Posts In The “Cascade Mountains” Category
On most of our airplane trips, we prefer to pack light and bring carry-on luggage only. This saves us time at the airport and also avoids the risk of lost bags. For our upcoming trip to Barcelona, we had one hike planned, but not enough to warrant bringing our large hiking boots as we did…
James flew in late Friday night from San Francisco, so we decided to go directly from the airport to Mt. Rainier National Park for a scheduled weekend of snowshoeing. We stayed in a bright and spacious VRBO cabin, Trillium, with easy access to the park. Our first day’s trip was to Reflection Lake, where we…
The snowshoe route to Hyak Lake leads just east of the Summit Central ski runs at the Summit at Snoqualmie. We set off on St. Patrick’s Day among the ski and snowboarding crowd, with frequent glimpses to the ski runs as we progressed. We mostly were following Hyak Creek, almost completely covered over with snow,…
In early March we made a snowshoe trip to the new Annette Lake Sno-Park just east of Snoqualmie Pass. We loved being out in the beautiful winter scenery with deep fresh powder everywhere, and had a great time. We first walked a portion of the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail, a historic rail trail,…
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…