7/31/2026 I got an early start from the Denny Creek trailhead and quickly made my way under the I-90 overpass and crossed the creek at the waterslide area. The creek was running low, as expected in late July, but still had some nice pools and would be a nice place to spend a hot summer day. Morning light looking back down the Denny Creek valley towards I-90 The rest of the hike up to Hemlock Pass was uneventful and I found myself turning off the main trail 1 hour and 20 minut

7/3/2026 - 7/4/2026 A return to the Inspiration Icecap was in order – this time for Klawatti Peak. Rio and I stopped by the WIC in Marblemount hoping to get a permit for the Klawatti Zone. I wasn’t surprised that permits would be hard to come by in the area over the long weekend, but I was surprised that Klawatti was full and Eldorado had space. We gladly accepted a permit for the Eldorado bivy sites and were off on our way down the Cascade River Road. Rio making the river cr

6/28/2026 I was in need of a big day in the mountains, but June-uary wasn’t cooperating with my plans. Just about everywhere in Washington and BC was forecast to experience cloudy conditions with some light rain over the weekend. After studying some weather models, there appeared to be a short-lived gap in the clouds over the rain-shadowed northeast part of the Olympics on Sunday morning. I decided to capitalize on this by making a quick visit to Royal Basin, with the hope of

6/17/2026 I got out for a quick after-work jaunt up Avalanche Mountain – a peak that exceeded my expectations. I started from the Snow Lake Trailhead at 4:45 and made great time up the familiar trail. I hit the crest above the lake before 5:30 and jogged down the first few switchbacks on the other side, before leaving the trail unceremoniously at the terminus of one of the switchbacks. I cut cross country through heather and huckleberry bushes, often following small human or

6/13/2026 - 6/14/2026 Despite looking like a tiny nub on the side of Mount Rainier from afar, Little Tahoma is a worthy mountain in its own right. It has enough prominence to qualify as Washington state’s third highest peak, and provides a big mountain feel that belies its status as a volcanic subpeak. Eric and I had plans to climb Little Tahoma as a one-night outing, with a night at Meany Crest and an early start the next morning. Because the hike in would be relatively shor

5/9/2026 Eric, Mike, and I were in the market for a nice, big, daytrip, and after a few ideas were tossed around, we settled upon Big Snow Mountain – a prominent peak in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. There are several ways that climbers can approach Big Snow, but the two main approaches are either via Dingford Creek, or Hardscrabble Lakes - both of which begin at the Dingford Creek Trailhead. Because it was a low snow year and we wanted to make it a day trip, we opted to bike

4/26/2026 Whitehorse Mountain is one of those must-climb mountains in Washington. If you’ve ever driven through the town of Darrington, you’ve undoubtedly noticed its rugged cliffs rising some 6,000 feet above the valley. I’ve long wondered what it would be like to traverse the So-Bahli-Alhi Glacier and stand on the summit, and that feeling has only grown stronger the more times I’ve driven past. There is a relatively narrow window for climbing Whitehorse. Go too early in the

3/28/2026 When you think of the most prominent summits in the state of Washington, what comes to mind? Most people would envision glacier-clad volcanoes like Mount Ranier or Mount Baker, and craggy peaks like Mount Shuksan and Stuart. Surprisingly, a humble, assuming summit called Round Mountain is ranked 8th on the list, higher than many of the most notable and rugged peaks in the state. Despite its unassuming profile, Round Mountain boasts 4840 feet of prominence, which put

1/27/2026 Mineral Butte is a great winter climb that seems to be getting much more attention now that the Index-Galena Road has been repaired. The climb starts shortly after crossing the North Fork Skykomish River on Salmon Creek Road. The road is gated shortly after the crossing. There is an old, switchbacking logging road on the lower part of the mountain that is quickly being reclaimed by nature. This road can be used to make a gentle ascent up to about 3800’, but with the

1/17/2026 Eric and I enjoyed a nice snowshoe jaunt up to Thomspon Point during the height of the high-pressure system we’ve been enjoying in Western Washington. Incredible snowshoeing conditions We set off up the familiar Granite Creek trail shortly after 8 am, starting from a frosty parking lot. We made quick work of the hike up to the Thompson Lake turnoff, encountering no snow whatsoever until we reached the trail intersection. Here snow was patchy, but eventually became m

1/14/2026 I took advantage of the persistent high-pressure system we’ve been having in Western Washington to stretch the legs and tag Frailey Mountain. This was a road walk the entire way, except for a short climb up to the old lookout site. There were spots with great views of Whitehorse, Three Fingers, and the North Fork Stillaguamish river valley, and only scant amounts of snow. 11 miles in total with nearly 2000 feet of gain coming up from Deer Creek Road at Lake Cavanaug

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

10/30/2025 I made an attempt on Mount McCausland via the Smithbrook Trailhead but was thwarted by deep snow on the final slopes to the summit. An early heavy dump of snow had left the Cascades blanketed in white by late October. I tried driving up to the Smithbrook trailhead, but being the cautious snow driver I am, I decided to park on the roadside after I encountered the first areas of slick snow on the roadway. I had made it about 1.3 miles up the road, which left me with

10/28/2025 I took a fall color hike to Robe Canyon and was very impressed by the scenery and power of the South Fork Stillaguamish River. The trail drops into the canyon via a series of switchbacks, losing about 250 feet from the trailhead on the Mountain Loop Highway before reaching the bottom. The rest of the hike consisted of flat walking, until the trail terminated abruptly at a closed sign. I was really impressed by the river here and the fall color was spectacular, even

10/28/2025 Quick jaunt up Barlow Point on a cloudy late October day. There was a bit of snow on the summit, and some nice views of Big Four Mountain. Round trip time was just under an hour. Big Four and Hall Peak from the summit Barlow Pass sign Beautiful fall color on the Mountain Loop Highway Couldn't get enough of the fall color Final Stats: 2.5 miles / 864 feet of ascent

10/8/2025 In a tie for the 200 th tallest peak in Washington with over 400ft of prominence, Wallaby Peak is a is a nice destination with a high reward to effort ratio. Departing straight from the hairpin near Washington Pass, it doesn’t take long to get up to views into the heart of the North Cascades. Early Winters Spire is seen early and often on the Kangaroo Pass trail The trail to Kangaroo Pass is mostly well-defined, with only a few sections of boulder-hopping low down

10/4/2025 This was a great fall-color loop with Katie. While the hordes of larch marchers were congregating at the Maple Pass trailhead, we departed from the quiet Bridge Creek trailhead, just a mile down the road. We hiked on the PCT for about an eighth of a mile before turning off onto the Stiletto Spur trail. This trail was quite well maintained, despite a bit of brush in the valley, and we quickly reached the turnoff to Stiletto Peak. The climb up to the old lookout site

9/28/2025 Aaron and Kyle were up for an ascent of Mount Thomson. We met at 6:30 at Snoqualmie Pass, and it was still quite dark outside – the first time all year that I had to confront the grim reality that peak summer had passed us by. We took the shortcut up Commonwealth basin, joining up with the PCT and cruising the easy miles below Kendall peak, reaching the Katwalk a bit over 2 hours after leaving the trailhead. It was clear that wildfire smoke was thick to the east, bu

9/19/2025 - 9/20/2025 I had made two previous trips to the basin below Boulder Pass. One was an attempt at Clark Mountain that ended when we found ourselves inside of a thick cloud and was comprised mostly of hanging out in the tent to avoid the rain. The second was a successful climb of Clark Mountain that was also spent mostly in the clouds. Needless to say, I was very familiar with the approach but wasn’t fully convinced the sun ever shone on Boulder Pass or the surroundin