The Geophysical Sno-Park + Bike Park

While maybe not a bikepacking destination for the serious traveler it's an interesting little place to stop and ride around.    Located near Newport, WA (get you some potato tacos at Mi Pueblo in town!!)  the sno-park is a cross country skiing park during winter and a mountain bike park in summer.   Nothing too technical for mountain bikers it's the kind of system you could ride on a department store bike without difficulty but the forested scenery and rolling terrain makes for a nice afternoon which feels more distant from civilization than it is.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/colville/recarea/?recid=67828

Along the North boundary of the park is the Newport Geophysical Observatory which doesn't look like much more than a tiny community of tiny houses but the huts actually contain sensitive geomagnetic measurement equipment and is used to monitor nuclear weapons testing worldwide as well as the influence of the geomagnetic field on weather and other factors affecting national security.  

https://www.usgs.gov/natural-hazards/geomagnetism

Not much else to say about it,  it's a fun stop if you're in the region already with a bike or some cross country skis.   I think it's novel to discover that the geophysical observatory exists and why it's there,  the bike and ski park happens to be a good way to use the land around the observatory and I'm glad the National Forest keeps it open and maintains it for the public.