I headed to Rattlesnake Ledge on a Thursday around 5 pm, shortly after the trail was reopened after being shuttered for about a year due. Historically extremely popular, I was eager to go before the word fully got out that it was open. Nonetheless, there was still a moderate amout of people on the trail….
Visiting Deception Pass State Park Camping in March in Washington was totally new territory for me. First, I hadn’t been camping in 6 years, so I definitely felt out of practice. Second, I had only ever planned one camping trip before. Third, the weather in Washington tends to be rainy and unpredictable. What I’d read…
For my 28th birthday, I was determined to spend the day in the outdoors, hiking. Given the friendless-in-Seattle and covid situations as well as my hiking hobby, it seemed like a natural choice. Since my birthday was on a Friday, I took the day off work to enjoy a three-day weekend. And then, the forecast…
Twin Falls is actually the very first hike I picked out in Washington–before I knew I was going to move here. We were visiting my sister and her family over the winter holidays. I wanted to plan a hike that we could bring our then 2-year-old nephew along on. Something short, something within a 45…
Driving up the road, I knew I’d made a miscalculation. On the last 2-mile stretch of National Forest Road 25, I saw snow. In my mid-sized vehicle with no snow chains or cables, I cautiously eked my way forward. There was a car immediately behind me, and nowhere easy to turn around, and a track…
Mount Storm King is a place you might have seen on social media without even realizing it. It’s a beautiful, breathtaking mountain top overlooking Lake Crescent in the glorious Olympic Peninsula. With such a grand name, it kind of has to be amazing. One of my friends commented that it looked like the Crater Lake…
Some hikes around Washington are super well-known and well-trodden. These are the Lake 22s, Rattlesnake Ledges, Talapus Lakes, and Snow Lakes of the region. They’re popular for a reason–I’ve done several of them, and Snow Lake and Lake 22 remain a couple of my favorite hikes thus far, even with the crowding. But there’s also…
Lake 22 is a stellar hike. Possibly my favorite trail I’ve had the privilege to hike this fall. It combines all the elements of what I consider to be a “great hike”, and it’s a quick, one hour drive from the city. You’ll want to visit Lake 22 if you haven’t already. Lake 22 Trail…
The day after Thanksgiving, we took off for a post-Turkey Trek (can we make that a thing, in addition to the Turkey Trot?) Talapus Lake was my selection for the day. Frozen or partially frozen lakes are so beautiful, that I almost feel like these types of hikes are more spectacular in the winter than…
I’ve been heading to hikes off of highway 2 East near Gold Bar for the past two weekends. It’s been a great place to explore, because there still isn’t snow blocking the trails or the roadways, and there are beautiful mountain vistas and waterfalls in abundance. When the forecast was partly cloudy for this past…