It's official: Summer 2016 is the final hurrah for the Washington State Parks GeoTour. All GeoTour caches will remain active through Sept. 30, and participants will have until Oct. 10 to submit passports for prize coins. There are currently 177 Silver (50 caches) and 34 Gold (100 caches) left to award. So start making your summer travel plans! More details.
Alta Lake State Park is a 181-acre camping park near Pateros where mountainous pine forests meet the desert. Alta Lake is about two miles long and a half mile wide. The lake offers good trout fishing, conditional waterskiing, and windsurfing during summer months. Lake Chelan, with its many activities, is 30 minutes away.
There are three other caches in the park. Two of them are killer hikes on a hot day.
The 2014 Carlton Complex fires burned quite a bit of this park. The original cache survived, but the trails to it were burned, so a replacement cache was placed in an area not affected by the fires. The chief ranger approves of the new location.
Hours: Summer 6:30 am - 10:00 pm. Closed October-March. You may still enter on foot to find the cache.
History: The Alta Lake area was given to the State Parks by the city of Pateros, Alta Lake State Park was established in 1951. The lake was named Alta in 1900 by Mr. Heinz, a jeweler from Wilbur, who was mining in the area. Finding the lake without a name, he called it after his daughter, Alta Heinz.
Geology: The mountainous terrain that surrounds Alta Lake was formed by glaciation. The native rock is primarily igneous.
2013 was the 100th anniversary of Washington State Parks, and we've celebrated with the Washington State Parks Centennial GeoTour, a statewide challenge featuring 100 new caches placed on 100 State Park properties, with a commemorative geocoin for finding 50 caches (silver coin) and 100 caches (gold coin).
The Centennial GeoTour is sponsored by Washington State Geocaching Association (WSGA) and Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission (WSPRC). We hope you enjoy the tour!
- This geocache has an approved Permit to be placed at this location on property managed by the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission. Visitors are responsible for acquainting themselves with policies and rules pertaining to State Parks areas.
- The following items may not be placed in the geocache: food, illegal substances, medications, personal hygiene products, pornographic materials, hazardous materials, or weapons of any type.
- By searching for the cache, visitors agree that they are responsible for their own actions, and acknowledge that neither the State of Washington nor the cache owner is responsible for any loss or injury that may occur in relation to such search.
- Report any incident, problem, or violation to State Parks staff.
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