A Wild Drive & Walk Through Northwest Trek Wildlife Park
A Drive And A Walk On The (Kinda) Wild Side
Raccoons at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park
We are 6-ish months into the COVID-19 pandemic. 2020 has offered up lockdowns, quarantines, and travel restrictions. So many lifestyle changes have left us hungry for entertainment and activity. One of the few respites from all of this change has been the outdoors, but even those spaces are seeing record numbers of visitors, which creates social distancing issues.
Northwest Trek Wildlife Park is a 725-acre park of wildlife and wilderness conservation. Opportunities to get outside and enjoy nature are made possible with a Wild Drive (in your vehicle) and a Wild Walk. These opportunities are by appointment, and timed tickets can conveniently be purchase online. One of the greatest parts of these little adventures is that they are family-friendly.
“The purpose of conservation: The greatest good to the greatest number of people for the longest time.”
Reconnect With Wildlife
With COVID still being an issue, the park has implemented some new changes. The first being that all tickets must be purchased in advance, and you must show up during the allotted time you selected during purchase. Second, the group tram ride has been replaced with driving your vehicle while following a lead vehicle caravan style. Masks must also be worn at all times while walking through the park, and there is a one-way path you must follow, rather than go whichever which way you wanted to in the past.
We had tickets for the 1 pm Wild Drive and 2 pm Wild Walk. We arrived about 30 minutes early and followed the signs that led us to the Wild Drive wait area. We checked in with the staff, who told us we were free to use the restrooms and visit the gift shop as long as we were back to our vehicle within 10 minutes of departure. We were also informed to tune our radio to 95.5 FM to hear more info about the tour, and for a live talk from the lead vehicle, our tour guide naturalist. All of this would start 10 minutes before departure.
Wild Drive
Our tour began on time, with about ten other vehicles participating. As we entered the gated area, our tour guide provided details of the park, the types of animals we were likely to see and gave us instructions to never come to a full stop and try not to leave large gaps between vehicles.
The first animal we spotted was a dear off to our right, partially hidden behind a tree. Shortly after was a group of mountain goats lying right next to the road and a bull moose further off in the trees. According to our guide, the one and only bull moose in the park out of a total of four moose.
The road we drove on was paved, single laned, and ran along Horseshoe Lake during this drive’s first stretch. We wound our way through prairie and forest. We were excited to get glimpses of bighorn sheep, bison, mountain goats, moose, deer, geese, and swans as our procession made its way through the natural habitats. We enjoyed the challenge of trying to spot the wildlife before our naturalist pointed them out to all of us. Our naturalist was excellent. We were given information about the park, conservation efforts, ways we can contribute to preservation and conservation, and information about the individual animals we were fortunate to see.
Our drive ended just before the start time for our walking tour and led us back to the front of the park.
Wild Walk
We presented our tickets to the attendant to be scanned, and back into the park we went. The pathway is paved throughout and easy to navigate. Signs were abundant, indicated which direction to walk, with sections of the path blocked to foot traffic. The majority of the walk was under the canopy of the trees.
Small signs could be spotted near the edge of the path with various trees and other vegetation names. The first creatures we saw on our walk were the eagles. As we approached the brown bear habitat, we could see it playing carefree in its pool with some antlers. Beavers, otters, and badgers, among others, were all visible in their areas. The raccoons were playfully poking at one another like siblings trying to get a rise from one another. The silliness of the raccoons was a lovely end to our walk-through.
Final Thoughts
A visit to Northwest Trek is an excellent activity for the whole family. Whether you take part in the Wild Drive or the Wild Walk, or both, it’s a great time. If you do the Wild Walk, a small concession stand is on-site for snacks and drinks (credit cards only). Enjoy a taste of the outdoors safely and with little effort. Bring the family, bring your friends or go solo, whatever you choose, you’ll be in for a treat!
Disclosure:
Northwest Trek Wildlife Park provided us with free tickets during our visit. All content written was of our own thoughts and opinions.
Helpful Information & Links
Address: 11610 Trek Drive East, Eatonville, WA 98328
Price Wild Walk: Adult $12, Youth $10, Infant $0
Price Wild Drive: $70 member, $80 non-member. Price is per vehicle charge.
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The only thing better would be being there yourself!
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