Lake Stevens, WA Outdoor Activities

At Wrench Bicycle Workshop, mechanical experts Buck and Greg help maintain patrons' eco-friendly commuting machines with a comprehensive list of bicycle services. The specialists call upon nearly 30 years of combined experience as they adjust brakes, true wheels, and clean drivetrain systems. The duo services, rebuilds, and repairs all types of cycles. They also host a loaner program, which equips riders with Scott Sub 30 bikes while their personal steeds are resting up and conspiring against neighborhood birds with Ben, the shop’s welcoming dog.

In 1987, indoor climbing was as unpopular in the Seattle area as breeding labradoodles. But Vertical World––a pioneer indoor climbing gym––introduced the city to the up-and-coming sport of rock climbing in a controlled environment. Since its inception, the gym has expanded to three other locations in Everett, Tacoma, and Redmond, the latter hosting eastside climbers for more than 20 years.

A team of experienced route creators challenges climbers with more than 200 bouldering, lead, or top-rope routes in a wide variety of difficulty levels. The gym hosts competitive youth teams that have gone on to national or world tournaments. The gym's staff of climbers and guides also leads outdoor excursions that build confidence and teach novices how to identify a rock wall in the wild.

The Seattle Mariners have represented Washington since 1977. And since 1999, the team has dazzled hometown crowds under the lights at Safeco Field. The park boasts an elaborate scoreboard system that features an old-fashioned, hand-operated left-field scoreboard. A convertible rooftop covers the ballpark without closing it off, preserving an open-air environment that allows fans to bask in fresh spring breezes. Fans cheer on the Mariners amid the family-friendly surroundings as the Mariner Moose uses elaborate hand signals and oversize cue cards to lead his baseball platoon in choreographed home run dance numbers and sub-arctic migrations.

Traxx Indoor Raceway measures out adrenaline in seconds. It takes a go-kart just 23 seconds to careen around the indoor 1/5-mile track once, and 45 seconds for it to crest the 1/4-mile outdoor track's hill and swoop around its smooth turns back to the starting line. Drivers can reach speeds of 35 miles per hour in the SODI GT2 gas-powered karts, so the track provides helmets, jumpsuits, and notes from their mother to keep the racers safe. All contests last 20 laps or up to 15 minutes, except for the Traxx 100, a monthly marathon when 10 drivers rumble around the outdoor track 50 times.

Although drivers on the main track must be at least 14 years old, the team is committed to spreading the excitement around. Kids aged 3–10 gear up and hop into electric cars, zipping around their own four-turn track under the watchful eyes of attendants. Among other carnivalesque distractions, the colorful facility boasts an arcade and a 24-foot climbing wall to thrill jaded teenage thumbs, as well as a checker-themed banquet hall that seats up to 150 people for parties and team-building events.

Though he once dreamed of becoming an astronaut, Christopher Hagedorn instead found his passion on the Earth; he's worked as a national forest hydrologist, oceanography-engineering consultant, and mountaineering-and-wilderness-leadership instructor. After roaming the country on more than 30 extended wilderness trips, he came to rest in the North Cascade Mountains where he leads adventure day trips and wilderness-skills classes. He and his team of experienced guides lead explorers of all ages on Family Adventure Backpacking trips to secluded and mostly unknown destinations, tackling rocky beaches, mountain hillsides, and coniferous forests.

On mountaineering trips, Get In The Wild shows groups how to traverse North Cascades National Park's rugged peaks, roaring waterfalls, and glaciers without having to arm-wrestle bears for passage. Canyoneering trips explore the Dirty Devil River and Capitol Reef National Park, navigating historic sandstone cliffs, rocky domes, and winding canyons; and give photographers the chance to focus their lenses on the wilderness of Southern Utah. Throughout their adventures, the guides keep their charges fueled with gourmet camp food, preparing vegetarian, vegan, and kosher options upon request.

They also lead classes in hiking, glacier climbing, snow camping, canyoneering, and wilderness navigation to help adventurers blaze their own trails.

Chocolate lovers unite at the Northwest Chocolate Festival, an annual event dedicated not just to eating chocolate in its many forms, but to tracking its journey from cacao bean to confection. Visitors hone their expertise through seminars on trade equity and cacao farming, chocolate-making workshops led by confectioners, and tastings where palates learn to distinguish between milk chocolate and a chocolate bar clumsily forced inside a milk jug. A portion of the proceeds from the event benefits local nonprofits aligned with the festival’s mission. Recipients are announced yearly.