I’ve visited this area of Washington state many times throughout my life. On many occasion, I’ve seen the signs to Ohme Gardens   and thought it would be a great place to visit.  Knowing that I had some time, I felt this would be the perfect opportunity for a visit. The website says “relax, reflect, revisit” so I was really looking forward to doing at least the first two.

As I entered the attraction I found it to be everything I expected. Beautifully manicured lawns, Koi ponds, water falls, and lush vegetation. There weren’t any flowers in bloom, but I’ve visited many gardens that weren’t dominated with color. Probably the most impressive feature are the very tall pine trees and poplar trees dotting the gardens and surrounding the area. These trees frame the vistas of the town and river below.

Years of painstaking work has resulted in stone paths carved throughout the gardens. These stone paths are designated on the provided map as steep or mild. One of the first paths I took was designated as steep and it turned out to be sort of like a wild set of stairs. My instincts told me that I would get some good exercise as I journeyed past the ponds and waterfalls.

It only took about thirty minutes for me to complete all the “mild” colored trails.  One trail remained that was designated as steep. It was a longer trail and ran the perimeter of the park. Believing it couldn’t be any worse than the trails I’d walked, I ventured onward.   It should be noted that this attraction is perched about 500-600 feet above the river at the edge of a mountain. As I began, I noticed that the trail was very close to the drop off of the mountain. The trees provided somewhat of a barrier, but no fence surrounded the property. At certain points, a rail ran alongside the trail, and I began gripping it tightly as I made my way. Then the rail stopped for about 15 feet. I began to feel like I was on a tight rope, making my way to the next platform, or in this case the next segment of railing. This on and off again railing continued for another 100 feet or so.  I’m pretty adventurous, but heights have always bothered me. I could feel my palms sweating and I began to have a terrible urge to get down on my knees and crawl the remainder of the trail. Finally I reached the area where it would loop back to the main part of the park. To my dismay the trail turned up the hill with no more railing. I could see that it continued all the way back with absolutely nothing to hold on to. At this point I was too terrified to continue in that direction so I turned back to the safety of the rail. The only problem was that in this direction, the view was much more open to seeing the drop off and how high I was traveling. Even thinking about it makes my palms sweat as I type. I made it back, and headed to the safety of the “mild trails.”

There were still a couple of sites I hadn’t seen, so I ventured on to the “Wishing Well” and to the “Vista Lookout.” The Wishing Well included another unrailed daredevil trail, so I skipped it. When I reached the Vista Lookout, I noticed that the sign had a QR code to learn more about the structure.

It was there I learned that these trails didn’t include any rails until the 1990s. Postcards* from the 1940s displayed people casually walking these paths, only inches from certain death. I guess today was my day to prove my quote from Helen Keller: “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” Ohme Gardens was certainly my daring adventure!

*This picture was downloaded from a postcard posted for sale. No copyright infringement is intended.

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller