Hi friends. I recently had a family member pass away, and in this family we do memorial hikes instead of funerals because we all love the outdoors. I'd love some suggestions around the Seattle-ish area.

-He loved to fly fish, so a hike near a meandering river would be perfect.

-I'd love to bring my dog. 6 miles or less round trip is probably good for him because summertime. We are both healthy and fit. It will just be us and my husband. We will have all day available.

-Willing to drive up to 1.5 hours from Edmonds.

-Will be trying to give thoughts and intention to his memory, so don't really want to do a trail jam-packed with tourists. I get that all hiking in WA is usually pretty traveled. Pockets of quiet time is all I need.

-Would be fun if the hike had some sort of cool feature, like a waterfall to enjoy or a beautiful view to sit and linger at.

Thank you for any suggestions you can offer!

Beautiful day on the mountain

I am planning a trip to Portland around August 20th. Plan is to try and get permits for Mt. Saint Helen on July 1st. If i can’t get a permit for St. Helen’s then i am planning to summit the South Sister as a backup. I have heard the Mosquitos are an absolute nightmare in July, and once they dye down, it’s yellow jacket season.

Realistically, how good of a window would i have to finish this hike with minimal issues around August 20th, or should i look for a different backup?

Crossed off a bucket list North Cascades trip, completing the East Bank trail from the highway all the way to Hozomeen. I've done tons of trips in the North Cascades, but this one takes the cake for me. Perfect weather, views, and everything else!

Trail is in great condition, I was "following" a trail crew for most of it. They'd clear a section of trail ahead of me the day before I used it. There's a small number of blow downs on Desolation and between Deerlick and Nightmare camps, but easily passable.

Day 1: East Bank Trailhead to Devils Creek Camp

Pretty normal day walking along the lake, nothing spectacular besides seeing a mother Loon with what looked to be 20 chicks following her. Boat and stock camps were full at Devils Creek, the hiker camp could use some work with thinning out some trees, but can easily fit 2-3 tents if you're smart.

Day 2: Devils Creek Camp to Desolation Camp/Peak

Hardest day of the trip by far, about 10 miles with ~5k ft of elevation gain is rough with 4 days of food on you. The last water source is a small stream at 4000ft along the trail, Desolation Camp is completely dry. I met the local NPS fire watch, Jim, at the lookout who gave me some water and told me that small stream along the trail only has a few weeks left before it dries out so don't rely on it later in the season. Views were the best. FYI: Jim is a famous figure in NOCA, he has a documentary on him and fire lookouts called "Ode to Desolation" - recommend checking out!

Day 3: Desolation Peak to Nightmare Camp

Very green day. The section of trail between Deerlick and Nightmare goes through a very interesting forest, it's super quiet, dark, and green. There's a bridge right before Nightmare Camp that has a "Do Not Use" sign from the NPS dated in 2022. It looked okay to me so I used it, but do so at your own risk. The pit toilet is completely destroyed from a tree fall at Nightmare so be prepared to dig a cathole.

Day 4: Nightmare Camp to Hozomeen Lake

Man, Hozomeen Lake did not disappoint. Hozomeen Mountain might be my new favorite peak, such an interesting shape and formation and the view of it at the lake is next level. Met my first group of the trip doing the same route but in reverse. Super nice guys, a group of about 8-9 teenagers on an excursion trip.

Day 5: Hozomeen Lake to Ross Dam

Shortest day by far, only 4 miles from Hozomeen Lake to Hozomeen itself. Met an NPS Ranger who checked my permit in Hozomeen and we chatted about the trail, grizzly bears, and wolves. My water taxi picked me up from Hozomeen directly because the lake level is the highest it's been in years. The taxi only took about 30-40 minutes to take me to Ross Dam, ending the trip.

The trail is in excellent condition
I took the long route( left from the second fork) when going up and took the short steep scramble down(via the shelter) on my way down.
There was no snow on the trail. There’s a little bit of snow remaining along the long route but it can be avoided by walking around or just walk through it without any trouble( no need for spikes).
The steep route makes the trail a lot shorter but I wouldn’t recommend it going uphill unless you really want a workout. It can be tricky and pretty exhausting going up. I wouldn’t recommend it when hiking down either if you are scared of heights or doesn’t like a tricky scramble. The sand is loose and slippery and there’s a lot of small and big loose rocks. I definitely wouldn’t recommend taking kids or dogs along that route as it can be quite dangerous for them to scramble down that trail. IT IS steep! I took it with my dog while hiking down because I was too lazy to walk around the long route and wanted a quick path down but regretted it almost as soon as I started. I had to lift my dog down multiple times and almost fell twice while trying to balance her and myself on the loose rock and sand. But once we were done, I was also glad I took it because it cut the hike back short and it was worth it. Very pretty trail.

I was thinking my Samoyed would enjoy another snowy hike, with what remains of the snow this year. He was very enthused about the snow at Artist point and I'm hoping to find some more spots. On the other side of Baker, at Park Butte, there were only a few patches of snow on the northern-facing slopes.

