Length: 2.75 miles
Elevation Gain: 10 feet, so practically none

I don’t know what I was expecting when I visited the Mima Mounds after hanging out at the Billy Frank Nisqually Wildlife Refuge (it’s only a 30-minute drive from one to the other), and maybe something is just deeply wrong with me, but I found the mounds completely underwhelming. Perhaps if I had come when the wildflower show was still going strong, my opinion would be different. But I came in late July when all the color was gone from the mounds, aside from the endless sandy gold of the grass.

The mounds are also next to a shooting range, or at least so close to one that during the entire time I was there, I could hear endless BLAM!BLAM!BLAM! even when I rambled to the far end of the trail. It certainly didn’t add to the experience, that’s for sure.

The mounds are a natural wonder and mystery, but they’re not much to look at. So while I’m glad I went to have a peep at them, I’m in no hurry to return. However, I will say that they’re very easy to get to, there’s a nice shaded parking lot, and it’s a very easy time walking the entirety of the mound site (I did the big loop as well as the ADA-accessible loop). It took me about 1.5 hours to do all of it, going at a very slow pace and taking several stops to check out the lone hawk that was out on the hunt that day.

no, I’m not texting — I was checking out my camera’s remote shutter