Posts In The “Cascade Mountains” Category
September was warmer than usual for Seattle, with the temperature frequently above 80°F (27° C) even late in the month, more than 10 degrees above average. The warm, clear, and dry weather was ideal for camping and we made two multi-night trips. The first was a three-night stop in Gifford Pinchot National Forest with a…
In what would turn out to be our final camping trip of the year, we found a fabulous site at the end of a road with a sweeping view southeast across Kachees Lake. We’d been improving our skills in pre-scouting online for a campsite, and drove straight to this one without investigating any other potential…
We finished our four-day Labor Day weekend camping trip with a tour through the area near our site in search of other campsites and found several good possibilities. Our plan after that was to have lunch at the Packwood Brewing Co. But the road into town was jammed for the annual Packwood Flea Market, one…
Our initial plan for the Labor Day long weekend camping trip was to camp at two or three different sites. But we couldn’t imagine finding a better site than the one along Forest Road 8430, so we stayed put. After two days at camp though, it was time for a real test of our Kradl…
Mt. Rainier, and pretty much everything in between, was obscured by low clouds when we got up on our first morning at camp in Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Over the course of the day, however, the clouds cleared and our wonderful mountain view returned. We were camped along Forest Road 8430, that extends several miles…
In September, we went on our longest wilderness camping trip to date, of three nights over the Labor Day weekend. Since we had a more time than usual, we ranged a little farther near Mt. Rainier. We started out at Elbe Hills State Forest, one of two state forests in the area. Unfortunately the State…
With generally clear skies, warm weather, and wildflowers in bloom, August is an excellent month to hike in the Cascade Mountains. And hike we did. Early in the month, we returned to Mt. Rainier for three fabulous days of summer hiking. The trails were bursting in color during the short wildflower season and “The Mountain”…
The hike to Granite Mountain Lookout is not far at just under four miles (6.2 km) one-way. But with an altitude gain of 3,738 ft (1,139 m), a maximum grade of 39%, and an average grade of 18%, the hike is considered challenging. The trail is very popular though, with wonderful scenery along the way….
We’d been really wanting to grill at camp, but an entire barbecue is more extra gear than we want to carry. So we instead tried an All-Clad non-stick grill pan. In a first test on our apartment stove top, the grill pan distributed heat well and reached an impressive 346°F (174°C) . The next test…
Over the course of the summer, we’d become progressively more daring on the terrain we would tackle in our little SUV. Jennifer often was out of the vehicle to direct us through areas with deep ruts and large rocks, to ensure our front bumper or spoiler didn’t catch. The most challenging conditions we’ve taken on…
The Borup Loop carries trains between Borup and the Stampede Pass Tunnel en route through the Cascade Mountains. Between Borup at 2,270ft (691 m) and the west entrance of the Stampede Pass Tuneel at 2,900 ft (883 m), the elevation difference is 630 ft (192m) over a distance of 2.3 miles (3.7 km). Clearly visible…
The trail to the summit of Mt. Si in North Bend ascends 3,100 feet (945 m) over a distance of just under 4 miles (6.4 km). Despite the steepness, it is one of the most popular trails in Washington state, with about 100,000 climbers annually. Part of the draw is its proximity to major urban…
For our third and final day of summer hiking at Mt. Rainier, we walked to Mildred Point via Comet Falls. The hike gave us yet another perspective to Mt. Rainier, this time from the southwest. Our previous two days’ hikes, along the Burroughs Mountain and Skyline trails, are vastly more popular, but we perhaps enjoyed…
On our second day of summer hiking at Mt. Rainier, we walked the Skyline Trail from the Paradise area, following roughly the same route that we’d snowshoed earlier in the year. We had another clear day, and the mountain views were spectacular, both to Mt. Rainier and south along the Cascade Range. The scenery had…
The summer season at Mt. Rainier lasts only a few months, generally between June and September. With snow still on the ground in June and frost starting in September, the wildflower season is short. But in late July and early August, the mountain bursts in such color that conservationist John Muir described the area as…
The rest of the month following our return from Switzerland was a busy one for construction in our area. Progress continued at the Fourth & Bell construction site directly west of our apartment. We were particularly interested to watch a small mobile crane build a larger mobile crane, pictured above, that eventually would assemble the…
We didn’t expect to equal the view quality of the previous weekend’s campsite at Snowshoe Butte, but the one we found on the north side of Keechelus Ridge definitely was in the running. We’d camped on the south side of the Keechelus Ridge earlier in the year, with a vista west to to Keechelus Lake…
We arrived at the base of Snowshoe Butte after several hours of exploring without finding any appealing campsites. The area was completely fogged in at that point, and we couldn’t see a thing. But looking at our maps we felt there was a good chance the campsite had a view, so we decided to take…