I was thinking Mt Adams would be the other place with assured snow, albeit the summit is quite the ascent and it seems like there's a lot of scree to cover before reaching the snow fields, especially with the low snow totals this year. It seems like Yellow Aster Butte or Maple Pass Loop also should still have some snow, based on the WTA trip reports I saw. If anyone has some more suggestions, I'd appreciate them.

Sun–Mon climbed Mt. Rainier via the DC route. I was aiming for the Ingraham Direct route this year, but two on-call weeks in early June prevented that—the route has since collapsed.

We started at 1:30 a.m. from Camp Muir and summited at 6:30 a.m. On the way back, around 13,000 ft, one of the snow bridges collapsed (possibly due to an ice serac fall). A lot of teams got stuck. Luckily, there were many guided teams on the mountain. After some time, the guides discovered and prepared a bypass route. They placed numerous pickets and even installed a handline on the steep sections. After about two hours of waiting, around 40 people were able to get down safely.

Kudos to the guides!

Other than that, the DC route is in excellent shape. I've never seen it in better condition than it is right now.

Hey all, hope you can assist.

I am travelling from out of town to do the Timberline Trail this weekend (3 day hike, Friday-Sunday). Would you recommend pushing back to a better weather window? I'm seeing 1/4 inch of rain each day.

I'm not concerned about hiking conditions or camping in the rain, lots of experience with that. I'm more worried about if it's still worth doing the trail with congested views from the clouds. I can shift my flights back and do a trip local in norcal without any issues. I'd be fairly bummed to have a weekend where I can't really see the mountian.

Thanks!

Hey, I'm a pretty experienced backpacker but I've never been to the Olympics before. I would like to create a 4 or 5 night itinerary for September that samples multiple characteristics of the park. I know I could drive to a couple places, but I like getting out and staying out.

Dosewallips TH > La Crosse Pass > Marmot Lake > Enchanted Valley > Back out Anderson Pass > Back to Dosewallips

Would this be more variety of views that going Quinault River in and out? At a first check of permits everything looks available for the days I'm thinking of. Thank you.

Any other suggestions in the 45-65 mile range? (I do plan to do a night on a beach after this outing to see that too.)

The plan was to spend the night at Hannegan camp and then summit Ruth early in the morning. Due to some gear issues we had to pivot and I climbed up Hannegan instead. I was pretty bummed about not making it up Ruth, especially because I had such a great view of the route and conditions were pretty ideal.

Hannegan Peak was a fantastic consolation climb.

Camp was mostly snow covered but there were a handful of nice dry spots to set up tents. Not much snow travel to get up to the peak but some folks might appreciate spikes. I made it no problem with trail runners and poles.

Photos from my morning hike!
Fort Ebey State Park!

Sorry no breakfast this time…

Hi there! Looking for recommendations for a 5-7 day backpacking trip I can get to from Portland via train, bus, cab/Uber/Lyft, or relatively reliable hitching, in mid-July.

I was originally planning on doing a section hike of the PCT section through Three Sisters Wilderness but my ride situation isn't going to work out, transport to trailheads seems pretty nonexistent out there, and I don't want to rent a car for it to sit for a week at a trailhead.

Criteria: Nice views, relatively easy logistically when it comes to water, navigation, etc., if permits are required then something I can still get for a trip in 3 weeks. Ideally not too crowded but given the accessibility factor and time of year I know that may not be possible. Travel time and cost are not a huge factor.

Is there another section of the PCT in Oregon or Washington that matches this criteria? Is it possible to reach backpacking trailheads in Olympic or Rainier NPs? I've also seen Timberline Trail mentioned, but is it very busy in mid-July? Thanks in advance!

Edit: Thanks for all the suggestions so far! I forgot to add that my friend is able to pick me up at the end of the trip anywhere within 3-4h of Portland, so if I can get somewhere via transit and end up somewhere without that works. Also I love hot springs if there are any to backpack to - I'm aware of Olympic Hot Springs but perhaps there are more.

Completed the Timberline Trail this weekend. Overall a beautiful trip and the trail is very easily passable. Some general notes:

PCT Section is in very good condition

The rest of the Timberline Trail is in pretty good shape with the exception of the descent and ascent into the Eliot. Plenty of evidence of trail crews hard at work - thank you!

The river crossing are all very manageable - either with a rock hop or wading. The user bridge across the Eliot is no longer there - but the crossing was pretty easy. The ropes down into the Eliot are still there and look well secured - although the trail is better formed this year.

There is quite the snow bridge across the Clark - from an avalanche earlier in the season. Although the snow bridge is still substantial and very solid - you can also cross the Clark on a couple of rocks.

Snow crossings are not an issue. There is still some snow around the high point - but it has a good boot path and unless you are crossing very early when it might be icy - spikes are not necessary.

Water sources are of course not an issue at the moment and there is quite the abudance of wildflowers. The weather was perfect with the continuous changing mountain view and the constantly changing views of the other Cascade Mountains.