Hi Guys,

I am looking for suggestions from WA residents on a which county or part of the state would be ideal to purchase acreage for a private retreat, camping, shooting, and eventually build a cabin on.  What are your favorites regions for being outdoors?  

The 5 to 20 acres ideally would have water on it or through it for fishing, some canopy, some meadow.  My Primary residence will be near the Sound for work, but the property could be South (Olympia), North (Skagit), or East of the Cascades.  I would be interested to get to your input on political climate, weather climate, cost of land, what is in the area or nearby.

Thanks

West side = $$$$$$$$$$$$

Fishing?
You obviously haven't read the fishing regulations in this fucked up state have you? 174 pages. and that doesn't even include all the "emergency closures" you are responsible for keeping up with.

But seriously, property on the west side of the state is pretty ridiculously priced. You might find something that fits your desires along the western rivers or tributaries in the $5000/acre or more price range.
Land on the East side is cheaper to purchase and you might find something desireable as low as about $1500/acre.
I've been looking for camping property between Mt Rainer, and Mt Adams on the west side of the PCT.

East side is where you'd want to be.

Also, I've been thinking about it, but the way the politics are headed in this state, It's not worth having a second property here.

ID/MT would be a better choice.

Entiat River has some good properties still available on the river (maybe), but fishing is pretty much out of the question on that river (like pretty much all rivers in WA). Shooting is fine, lots of dirt roads for exploring, and even a decent ORV trail network.

My family had a cabin in the Lake Wenatchee/Fish Lake area - great area, but I'm sure pricing has gone through the roof lately.
Basically anything within about a 3hr drive of Seattle has gone up in price exponentially, because everyone wants what you want. There isn't much left on any kind of water that isn't developed already until you get pretty far out there - i.e. more than a few hours from Seattle.

I'd agree that ID/MT would have more to offer, at better prices, but with significantly longer drive times.