Oak Creek Wildlife Area - Oak Creek Unit — Attraction in Tieton

Pulled in here due to a Heritage Marker on the way back to Portland thru White Pass (very nice on the west slope part of the Pass). Be careful in the winter.

It appeared to be just a wildlife viewing area with various facilities, all closed.

We learned that it was a huge, mostly untouched, rangeland of hills, ravines and canyons. The really fun part was that exploring by primitive roads was allowed, giving us to access great views of back country scenes.

NO Offroading Allowed.

It was spectacular, with steep challenging routes for GF's Subaru to find a path through the rocks. We saw two 4x4 pickups in two hours of moseying -- walking and driving.

Recommended if this...

Gather the family, bundle up, and make the drive to the Oak Creek Wildlife feeding station and get the opportunity to see lots of Elk, up close. Huge mature males with amazing displays of antlers, as well as small little calves, adorable! They are open 10-4 but pay attention to feeding time (was 1:30) when we went. Arrive just before that feeding time..... as if they are wearing watches the elk will come over the hillside in droves and come down for the feeding. You can ride in the truck to drop feed out in the field, but we have not done that so I am not sure what the scheduling is like for that. We have visited several times and have never been...

Contained in this wildlife area is a smattering of recreation areas and trails just off Highway 12 West of Naches, WA, more or less at the confluence of the Tieton River and Oak Creek. Rocks are climbed. Elk fence crisscrosses the area. For whatever reason, oaks thrive here, thus the name. Good trails. This is very arid, near desert. Trees drink from river fed groundwater. Note the hillsides void of trees. I nearly hit a 5' tumbleweed one day. The weather is sort of Mediterranean, making for decent hiking maybe 10 months per year. I had a nice hike one day in early February, was able to avoid snow, mostly. An...