Northwest Trek Review

The first time I went to Northwest Trek, I was visiting my cousins who lived down the street from there. I remember seeing big animals in the wild and it felt like I was somewhere in the mid-West. The park felt huge and I thought we were there all day long.

I’d been planning on doing a family excursion there for the past couple of years. Upon hearing glowing reviews of the new Kids’ Trek at Northwest Trek, my family decided to make the trek to Eatonville (South of Puyallup) to discover it for ourselves. Kids’ Trek lived up to the hype! The sand pit is one of the coolest features because they have a fountain in the middle so kids can wet the sand for their creations. A staff member told us that they clean it out everyday so it doesn’t clog. There are also slides carved into the stones, bridges, and lots of play space. Owen was focused solely on the sand pit, but we saw a lot of preschoolers and older kids take advantage of all the features.

The Discovery Tram Tour was a lot slower and longer than I remembered as a kid. Owen loves trains and I had told him that the tram was like a train. Actually, I told him we were going to ride in M’tambo from Chuggington. He enjoyed the first 15 minutes or so of the tram ride, but after that he was a bit bored. Granted there were three of us crammed into two seats and it was a full tram. But, it was really cool to see the animals so close and in a more natural environment. And the tour guide was funny and very informative.

After the tram ride, we decided to walk around a bit to see even more animals on the Walking Tour. We were able to see black bears and grizzly bears before we turned back. We had opted not to bring a carrier or stroller, which limited how long we were willing to walk at a toddler-pace. Next time I think we will bring our BOB stroller so we can move quicker and enjoy the awesome scenery!

There is a Forest Cafe on premises. The food is actually not that bad and there is a decent selection of sandwiches, burgers, salads and kids meals. Next time we might bring sack lunches and drinks and eat at the picnic tables. They also have snack stands with lots of yummy treats!

Top 3 Suggestions:

1. Bring your own water. Bottled water is expensive.

2. Bring a carrier or stroller. There are lots of fun paths with cool animal sightings. Not carrying kids in your arms will make this much more enjoyable.

3. Sunscreen up! There are a lot of areas in direct sunlight. Better to be safe than sunburnt.  

Marcie Cheung

Tinybeans Voices Contributor

I'm a Seattle-area stay-at-home mom to my 2-year-old son Owen and I'm currently pregnant with our second baby. We love travelling with our toddler (locally and internationaly) and take advantage of the amazing events and classes offered around town. We like to be out and about!