LAKE NAHWATZEL, a year-round fishing lake, is also great for canoeing and kayaking, with a chance of spotting an osprey.

Cloquallum (C-8)

Midway between Shelton and Elma on a northeast-southwest county road is Cloquallum. A fire hall and grocery store-gas station at Buck Prairie serve as meeting places for local residents.

Close at hand are Lost Lake, the home of a YMCA camp; Lake Arrowhead, originally Simpson Lake; and Star Lake, originally named Lystairs. A bit farther west, next to the Grays Harbor County line, is Schafer State Park. This wonderfully under-used park is the perfect place for an extended campout, a picnic, or a walk along the East Fork of the Satsop River.

Dayton (D-6)

Seven miles west of Shelton on the Shelton-Matlock Road, Dayton serves the surrounding area with a store and restaurant.

A casual journey through Dayton should include the picturesque and compact Little Egypt valley where small farms produce vegetables and livestock along beaver-pond-widened Goldsborough Creek. Farther south off Highland Road, Panhandle Lake lies at the heart of a working woodland and 4-H camp maintained with proceeds of managed timber harvests on acreage surrounding the camp.

Easily missed, but well worth noticing, is the Simpson Sort Yard west of Dayton, where logs stacked in enormous piles await milling or transport via railroad to the Shelton waterfront. Just a few miles north, on Dayton-Airport Road, are the Latvian Cultural Center, the Washington State Patrol Academy and the Washington Corrections Center.

Lake Nahwatzel (B-6)

A treasure in the west end of the county is Lake Nahwatzel, 11 miles west of Shelton on Shelton-Matlock Road. Access to the lake itself is via Lake Nahwatzel Resort or a ramp operated by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The lake, about half a mile long and nearly as wide, picks up the west wind for a cooling outing on a warm day. For fishing, it’s open season for trout year-round, with some cutthroats among the usual rainbows. Largemouth bass and pumpkinseed sunfish provide variety.

The rustic Lake Nahwatzel Resort offers RV sites, camping, boats and a full-service restaurant.

TRUMAN GLICK PARK trails and Decker Creek provide a tranquil getaway spot west of Matlock on Ford Road.

Matlock (B-6)

Miles of second-growth forest on rolling foothills and old beaver-pond flatlands define the Matlock area, a sportsman’s and visitor’s delight.

Wide-open spaces and quiet back roads appeal to the farmers, loggers and others who make their homes in the west end of the county. At the crossroads that is Matlock itself, a full-service store and gas station, a community church and a Grange hall are gathering places for the locals. West and north are old neighborhoods Beeville and Deckerville.

In their seasons, fishermen, hunters and mushroom-gatherers visit the west county. Deer and elk abound. Anglers in chest waders or drift boats ply streams that drain the southern slopes of the Olympics – two forks of wild, scenic Satsop River, Stillwater, and Decker and Bingham creeks – for salmon and steelhead. Visitors to the Simpson Hatchery can watch salmon at various stages of development and enjoy a picnic beside Bingham Creek.

West of Matlock, Truman Glick Memorial Park, at 1291 Ford Road (A-6), is a great place to cool off on a hot summer day. There’s a day-use picnic area, large covered shelter, barbecue grills and portable toilets. Trails and a wooden bridge allow visitors to meander along Decker Creek. In summer, the shady woods that surround the picnic-area clearing are inviting. Off season, the visitor may spot herds of elk that winter in the lowlands.