- Lower East Fork Lewis River Greenway Hike (OregonHikers.org)
The Lower East Fork River Greenway is a corridor of county land on the East Fork between Daybreak Park and La Center. The corridor is undeveloped except for a gated maintenance road that runs its length. The road is mowed for the convenience of hikers, birdwatchers, and equestrians once the flooded sections have dried up in late spring. Over the last three decades, there has been much removal of invasive species and reintroduction of native plants. In 2025, an enhancement project was dealing with filling in gravel mining pits in the river floodplain and restoring salmon habitat.
- Wapato Pond (OregonHikers.org)
This small pond at the bottom of a forested bluff is on Clark County’s East Fork Lewis River Greenway property. A heron or egret may be poised by the water’s edge. Native aquatic plants such as bulrush, bur-reed, bladderwort, and wapato or arrowleaf live here. Beyond a bridge at the pond, there’s a sign welcoming the public to the greenway.
- Fort Steilacoom (1849-1868) (historylink.org)
Fort Steilacoom, located in south Puget Sound near Lake Steilacoom, was established by the United States Army in 1849. Protection of settlers in the area had become an issue. As well, the United States was anxious to plant the flag on land claimed by Britain. (Britain had ceded the territory south of the 49th parallel in 1846, but claimed this land as a commercial enterprise. Fort Steilacoom was established in what was then Oregon Territory. Congress would create Washington Territory in 1853.) In August 1849 the U.S. Army moved onto the Joseph Heath farm to establish the fort, leasing the land from the British Hudson’s Bay Company. The fort served as a headquarters in the 1855-1856 Indian Wars, but there were no hostile actions here. A major event was the incarceration of Nisqually Chief Leschi (1808-1858) in the fort guardhouse. The post commander and other officers protested his trial and murder conviction, arguing that he was probably not guilty, as a state of war had existed. Fort Steilacoom was closed in 1868 and became the site of the Western State Hospital, a psychiatric facility. Today (2012) the Fort Steilacoom Museum is also located on the site.