Zug-wa Monster Letterbox
Pioneer Park
Tumwater
Thurston County
Washington

Level of difficulty: Easy walksome gravel, some sand, some short
slopes and potentially mucky during rainy season. Clues easy to
moderate.

Setting: Pioneer Park. A neat athletic field park complex,
playground and short walking trails adjacent to the Deschutes
River.

Highlights: See salmon runs along the Deschutes River. Enjoy the
woods, marshlands, birds and wildlife. From October to early
November, look for salmon in the river, where Chinook & Coho move
upstream.

Facilities: Amenities include sports fields, hiking trails, picnic
tables, playground, restroom and parking. There is a nice playground
for the children!

Restrictions: Pets are allowed.

Length of trek: About 1/2 mile loop.

Directions: Take I-5 to Exit 105 in Olympia, follow signs to Exit
105 B `Port of Olympia', then follow signs to South Olympia and
Henderson Blvd SE. Turn South onto Henderson Blvd SE and continue
for a couple of miles crossing North St and Yelm Hwy. After
crossing over Yelm Hwy, look for Pioneer Park on the right just
after you cross the railroad tracks. Park at the far end near the
playground.

Zug-wa Monster Letterbox Clues:

Zug-wa is the terrible monster that lives beneath the water in what
is now Hewitt Lake (about a mile East of the park and not open to
the public possibly for monstrous reasons?). Nisqually tribal
legend has it that old people would not dare swim or take their
canoes onto the lake for fear they might be dragged beneath the
surface and never seen again. Your mission is to locate Zug-wa and
to stop him from continuing his terrible ways!!!

Start by the playgroundbut you don't have time to play. You must
find Zug-wa quickly! Continue to the other side of the parking area
and find the gravel trail that begins with a boulder in the center.

Legend has it that one day a young man and woman who were about to
marry went to look for the nest of a loon by the lake. The man was
strong and handsome. The woman was the daughter of a powerful local
Indian chief. To find the nest and eggs of a loon would bring them
good luck.

Take the center trail for awhile as you look for the nest and eggs
of a loon. Maybe it'll bring you some good luck! When a narrower
trail on the left merges with the main trail, seek out an odd water
pipe fountain, perhaps the nest is nearby. From the 4' green-capped
pipe, look for 2 little firs at approximately 140do you think the
nest is near them? Take the trail between them to find out.
Carefully negotiate the trail(s) heading 190 to the banks of the
river. You'll eventually find yourself on a rocky beach along the
graceful bend of the Deschutes River. Perhaps the loon's nest is
near the beach? If you're lucky and it's salmon season, look for
all the furious activity of the salmon as they swim upstream to
spawn in the area. BUT DON'T DARE VENTURE INTO THE WATER!

For that is what the fair woman did. She ventured out alone to a
floating island covered in reeds, looking for the nest. Suddenly,
she slipped beneath the water and never surfaced again.

AND DEFINITELY DO NOT DIVE IN! For that is what the man didhe
quickly dived in to search for her, and he, too, was lost from
sight.

RATHER, continue walking along the river's beach and look for 2 old
fallen trees on the beach. Perhaps these are all that remain of our
young man and woman. Wind your way past these logs and find a sandy
trail at 300 that winds up the slope that brings you back to the
gravel path.

You never found the nest, did you? Don't worry, our couple didn't
find the nest of the loons, either. Legend has it that after
slipping under the water, the man's and the woman's bodies were
found below Tumwater Falls (a few miles North of here). They were
drawn all the way from the lake through a mysterious underground
passage. Even now, if you listen, sometimes you can hear their
cries in the thundering waterfall at Tumwater Falls. Zug-wa was
apparently responsible for this sad and most tragic event and many
other similar events throughout history. You must find Zug-wa and
stop him from continuing his terrible ways.

At the gravel path, bear right. Then take the next left gravel
path. Look for a towering maple, that protects a younger fir,
eventually on your left in the tree-line behind the brambles and
tall grass. Find the next narrow trail into the tree lineavoiding
the geocache in the area (although this might be the lost loon's
nest you're looking for) that is housed within the very large burnt
stump of an old growth fir.

BETTER to continue on quickly to find Zug-wa and stop him from his
terrible ways. From the large burnt stump, head 200 toward another
cluster of maples (the one you saw from the trail) that protects the
younger fir and an old growth fir stump. Look up atop and within
the stump for the long lost terrible Zug-wa monster of Hewitt Lake.
Stamp him and log him and convince him to stop his terrible ways!!!

Legend Citation: A Nisqually Indian legend about Tumwater Falls as
told by Del McBride, former curator of the Washington State Capital
Museum in Olympia and listed on
http://www.ci.tumwater.wa.us/ResearchCenter/Indians-page%202.htm
Del was born at Nisqually, WA and spent most of his life in this
area. His mother descended from the pioneer McAllister and Mounts
families, with some Cowlitz/Quinault Indian ancestry.

Placed 7 October 2002 by DVN2R CKR.