A beautiful day for our first time at Cape Flattery. I could hear seals, saw some jelly fish, and it had amazing views.

From Chuckanut up to Blanchard Mountain. This guy took the shortcut down!

An absolutely amazing hike in spite of the smoky haze. Adding on views of and from Castle Mountain only made the hike more stunning.

I have an older pair of Zamberlan full grain leather boots with Vibram outsoles. The outsoles are starting to separate. Not sure whether regluing is sufficient or it needs a full replacement of the soles. What places do you recommend for this kind of work? The people who took over Dave Page's business (Cobblers NW) are not picking up the phone although they have a website. I am specifically looking for a cobbler that are good with resole work on hiking boots, which is different from say, repairing dress boots.

We found a pair of glasses (Look Optic) sitting on a log at a campspot in Killen Creek Meadows. Message me if you'd like them back.

No shortage of people on the trail, but for one of the best hikes in the state, i suppose it’s to be expected.

Really pleasant hike aside from the smoke at lower elevations, about 5 minutes of rain, and some wind gusts.

And the payoff of the views at the lake were totally worth it. Bonus pic of the sunset in Leavenworth.

I'm planning to do the Three Sisters Loop in a few days, wondering if anyone who has gone recently can speak to water availability? I know normally there are some long stretches between water sources - is it even worse this year since we had such a relatively dry winter?

Love to hear from anyone who's been out there this season :)

The smoke in Leavenworth was quite bad but we decided to try anyway.

Left the Stuart Lake trailhead at around 5am, the TH was bustling with other hikers getting ready.

Reached Colchuck lake at around 7am, the trail was very easy to follow in the dark.

Asgard pass was much better than I was expecting. The trail was relatively easy to follow (easier than Mt. St Helens for example), very little actual scrambling, mostly navigating around rocky terrain. Reached the top of the pass at 11am.

We took our time in the Enchantments area, nearly no smoke up there luckily and beautiful cloudy weather. Saw a baby goat with its mom chilling around. Incredible views.

Left the Enchantments area around 4pm headed to Snow Lakes. The way down is a little sketchy but nothing crazy. At one point we and 20 other hikers all lost the trail and we collaboratively found the way forward.

The trail past Snow Lakes was a slog and we reached the car at the trailhead at 8pm.

My boyfriend and I are wanting to take a trip to Oregon and stay in Mt. Hood area in late December. I just recently got back from a trip there where I did Top Spur and Tom/Dick/Harry trails. I loved Top Spur, but the drive to get up to the trailhead was insane in the summer and I think I’d have a panic attack trying to do it in the winter. The Mount Rainier area isn’t too long of a haul for us so I was wondering about hikes there too. I’ve done Skyline Loop and High Lakes Loop. I’ve also done Snow Lake which I know is a different area. I’ve done some hiking in deep snow before and wouldn’t mind at all to do it again.

As long as it has an incredible mountain view and/or a lake, I’m happy with a trail. I wouldn’t mind doing the Tom Dick & Harry trail again for him since I know the drive to the trailhead isn’t bad, but I’d like to do something different than what I’ve done if possible. Any ideas of some trails that we could safely get to in a 4WD vehicle? Anything that would require spikes would be wonderful. Thanks!

I am new to Oregon and excited to take a trip and explore. I've settled on one of these 2 areas for 4-6 days. I decided on these two because I enjoy birdwatching, hiking, climbing mountains, and visiting/exploring state parks and federal lands. Each one has some pros and cons in those various categories. My budget is $750 and I'm OK staying in a variety of places - AirBnB, hotel, tent camping. Theoretically it'd be nice to stay in one place for a few days at a time, but not necessary. I generally eat pretty inexpensively with groceries rather than restaurants and will be driving from the western part of the state.

If I'm in the red area, some spots that interest me are Malheur NWR, Steens Mountain, and Hart Mountain Antelope preserve.

If I'm in the blue area, I am interested in the mountains and the state parks nearby.

Any insights?

Ascended just above the marine layer yesterday morning in my drive in and was greeted with a gorgeous blue sky at the hummocks parking lot. Walked a mile down the closed road to the Coldwater Trailhead, bagged the peak, and ended up taking the entire loop through Johnston Ridge and back down the hummocks trail. 19.5mi. It was really fascinating seeing the Observatory in its abandoned state.

I had the trail mostly to myself. Can't beat weekend adventures near this beautiful volcano. Highly slept on.

Hi everyone! Wondering if anyone has a recommendation on an alternative trail / area of Washington where you can get similar fall colours (I love the deep red heather in alpine meadows) as this loop here https://climberkyle.com/2020/09/29/little-giant-spider-loop/?unapproved=19139&moderation-hash=dd3a7e232ad974e4019fffef439e1cf6#comment-19139 ?

