Wonderland Trail – Longmire to Mowich Lake
A long time dream of mine has been to hike the entire Wonderland Trail around Mt Rainier. Being a working guy with a family, it would be hard if next to impossible for me to take a large enough chunk of time to do the whole trail in one go. I don’t have the luxury ...
Spray Park – Seattle Park – Carbon River Loop
WARNING! Gratuitous wildflower pictures contained in this post! This was a pretty tough 17 mile day-hike near *The Mountain. In years past it wouldn’t have been so difficult but this year I have been very out of shape. This trip starts at Mowich Lake at around the 4900 foot level, climbs up to the 6400 foot level at ...
Enchantments – A weekend in the Enchantments
This year, I won permits to the Enchantments. I entered 4 lottery tickets and won 2 sets of permits. One set of Snow Lakes zone permits and a one set of core permits. Unfortunately at the time I applied, I had forgotten that I would be in California at the Muir Trail Ranch during the ...
Juniper Gulch – Hiking the Juniper Gulch of the Owyhee Badlands – SE Oregon Road Trip Part 3
I’ve broken this report up into 3 different posts. Part 1 is of my hike at Munra Point in the Gorge and for me is symbolically the beginning of my trip even though the Gorge is like 3 hours from where I live in Silverdale Washington. Part 2 is all about the road trip. The route I ...
Munra Point – SE Oregon Road Trip Part 1
I’ve broken this report up into 3 different posts. This part, part 1 is of my hike at Munra Point in the Gorge and for me is symbolically the beginning of my trip, even though the Gorge is like 3 hours from where I live in Silverdale Washington and not really anywhere near SE Oregon. ...
Seabeck Time Lapse
I created a time lapse sequence last night in Seabeck looking towards the Olympic Mountains across the Hood Canal. Sequence is comprised of about 350 images over the course of an hour. Special thanks to Hayden for being so patient. For the best possible view of this video, click the HD in the player controls ...
Elbo Creek Trail
After a week of heavy rains and a on a day with a questionable forecast for more showers, I hiked up the Elbo Creek Trail with a few members of the Kitsap Climbers Group. The Elbo Creek trailhead (that’s how Elbo is spelled on the map) starts near the Mt Walker Trail but is on ...
Silver Star Mountain
On visiting some friends in Portland OR, I took the opportunity to get a local hike in. I chose Silver Star Mountain just outside of Vancouver WA. Hike was about 8 miles with about 2000′ of elevation Gain. Silver Star Mountain was consumed by fire in the Yacolt Burn in 1902 and the trees on ...
Cispus Pass in the Goat Rocks Wilderness
I loved the thru-hike that my friends and I had done the week before but I felt like I missed out on a big part of the scenery because of the cloudy conditions on the first day. I got off of the ferry from my daily commute to Seattle on Friday and ran into Mike ...
Thru-Hiking the Goat Rocks Wilderness
Thru-Hiking the Goat Rocks Wilderness with Mike and Robbin August 14th – 16th The Dream: I have wanted to thru-hike the Goat Rocks for a long time now and I finally got a chance to this year. Accompanying me on this trip were my friends Mike and Robbin from the Kitsap Climbers Group. We drove ...
Hawk, Welch, Townsend Loop
Between 15 and 17 miles (depending on who you ask and a little over a mile of elevation gain This was a very fun trip and I hope to do it again next year. As a member of the Peninsula Wilderness club for almost a year now, I still had not gone on any outings ...
Grand Ridge Trail
I tried to hike the Grand Ridge last year but the weather wasn’t cooperating. Took the day off today to hike because the weather was supposed to be nice. The Grand ridge trail connects Deer Park with Obstruction Point in Olympic National Park. Robert L. Wood, author of the Olympic Mountains Trail Guide calls this ...
Mitchell Point
After gaining 3800′ on my Mt Defiance hike and losing the trail there in the snow, I headed over to Mitchell Point and hiked to the top gaining another 1000 to 1200 feet in elevation giving me close to 5000′ for the day. Another good hike for some great views of the Gorge. At the ...
Columbia River Gorge Adventures – Beacon Rock – Horsethief Butte – Catherine Creek – Tom McCall Point – Wind Mountain
Columbia River Gorge Adventures May 16th and 17th 2009 Originally I was going to hike the Chelan Lakeshore trail again, but after looking at the logistics of getting over there to catch the ferry (had to get up too dang early!) I decided on doing some hikes down by the Columbia River Gorge instead. My ...
Mailbox Peak
On an invite by the Kitsap Climbers, me and 4 other brave souls headed out to climb Mailbox Peak in the Snoqualmie I-90 corridor near Seattle. The trail to the top is very steep and gains 4000′ elevation in 2.5 miles. Upon reaching the top, on a clear day you are rewarded with views of ...