7/4/2024 - 7/5/2024 I have been climbing mountains in the Cascades for my entire life but somehow had never attempted Mount Rainier. That changed when our friend Rio texted saying he had a permit for Camp Muir – this was the perfect chance to finally have a go at the iconic tallest peak in Washington State. Paradise to Camp Muir Our permit was for multiple nights, which would give us some additional wiggle room in our schedule to play with should we need it. A warming period

9/16/2025 - 9/17/2025 Katie, Eric and I set out for a fun camping and climbing adventure out of Monte Cristo – and what better way to reach the old ghost town than by bike?? I had read about an old wagon road that could be a good alternative to the standard Monte Cristo trail because it bypasses the South Fork Sauk river crossing and washed-out section of trail. The road leaves the Mountain Loop highway about ¾ of a mile east of Barlow Pass. Katie and Eric would both be using

9/2/2023 Mount Buckner is one of Washington’s 9000-foot peaks, and the highest point in Skagit County. Kyle, Brad, and I visited the summit in early September (which I’m not sure I would recommend) in a dawn to dusk effort. After a night spent at the Cascade Pass trailhead, we got up before first light and were moving shortly before 5 am. The switchbacks were as numerous and well-graded as ever, and before long we were coming into Cascade Pass. The first hints of a sunrise we

7/22/2023 - 8/2/2023 Day 1: Brixen to Schlüterhütte/Rifugio Genova Our trek began from the bus station in Brixen. With all our things packed, we use d our Brixen cards to catch Bus 321 for free from the Busbahnhof (central bus station) to the base of the Plose gondola. Brixen cards are an awesome benefit of staying in town. Over 100 hotels/establishment s participate, providing cards to guests that allow access to museums, ice rinks, pools, and, importantly, free travel on So

9/2/2022 - 9/5/2022 Katie and I spent 4 days exploring Lost Creek Ridge over Labor Day weekend. This was an area that had always interested me, and I’d wanted to see Lake Byrne for years. Day 1 Wildfire smoke had started to plague Western Washington, and it was pretty thick on our drive out to the Mountain Loop Highway. I had been tracking the smoke forecast thoroughly and was semi-confident that it would clear out over the course of our trip. Nevertheless, it was a little da

8/22/2022 Took advantage of the long days of summer by doing a quick weekday evening jaunt up Tolmie Peak in Mount Rainier NP The Mowich Lake Road is long and unpaved, but aside from a few washboard sections goes pretty quick. By the time I took off on the Wonderland Trail it was about 5:15 pm and summit of Mount Rainier was in a thick cloud. It seemed like the entire state was under clear blue skies except for the northern aspect of Rainier, and I was pretty pessimistic abou

8/21/2022 Tomyhoi Peak is great Type 1 fun trip off the Mount Baker Highway. Eric and I started from the Yellow Aster Butte Trailhead at a reasonable 7:45 am. I had heard that Yellow Aster Butte was a nice hike, especially with fall colors popping, and I’d always wanted to check it out. We hiked up in a thick, weirdly humid, mist that was forecasted to burn off steadily throughout the day. It wasn’t long before we were bursting out of the woods and into beautiful meadows. We

Summer 2022 My dad and I are on a journey to reach the highest point in every state in the contiguous US. We knocked off 8 of them on a road trip through the Midwest and mid-Atlantic in the summer of 2022. Indiana Our journey to the highest point in Indiana began with a fun stop at the Hoosier Gym in Knightstown Indiana – the actual gym in the movie Hoosiers that is still used for Indiana high school basketball today. After shooting some hoops and touring the gym, my mom, dad

7/9/2022 Keyes Peak was a long time coming for me. I had been drawn to it since my first of many trips to Blanca Lake years ago. It also helped that it was the highest point of the Monte Cristo Range, and views down to Blanca and the surrounding area were sure to be spectacular. There is no way around the fact that Keyes is a long day. The stats are big, and travel on the ridge above Virgin Lake is often slow. I’ve heard of parties that completely underestimated this peak and

The weather for the Fourth of July weekend wasn’t looking too great for western Washington. The saying “summer doesn’t start until July 5th" had never been truer. With that said, it looked like there was an option to squeeze in a short overnight before the weather rolled in and Townsend Mountain fit the bill. Townsend (not to be confused with the much more popular mountain in the Olympics) is a relatively obscure peak in the Wild Sky Wilderness in the vicinity of Eagle Lake a

