“Where is your natural spiritual home? Some places have a way of putting a bad week in perspective. A mountain makes the office politics seem smaller. A familiar stretch of water brings back someone you miss. A walk in the woods gives you an hour in which nobody expects an immediate reply,” a news release from A Mission for Michael stated.
For many Washingtonians, that place is Skyline Trail, Paradise, Mount Rainier National Park.
A Mission for Michael commissioned Cherry Data Signals to survey 3,001 respondents to identify their “spiritual home” — the natural place where Washingtonians feel most at peace, grounded and connected to something bigger than themselves.
The survey also asked what people would hypothetically pay each year to protect their chosen place — and how personally they would feel its loss.
Washingtonians’ top choices were:
No 1. Skyline Trail, Paradise, Mount Rainier National Park (near Ashford)
No. 2. Hall of Mosses, Hoh Rain Forest, Olympic National Park (near Forks)
No. 3. Diablo Lake Overlook, North Cascades National Park Complex (near Marblemount)
No. 4. Lime Kiln Point, San Juan Island (near Friday Harbor)
No. 5. Steptoe Butte, Palouse (near Colfax)
When asked how they would feel if their spiritual home were permanently lost or seriously damaged, 69% said it would represent a very or fairly significant personal loss.
“A place can become important to us through years of ordinary visits — a walk with someone we love, an afternoon when we needed to clear our heads, or time alone during a difficult period,” Anand Meta, LMFT, executive director at A Mission for Michael, said in a news release. “What stands out in these findings is how personally people feel those connections. Protecting a landscape also helps preserve somewhere people return to for comfort, memories and a sense of belonging.”
