12/31/2025 I took advantage of a spectacular winter weather day to climb West Granite Mountain aka Tusk O’Granite, starting from the standard Pratt Lake/Granite Mountain Trailhead on a frosty morning at about 8 am. The whole parking lot was a sheet of ice (thankfully the road in from I-90 wasn’t too bad) so I wore microspikes from the car. Typical forest climbing I hiked up the very familiar trail, continuing past the Granite Mountain trail intersection for about 0.5 miles to

11/19/2025 Jim and I did a fun loop in the local hills, taking advantage of a sunny day in November before the winter snow began in earnest. We began in the Olallie State Park picnic area parking lot and took the Hall Creek trail for a quarter mile, before making the short, steep climb up to join the Hall Creek trestle and the Palouse to Cascades Trail. Jim was actually involved with the restoration of the trestle in 1999 following a washout in the 80s, which was fun to hear

1/7/2025 The Mailbox Peak Old Trail is infamous for a reason; it is steep and makes for a great training hike. I usually try to get up to the mailbox for a sunrise each winter and was treated to a great one this morning. Sun starting to rise Beautiful colors Microspikes were helpful near the summit Checking the mail Heading down There was some compact snow and ice that necessitated microspikes, but was otherwise smooth sailing.  Final Stats: 5.3 miles / 3910 feet of gain.