Walla Walla’s picturesque landscape offers adventure seekers and adrenaline junkies ample opportunity to explore the outdoors, especially during the summer and winter seasons.
Visitors seeking year-round recreation may enjoy boating, hunting, fishing, picnicking, and swimming, as well as bicycling, strolling, rollerblading, jogging, horseback riding, cross-country skiing, and wildlife viewing at the three recreation areas located within Mill Creek: Bennington Lake, the Mill Creek Recreation Trail and Rooks Park. Bennington Lake is the only public lake in the Walla Walla Valley and less than 15 minute drive from anywhere in Walla Walla. The lake covers approximately 52 surface acres at the spring recreation level and throughout the spring season, the lake is stocked with rainbow trout to enhance the fishing experience.
Fort Walla Walla Park at Dalles Military & Myra Roads is Walla Walla’s largest park with play equipment, picnic tables, horseshoe pits, sand volleyball facilities, a covered picnic shelter, and an amphitheater. A 70-acre wildlife preserve has streams and a hiking trail. There’s also a model car track and model airplane field, bicycle motocross track, skate board park, disc golf course and a paved bicycle trail. For those interested in history there is a Vietnam War memorial, historic military cemetery and Fort Walla Walla Museum with thousands of pioneer and agricultural artifacts.
The Mill Creek Sportsplex is a total of 50 acres located at Tausick Way and Garrison Streets near Walla Walla Community College. It is one of Walla Walla’s most intensely used parks with three lighted softball fields and one regulation size soccer field. City sponsored adult and co-ed softball teams use the fields and several tournaments are held there annually. Construction is currently underway with plans of an advanced bowl for skateboarders.
Are you more of a sports spectator than a sports player? Never fear, build a baseball team and they will come. The Walla Walla Sweets is a baseball team at Walla Walla and just started their first season in June of 2010. They play in the West Coast League, a college summer wood-bat league where college players and prospects prepare for the pros. The league comprises teams from British Columbia, Oregon and Washington. Borleske Stadium, part of the Whitman College campus, is the base for the Walla Walla Sweets’ home games and has a capacity of 1,600 spectators along with concession and restrooms. For more information, call (509) 522-BALL.
Two places that offer great skiing are Ski Bluewood and Spout Springs. Ski Bluewood, located in the Blue Mountains 52 miles southeast of Walla Walla, offers visitors 21 great ski runs and a half-pipe for snowboarders. Visitors can enjoy their day lodge, cafeteria, retail shop and pub when they aren’t on the slopes. Pre-season passes run from $270 for adults to $220 for students and $160 for children and seniors. The facilities include two triple chairlifts and lessons are offered as well. For more information, call (509) 382-4725.
Spout Springs is a great ski location high in the mountains. With an elevation of 5,550′, the location operates on four ski lifts that serve 21 acres. While Spout Springs is high in elevation and does boast a 550 foot vertical drop, the location also has a vast network of cross-country trails and it offers night skiing as well. To get more information, call (541) 566-0320.