Yale Park is a recreation area by the (artificial) Yale lake in the Lewis River valley. The nearest town is Cougar. The park is part of the agreement for building dams on the Lewis River, and the area is maintained by Pacific Corp, the owner of the dams.
Quite nice. And with a view of Mount St. Helens!
It was a refreshing swim after that sweaty cave hike that I did earlier. I was expecting the water to be cold, but it wasn't.
The bottom of the lake though is quite rocky, even massive boulders hiding just underneath. Be careful.
The park entrance is free, except on Friday through Sunday during the summers when you have to pay a small fee for vehicles ($4). The official page of the park is here. Fees are described here.
Note that there's a string of these recreation areas along the river, including overnight camping places. Yale Park does not have that.
Photos:
Information sign:
For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! And of course the Planetcaver, and
This article was originally published in the Planetskier Blogspot article series.
"Mongolia is kind of close, right? Story about an attempt to ski everywhere in the world where there's snow. And in some places where there isn't. On and off-piste skiing on all continents, skiing into craters of live volcanoes, climbing, photography, and travel." The Planetskier blog focuses on skiing, caving, climbing, biking, flying, sauna, and swimming adventures around the world. See the other Planetskier blog articles about skiing, caving, urban exploration, climbing, cycling, flying, swimming, and saunas.