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Trees of Stone LbNA #3789 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:May 25, 2002
Location:
City:Vantage
County:Kittitas
State:Washington
Boxes:1
Planted by:Eliza
Found by: Kurious Jo
Last found:Jun 1, 2005
Status:FFaaaaaaaa
Last edited:May 25, 2002
Trees of Stone
Vantage, WA Kittitas county
Placed by: Eliza B.
date: 05/25/02

From I-90, east or west bound, take the Vantage exit. Follow Highway 10 (main road) through town to the Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park. Stop at the Interpretive Visitor Center and pay a dollar to learn all about why you should be really impressed on the trails, and to talk to the lady behind the counter who is a font of information on the ice age and on the native american petroglyphs behind the building. For a quarter, you can pick up a map of the interpretive trails, as well, which I'd highly recommend. It gets a little confusing out there.

From there, load up on water and head the 2 miles north to the parking lot for the interpretive trailhead. (There's only one trailhead, you can't miss it.) Follow it south, past the ranger station and exhibits 1, 2, and 3. Continue on straight before taking a sharp left and going up a massive hill. Stay on this trail until you hit a "Y" in the road, and take the right fork, heading up even further. Over the top of the hill is an unnumbered display on your right of a petrified redwood.

Go off the path and around to the top side of the redwood display. Hidden in the sagebrush bush just above the display, under a pile of rocks, is the letterbox!

Please make sure to cover the box -completely- with rocks when you're done, or it can be easily seen in this desert wilderness. Also, please please PLEASE be VERY careful when reaching in -- there are Western Rattlesnakes all over this area, and it's a long way down the hill if you get bitten. Poke the rocks first and listen for a rattle before reaching near them.

This trail gains about 300 feet of elevation over 3 miles round trip, and is quite suitable for older children.

If you continue on the trail to the north (veering to the west), you'll be able to see the rest of the displays, some of which are pretty interesting. This path will also lead you back around the parking lot, past a Western Meadowlark nesting ground.

(I'm planning on coming back here to put in a series of boxes, one near each display, if I can. This is because I'm an overachiever and I have to make up for the fact that I proceeded to miscarve the lettering on this stamp so that it's in reverse, since I carved it in the parking lot. *sigh*)