6/25/2022 Bulger season was upon us, and that called for a long drive to a remote part of Washington to kick it off. Katie, my dad, and I made the voyage out to the town of Winthrop and camped for the night at a nice campground off Forest Road 5130. The next morning, we drove up the last 10 miles or so of road to the Copper Glance Trailhead. It promised to be a nice day, and we got started at about 8:30 am. The trail was pretty nice, if a bit overgrown, and had only a few b

9/7/2021 With another great September day on our hands, Fern, Isabel and I headed out in search of Gunn Peak (or the infinity tarn if we were being honest with our priorities) in the Wild Sky Wilderness. Gunn is one of the steep, pointy summits you can see on highway 2 driving into Sultan and is actually the high point of the wilderness, so I was very excited about this one. The climbers path trailhead is very non-descript. We located a narrow gravel spur off the main road n

7/27/2021 - 7/28/2021 Desolation Peak is a worthy destination not only because of its unique approach and incredible scenery, but also because of the historical interest of the fire lookout that sits on its summit. The mountain resides directly above Ross Lake on its east side in the shadow of the imposing cliffs of Hozomeen Mountain to its north. It can be approached via a long walk on the East Bank trail from Highway 20, but most people opt to take the Ross Lake Resort wate

9/5/2020 - 9/7/2020 The incredible Berdeen Lake requires a hefty price of admission There are some places in the Cascades that have a near magnetic pull on me. I love looking at maps of the mountains and dreaming of new places to visit and Berdeen Lake was near the top of my list. One look at a satellite image shows a large turquoise lake surrounded by rugged, glaciated peaks like Bacon and Blum. I had to see it with my own eyes! I had concocted a plan for Labor Day Weekend t

8/27/2020 - 8/30/2020 I had spent precious little time in the Pasayten Wilderness, and it was time to change that. The Pasayten is in the northeast corner of the Cascades and is drier and less glaciated than the rest of the North Cascades that are located further west. This doesn’t mean it is less interesting, necessarily, because the area is still home to many of the tallest mountains in Washington that are unique and rugged in their own right. It is filled with big ridgelin

8/8/2020-8/9/2020 Fern, Erik, and I set out to bag two more Bulgers in the beautiful part of the world that is the Glacier Peak Wilderness. Chiwawa and Fortress were on the menu this time. I had already been up Chiwawa once before, but we were interested in linking them with a big loop, hitting Chiwawa first, then carrying our gear up and over Fortress and back down the Buck Creek Valley. We got started from the familiar Trinity trailhead at around 9:30. The weather was overc

8/1/2020 - 8/2/2020 Snowfield Peak is a great glacier climb in the heart of the North Cascades. I was excited for my second ascent of the mountain, this time with Katie. Our journey started at the Pyramid Lake trailhead, which is just a pullout on the side of the North Cascades Highway before Diablo Lake. The trail up to the lake is moderately graded, and I’m always surprised by how dry the forest seems close to the highway. Our packs were heavy with glacier and overnight g

7/30/2020 Sloan Peak is called the Matterhorn of the Cascades. It is obvious why when viewed from a variety of different angles throughout the range. Its sheer cliffs make it hard to believe there is a scramble route, but there is! The corkscrew route is aptly named, winding its way almost entirely around the precipitous summit. All these reasons make Sloan an appealing climb, so I jumped on the opportunity to go when Fern suggested it. This would be worth a "sick" day from w

7/4/2020 - 7/6/2020 Plans came together for what promised to be an incredible mountain experience over the Fourth of July weekend. The Inspiration Traverse is a super beautiful, rugged traverse over some of the most glaciated terrain in the lower 48. Our plan was to get out and see some of it in an out and back fashion. We would not be completing the entirety of the traverse but would still get to see some of the most beautiful sights in the state. Our trip started on a not-

6/22/2020 - 6/23/2020 One of the most amazing parts of living in Washington state is to be bored one day and have the option to decide to go sleep on top of a glaciated mountain on a whim. This trip to Ruth Mountain was very last minute. Katie had just “learned the ropes” of glacier travel and we wanted to test out some of her new skills on a relatively safe glacier. We settled upon Ruth Mountain but weren’t sure when this trip might happen. I was checking the weather one da