Ghost Town Adventure V

I headed into North Central Douglas County for my last run in this area and after leaving Waterville zig-zagged in my usual adventure fashion trying to find the abandoned oddity out there and ran across this prairie homestead in the gully of one of my intersecting roads somewhere around Roads J and 7 NW.

Area Travelled

Lamoine is still around on roads 8 and G NW, including the old school

Heading out of Lamoine I grabbed road F to 11 and then over to some buildings I saw in the distance on Road H.

There are a lot of old homesteads and granaries out here...

 North up to Road 15 NW and then east to Road D and up to what's left of Howard, WA.

From Howard it get's interesting as the roads may or may not continue through public access. I ran into more deer here in a 2 mile area than I have ever seen together in one place. A5 to 22.5NW to A NW led me to the town of Dyer.

Dyer is not much more than a few stray buildings as far as towns go, but there are many abandoned houses hanging around the area.

As I continued North on A NW I saw lava pillars form the volcanic activity that formed the area.

Shooting across 29.5 NW (what is it with the .5's?) I head East on Kropp Rd, Dezellem Hill Road, and begin winding my way down to the Chief Joseph Dam.

Once down to Hwy 17 South I continue South on Bridgeport Hill Rd to Hwy 172 and another abandoned home.

Cemeteries pop up when you least expect them...

The Kumar Cemetery is just a few miles NE of Waterville as I head back into town there and get ready for the fun run down Pine Canyon (Hwy 2) and home to Wenatchee.

Ghost Town Adventure Tour IV

Douglas Cemetery

I headed out today to hit some areas that were well off the beaten path in Douglas county. The areas I intended to access were looking to be little more than improved trails where roads once stood and a few scattered cemeteries.

The first one I stopped off at was the Douglas Cemetery.

Douglas Cemetery

I was zig-zagging my way over to Hwy 172 on old county roads and ran across two houses to the Northwest of what was Farmer (Intersection of 2/172). Looked like they hadn't been lived in for awhile and there were no "Keep Out" signs around, so I ventured up the driveway of the closest one.

I'm always careful not to disturb anything and leave all I find (I do believe in Karma), so as I ventured in through the open doorway, I could almost feel the life these old houses once held in them. The only residents these days are the mice and birds. Magazines on the floor dated 1971 and earlier.

The second house was just as interesting in an erie way with the amount of debris scattered and piled in the center of the rooms, especially old mattresses and other articles making it look like an old grave.  One is almost tempted to pull up one of those mattresses and see what's under them... almost, that is. I decided I would follow my basic rule and leave it alone. But it is way creepy.

The "Lavender" Room

So I finally connected with Hwy 172 and headed North past Withrow, then West on 10 NW looking for the old town of Touhey. Hitting B NE I saw a rather large deer before finding the road that led to the old grain elevator in the distance.

This is all that is left of the town although I couldn't tell you of any standing buildings to be seen outside of this one.

Once upon a time this was a busy enough road to have to had directions to the Resort...

As I stepped in to get some photos, the biggest owl I have had the pleasure of being physically next to reciprocated the spooking and I got a digital glimpse of him as he scurried across and out the door.

The old "flattop " power engine

Control wheel for silo bays 1-8

So I headed West again to see about St. Andrew's... this is actually a sign designating the 10 NW and B NE, but you can see that many of the officially designated roads were not much more than wagon trails again.

I only got so far and then Jameson and Grimes Lakes kept getting in my way, so I headed North toward Mansfield to skirt the lakes and reconnected to Hwy 172 East for a few miles and then dropped South finding myself on Buckeye Road. Since I had bypassed the Mold Cemetery earlier in my last adventure, I cut over for a look at the cemetery and an old house next to it.

Mold Cemetery

Mold Cemetery

Old house near Mold, WA

Old house near Mold, WA

Old Building at St. Andrews

Heading south toward St. Andrew's, I ran across some old buildings and what was once the St. Andrew's Hotel, the busiest place in town!



Running out of time, I found my way down to US 2 and headed West back to Waterville and Wenatchee... heading into Northern Douglas County next!

St Andrew's Hotel