Trip
Naturalist Trip - Millersylvania State Park
Join us on the Olympia Naturalist's inaugeral Book Club hike focusing on our November/December reading - "Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest" by Suzanne Simard. Book Club members have priority for registration until November 8 at 4:30 pm; thereafter, all members may register. Our route will pass through the western portion of Millersylvania State Park in a 200+ year old coastal Douglas-fir forest and a comparably aged hardwood forest predominated by bigleaf maple. We will identify and discuss the attributes of forest trees, but also the extomycorrhizal sporophores (mushrooms) growing in symbiosis with those trees.
Contacts
- Sat, Nov 22, 2025
- Olympia Naturalists Committee
- Naturalist
- Adults
- Easy, Easy
- Casual
- Mileage: 3.0 mi
- Elevation Gain: 200 ft
- Pace: 1.0 mph
- FULL, 1 on waitlist (10 capacity)
- FULL (2 capacity)
- Cancellation & Refund Policy
Please, try to read "Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest" by Suzanne Simard before the hike. It is available at Timberland Library branches, independent bookstores, and at various online retail outlets. This will be a slow hike with numerous stops to identify and discuss forest trees and and some of the mushroom species upon which they depend. If time allows, we may identify other species. Further details will be provided a few days before the hike.
We'll meet at a central location in West Olympia at 8:30 am and carpool from there. Alternatively, you can meet at the trailhead adjacent to the Millersylvania Boat Launch ready to hike at 9:00 am. Further location details will be provided to registered participants a few days before the hike.
Required Equipment
- Navigation
- Headlamp
- Sun protection
- First aid
- Knife
- Fire
- Shelter
- Extra food
- Extra water
- Extra clothes