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Friends Landing: Campground for the Disabled Community

© Jerri Brooker

First published in http://www.gimponthego.com

When David Hamilton, a Trout Unlimited board member, wanted to help a close friend who was having a time accepting life in a wheelchair, he thought about what he could do to help. He began making plans for a recreational facility that people with disabilities could enjoy; where they could access aqua-culture and fish enhancement projects in the beauty of the Northwest outdoors of Washington State. He set about to make his dream happen, complete with a campground wedged between a river and a lake for the disabled community.

The Friend family donated 152 acres, previously an old gravel pit, with one-mile of Chehalis River frontage, to Trout Unlimited in 1988. Dredging for gravel had already produced a 32-acre, man made lake, Lake Quigg, with a variety of fish. Mother Nature did great work on this ideal location for Hamilton's dream.

After Hamilton presented the plan to use this property to build a park for the disabled community, Trout Unlimited agreed to support the project. Hamilton planted the seed and got the wheels turning; Trout Unlimited along with Columbia Pacific RC&D and Grays Harbor County funded the project and provided volunteers.

The community came together in three phases. First the volunteers built a fishing pier on the Chehalis River with a boat launch, two fishing shelters, a picnic shelter, a parking lot and quarters for a caretaker. They then built a paved path south of the lake in the second phase along with viewing docks and piers. They erected a handicap accessible ramp and float on the river, along with a boat launch, an extended parking lot and landscaping.

In 1999 the final phase was completed with a paved pathway circling the lake, restrooms with showers, recreational vehicle (RV) and tent-camping facilities, paving and accessible playground equipment. In this photo Kent Morningstar, campground manager, stands in front of the full-hookup sites. He says the project was, "Well done under a bad economy." (This area has handled a lapse in the logging industry and high unemployment due to the spotted owl issue.)

Friends Landing, once a dream, now is reality.

Located at 300 Katon Road in Montesano, Washington, the former gravel mining operation is now an outdoor haven for nature lovers with disabilities. There's a bunch of good fishing and two fishing shacks along with piers and other access. Salmon and sturgeon are the major catches. There are 1.7 miles of level trail through a wetland area with interpretive signs. However, the owners say beware of black bear, they do reside in the neighborhood.