Hike/Climb

Jones Island Loop Located in the San Juan Archipelago, Jones Island is a place apart: rocky shores, sculpted cliffs, beautiful madrone forests, and impressive groves of weather-beaten Garry Oaks. From the dock on the northern shore of Jones Island, an ADA-accessible trail crosses through deep coastal forest to the southern shore and the delightfully named Raccoon Island Campground. From here, …

Was this the worst coffee I’d ever tasted?  A definite possibility. Clearly, the pot had been sitting on the burner for many hours (days? weeks?) with just enough viscous liquid in the bottom to pour two cups, one for Susan and one for me. We were sitting in a somewhat shop-worn restaurant perched above the shores of the Strait of …

Eagle Creek For waterfall lovers, it doesn’t get much better than the Eagle Creek Trail, one of the premier hikes in the Columbia Gorge. This supremely well-engineered trail follows its namesake creek up through a verdant gorge that’s as green as St. Patrick’s Day. In places, Italian engineers blasted the route out of the basalt cliffs, and chain “handrails” are …

Washington Trails Association (WTA) is the largest state-based trails non-profit in the U.S. But that wasn’t always the case. What began in 1966 as Signpost, a grassroots newsletter pioneered by Louise Marshall to share backcountry adventures and trail conditions, evolved into one of the most recognizable resources for hikers in the Pacific Northwest. Plenty has changed for the Washington Trails …

Windy Pass The hike to Windy Pass is one of the most user-friendly hikes in the North Cascades. Suitable as a day hike or (better still) backpack, this stretch of the PCT literally glides along an open ridge with splendid views, starting right at the trailhead. In fact, the Windy Pass Trailhead is the highest automobile-accessible trailhead in Washington. Round-trip …

          Three decades ago, while wandering through the Himalayas, I ventured from the Vale of Kashmir to Ladakh, a mountainous realm where some of the planet’s tallest peaks rise above a high plateau. Now, thirty years later, as I gaze into Deception Basin in the Olympic Mountains, the scenery is so reminiscent of Ladakh—green vegetation fringing …

Everything feels familiar driving up Glacier Creek Road to the Heliotrope Ridge trailhead. I’ve been backpacking for decades, to more trailheads than I could possibly remember, and I’ve been on this trail on more than one occasion. But today is different. For the first time, my goal is the summit of Mt. Baker. We shoulder our packs and start hiking, …

With its extremely steep topography, the North Cascades is perhaps North America’s most rugged mountain range. Traversing along its crest is no simple feat.  I am not talking about using hiking trails since they are predominantly in the valleys.  I am talking about trekking on the ridges, staying as close to the crest as possible. “Humility is directly correlated to survivability.” …

Your mother used to shout, “Go outside and play.” I know. I lived next door and could hear her through four walls and a carefully manicured hedge. Like dogs that join in when they hear another K-9 in the distance, every other mom in the neighborhood followed suit, forming a twilight bark of sorts that was more about moms needing …

In September, my husband, Jake, fell to his death on his favorite mountain, the North Twin Sister. My geologist friend Jackie tells me that the Sisters Range is a rare outcropping of the earth’s mantle; the olivine rock a distinctive rusty hue. Mountains were as necessary as air for Jake, and he’d summited this one dozens of times. Every year, …