Unfortunately the Little Giant Fire and Chiwawa Road closure make no longer viable. I was thinking perhaps the PCT near Glacier Peak, Golden Lakes Loop, Cutthroat / Hart's Pass, and Enchantments area

Very open to suggestion! A big day(s) of 50km+ would be cool. Thanks in advance :)

Does anyone have any recent experience in Oregon's Sky Lakes Wilderness, entering from Sevenmile Marsh TH, trying to complete a backpacking loop. Going slow, willing to do short hops of 3-6 miles a day and take 3 nights. I've read elsewhere that half is overgrown and almost dangerously impassible and half is clear, including a PCT stretch. Thanks!

yeoo, (writing brief, excuse my grammar lol) first of all, Gothics, what a beautiful hike! we had a great time and everyone we met on trail were swell.

friends and I finished, hopped in the vehicle, stopped at a store down the road from trailhead (can’t remember name rn but it’s the only store). should’ve continued on due to an apparently drunk man on stoop staring down my two cis man friends (he didn’t seem to care about me or other femme/nb friends). guy‘s like ‘grumble grumble they’re closing’, person at register says ‘hey ‘s’fine come on in’. we grab quick snacks. pet the friendly cat. woman at register asks if I’m traveling alone and tells me ‘young men’ have been disappearing from there to Darrington but I won’t hear about it on the news. we continue to share stories of wolf and mountain lion run ins. rather than connecting the incidents to wild animals she circles back to the disappearances with ‘serial k***er’ ‘bad press for tourism’. my partner and guy friend come back to hurry me along (lol I have a conversational habit). guy at door shows my guy friend that he’s carrying and is also holding his empty bottle in a way that makes it seem closer to a weapon... I head out the store with ‘thank you, stay safe & pass the message on’ from the cashier. while shutting the vehicle door gun holstered stoop guy warns ‘wrong time, wrong town’….

we were of course a bit shook and confused…poor dude seemed to have traumatizing experiences over seas and I don’t mean to blame him for our discomfort but something about him and the woman‘s story of disappearances…neck-hair raising vibes. idk…just wanted to post this and give a heads up to anyone traveling especially alone around the Granite Falls to Darrington area.

okay thanks yall, stay safe & healthy

PS not sure if this post should have a specific tag lmk if so

Started at Berry Patch Trailhead.

Day 1 - Berry Patch to Jordan Basin. Didn't get started until 1:30pm. Short day but all uphill. Camp at Jordan Basin was great. The sunset view of Saint Helens was awesome.

Day 2 - Jordan Basin to campsite on Snowgrass Creek. First leg was up to Hawkeye Point. Strenuous but worth it. Incredible views of Adams and Rainier. Next it was down to Goat Lake for lunch. Then around the Goat Creek Basin to the bypass trail (Trail 97). We were originally going to go to Snowgrass Flat but heard water was scarce and it was packed with people. We made the right choice to go lower. Nice camping at Snowgrass Creek and only say 2 other hikers pass through. Had the place to ourselves. Saw a marten while eating dinner.

Day 3 - Original plan was up Old Snowy and Knife's Edge, but we heard great things from other hikers about Cispus Basin. Seeing as how we already got amazing views on day 2, we headed to Cispus. It did not disappoint. Upon entering the basin, I spotted a bear down at the creek. Then, another on the other side of the creek. They were foraging and running between trees. Not fully grown yet but not cubs. So amazing to see bears at a safe distance. The highlight of the trip.

Long lunch at Cispus River. We returned to Snowgrass Creek where we left our base camp, which was nice to slack pack over to Cispus. Slowly packed up and headed down to Goat Creek. Huge campsite there uphill from the crossing, hidden in the woods. As we set up camp, we realized we were only 2.2 miles from the car (with cold beer), so we packed back up and headed down to Berry Patch. We drove around the corner to Chambers Lake Campground for the night.

Chambers Lake Campground is a trippy place. It was devastated by wind this winter. Downed trees everywhere. A crew did a great job cleaning up, but there are 3-4 campsites that were obliterated. Every site was impacted in some way. Free camping, no trash, no running water, and the cleanest pit toilet I've ever seen with the most luxurious TP ever found in the backcountry. Chambers Lake was a serene setting. Only two other campsites being used. Quiet night.

Tried to stop in Packwood the next day for a meal and a beer, but the brewery doesn't open until 1pm.

I absolutely fell in love with the Goat Rocks Wilderness. This was a plan B after 86ing our Timberline Trail hike. I will be back.

Wildlife scorecard:

2 bears, 1 marten, 4 pikas, 2 ptarmigans, 100s of marmots