A year's worth of outdoor weekend options

Got plans for the weekend? If not, "Washington Nature Weekends," an entertaining compilation of 52 outdoor-minded possibilities, might stir your imagination and prod you into pursuing some of the state's less-obvious recreational options.

Were you aware, for example, that the second week of this month is National Wildlife Refuge Week? (Washington, the book reminds us, has six, including the Nisqually NWR, northeast of Olympia.) Or that you can participate in a "howl-in" during National Wolf Awareness Week (the third week of this month) at Wolf Haven International in Tenino, south of Olympia?

Or did you know that the annual Wild Mushroom Show ("one of the largest and most complete displays of fresh, wild mushrooms") takes place in the Seattle area every October? Using a Web address listed in the book, we learn that this year the two-day event starts at noon Oct. 13 at Sand Point's Magnuson Park, sponsored by the Puget Sound Mycological Society.

Never heard of the Low Tide Fest held every July? Or Prairie Appreciation Day in May? Fun facts such as these make this 272-page book by Sunny Walter and Janet O'Mara (past photo editor and editor, respectively, of Washington Wildlife magazine) a pleasant item to have on your bookshelf.

Walter and O'Mara organize their collection of weekend-oriented jaunts by months. Some excursions are linked to specific events (the Grays Harbor Shorebird Festival in late April, for instance); others, such as the suggestion to drive a dirt road to Harts Pass to observe larch trees in their golden phase, are more open-ended (anytime in early October).

Not every proposed trip is a revelation (a July drive up to Hurricane Ridge, or a late-summer road trip to Heather Meadows near Mount Baker, are hardly new ideas), and familiar warts associated with some trips — such as parking hassles involved with a trip to the Shi-Shi Beach trailhead near Neah Bay — are not listed.

Still, the majority of the authors' tips come across as sagacious choices of longtime locals who, through substantial personal exploration, have learned that some of the smaller pleasures in the natural world can yield some of its greatest satisfactions. Well-suited for outdoor explorers with gentle spirits; a worthwhile reference tool.

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