Sunny Farms Supplements on one side, Strong Points Fitness on the other. No doubt about it. I’m doomed.

Dungeness Recreation Area Master Plan Update 7

In the course of last week’s public meeting on the Dungeness Recreation Area Master Plan update, a member of the community spoke. Rather than siting the proposed 45 recreational vehicle campsites in the park’s forested area, he suggested an area not far from the park entrance, to the east of where a new entrance kiosk is planned.

The area is on a rise above the road and has a large, open field. The views are wonderful. Park planners may or may not consider this option. They are quite far along in their process. But many people attending the meeting favored this idea.

Many locals have not been aware of the Master Plan Update. I have focused my blog on it this week in hopes of informing more local park users of this process. The comment period on the Master Plan Update has been extended to March 23. Click here for more information on the Plan and how to comment.

This is my last post on the Master Plan update. I hope you will further inform yourself on the Plan and comment. But don’t procrastinate. The comment period closes next Friday.

To my blog followers from out of the area, I’ll be back to my briefer posts tomorrow.

Dungeness Recreation Area Master Plan Update 6

The Dungeness Recreation Area (DRA) Master Plan Update includes plans to construct a number of new walking trails. Though new walking experiences are always welcome — there’s a lot to see in this 216 acre gem — two trails seem problematic to me. The first, above, would link to the existing eastern entrance to the park and be constructed parallel to Lotzgesell Road running east to west. The road is seen in the left edge of this shot by the power poles. I assume the new trail would be to the right of the existing trees.

The proposed path would traverse seasonally flooded areas. This pond is not far from one end of the trail. The path would require extensive fill to rise above flooded areas, or a more technical constructed boardwalk. And just outside the park, on Lotzgesell Road, an old county roadbed is presently used by many walkers. As a subscriber to the old “KISS” principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid) it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

Another trail, branching off the eastern entrance trail, would travel off onto a northern pathway that is currently used informally. Like the trail I mentioned above, this one would skirt a seasonally flooded area. I’m told there is a dike running along the property line on the right. The trail would traverse a large, open field and eventually link to trails that lead to upland, forested areas. It’s a pretty walk but I wonder if it makes sense to construct a trail through an area that Mother Nature likes to flood.

A third path, branching off not far from the northern pathway, would move more sensibly through elevated forested areas, moving east-west. It would emerge in the area shown above, across from an existing trail through forested areas. Both trail locations are marked by light shafts in the photo above.

Finally, planners propose a realignment of the trail that currently traverses areas of the bluffs. Many parts of this trail have been closed due to continual erosion so it shouldn’t be surprising that trail adjustment is planned in response. Planning maps call for six viewpoints, allowing walkers and visitors to look onto the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Many locals have not been aware of the Master Plan Update. I am focusing my blog on it in hopes of informing more park users of this process. The comment period on the Master Plan Update has been extended to March 23. Click here for more information on the Plan and how to comment.

To my blog followers from out of the area, please bear with me. I’ll be back to my briefer posts this weekend.

Dungeness Recreation Area Master Plan Update 5

The Updated Dungeness Recreation Area Master Plan envisions improvements to a small playground located in one of the current campground loops. It wasn’t discussed at length; I’m not sure what these improvements may be.

The playground does get used. Within moments of taking this shot two more children joined the fun.

Many locals have not been aware of the Master Plan Update. I am focusing my blog on it in hopes of informing more park users of this process. Click here for more information and how to comment.

To my blog followers from out of the area, please bear with me. I’ll be back to my briefer posts this weekend.

Dungeness Recreation Area Master Plan Update 4

Today I’ll fill you in about the Dungeness Recreation Area (DRA) Master Plan proposal to create an enlarged park entrance. The area above is where that is proposed.

Park officials wish to lessen visitor confusion about the two entities that exist along this road. First on this road is the DRA, a county park with fees for camping but free admission for day use. The road further leads to the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, however, which is managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service and charges an entrance fee to trails that lead to the beach and Dungeness Spit. The Master Plan Update envisions reconfiguring this wide space near the park gate to provide an entrance kiosk with signage clarifying fees plus room for vehicles to turn around.

On either side of the kiosk parking areas will be enlarged. The east side, shown here, will be enlarged into the area south of the existing fire road. The trail will be rerouted around the parking. Parking will also be increased on the west side of the entrance road.

On a rise to the north of the proposed new parking is a site for the manager’s residence. It would be over the crest of the hill shown here.

Many locals have not been aware of the Master Plan Update. I am focusing my blog on it in hopes of informing more park users of this process. The comment period on the Master Plan Update has been extended to March 23. Click here to see a map showing the new entrance. Click here for information on how to comment.

To my blog followers from out of the area, please bear with me. I’ll be back to my briefer posts by the weekend.