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View Full Version : Finally got to see Lester, WA


Ghostdancer
08-11-2007, 07:59 AM
Having wanted to see Lester for a long time I finally did so last Wednesday with a friend who joined me. In it's current condition there are four buildings remaining; two homes and two sheds, one small and one large. I had originally thought two buildings remained. The trip in requires about a two mile hike from the point where the forest service road is closed to vehicle traffic. Walking from this point takes about 30 minutes. There is one other home located on the opposite side which can only be seen by walking up the pathway. It is abandoned, but with a sign stating it is private property. The site of Lester is as far as you can go in since the area just past is in the Tacoma Watershed and off limits. I just wonder if there's a cemetary.

I bought a topo for this area and it shows a trail to a foot bridge going from the railroad bridge, but we didn't see it.


Tom
karrie_ann
11-30-2008, 06:22 PM
We are interested in finding Lester, we drove up yesterday and tried to follow the directions we got off of Google maps but could not find it, at least we don't think we found it. We didn't think this was it because the directions we had included a few turns. We followed 54 straight through until we found a yellow gate at a bridge. We walked in about 1 mile and didn't see anything... did we not walk far enough in or were we totally off?
Fairlane500
12-09-2008, 07:02 AM
If you reach the gate near an occupied house, you're at the right spot, you just may not have hiked far enough.
Eventually you will see a large field on the left about a mile in, that used to be the airfield. Next there will be another large field on the right where the station and old railroad grade used to be. Continuing past that you will finally encounter the railroad tracks, and be where the remaining buildings are.
Ghostdancer
12-10-2008, 05:04 AM
Sounds like you didn't walk far enough. I'm not sure of the exact distance, but it took us maybe 30 minutes. There is no way you can miss it if you are on the road past the gate as it goes straight to Lester which along with the buildings has a sign saying it is such.