The Evergreen State College Woods: Portal to the Unknown
The Evergreen State College sits on 1,000 acres of dense Pacific Northwest forest on Olympia's westside. The campus is famous for its progressive education. The forest is famous for something else entirely.
Students and faculty have reported disorientation in specific areas of the woods — experienced hikers getting lost on trails they've walked hundreds of times. GPS devices malfunction. Cell phones lose signal in areas with full coverage everywhere else.
In one well-documented case from 2018, a group of four students entered a familiar trail at 3 PM and emerged — confused and disoriented — at 11 PM, insisting they'd been walking for only 30 minutes. Their phones confirmed an 8-hour gap with no location data.
The forest contains several areas where trees grow in unusual spiral patterns, as if twisted by some persistent force. Soil analysis in these areas shows anomalous mineral compositions not found elsewhere on the property.
"Time moves differently in those woods," Captain Ron says. "I don't say that metaphorically. I've experienced it. You walk for what feels like ten minutes and two hours have passed. Something in that forest bends the rules."
