If you’ve never experienced Washington’s majesty beyond the Eastern slopes of the Cascade Range, let me be the first one to tell you how vastly different it is from Western Washington. I grew up there, in fact. Massive evergreens are replaced with sagebrush and drylands. Soaring peaks turn into rolling hills with acres of farmland as far as the eye can see. Though I have my roots in this dryer Eastern zone, I had yet to visit Bluewood Resort, just outside of Dayton, Wa. I was in for a treat, to say the least.
The first thing I was told about Bluewood was how awesome its tree-riding could be. Granted, it was mid spring by this point, so I wasn’t expecting to turn upon any powder stashes that were left nestled in the woods. To our great surprise, the group awoke on Sunday to nearly 8 inches of Washington’s finest “champagne.” Thoughts of pond-skimming and park laps were quickly overwhelmed by the opportunity to tear up some late season fresh.
Bluewood knows how to party – I will give them that. With only two lifts to access the sweeping ridge line, the family-run staff was kind enough to let us raid the Bluewood Express for countless laps on Vintners Ridge (this cat service is also open to the public for a very small fee, conditions permitting). As you’ll see from the video footage, this was no mere day of groomers. The getting was good – and we got it.
