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

8/30/2025 - 8/31/2025 Labor Day weekend occupies a prime spot on the peakbagging calendar in Washington. When a prospective trip to Holden was cancelled due to lightning-caused wildfire, we wanted to pivot to something closer to home that wouldn’t be overrun with crowds. Eric came up with the great idea to camp at Rock Lake and add on a scramble of Malachite Peak. We passed a huge number of cars parked at the Necklace Valley trailhead (I guess the secret is out about Tank Lak

8/23/2025-8/24/2025 The Drop Creek approach is a method for accessing Formidable and the Ptarmigan Traverse that has been gaining in popularity in recent years. It avoids glacier travel, making it a nice alternative to the traditional approach from Cascade Pass in late season. Plus, there has been some recent maintenance on the South Fork Cascade River trailhead that has made this approach arguably the most pleasant it has been in years. Huge thanks to the people who have bee

8/1/2025 - 8/3/2025 Blackcap and Lago from the summit of Monument Lake and Monument were on the docket for the weekend. Both are remote peaks in the Pasayten Wilderness area that are hard to get to by any approach. Monument Peak is especially rugged and the most remote peak in the Lago group. My adventure would start at the Monument Creek trail and take me all the way up and over Pistol Pass to a camp at Lake of the Woods. I had tentative aspirations to hike all the way in to

7/19/2025 Katie and I were in Whistler and enjoyed an excellent hike to Panorama Ridge to see the brilliant blue waters of Garibaldi Lake. The hike starts from the Rubble Creek Trailhead, and a day-use pass is required in the summer. Beautiful views abound on this hike with the Tantalus Range, Black Tusk, and Garibaldi and its surrounding glaciers stealing the show. Even though the round-trip distance is over 16 miles with 5000 feet of elevation gain, this is a well-establish

7/12/2025-7/13/2025 The goal for the weekend was Azurite Peak, a member of the Bulger List north of Tower and Golden Horn. It’s a peak that takes a substantial effort to get to regardless of the approach. I toyed with the idea of coming in from the Methow River side but had seen trip reports stating that the trail was horribly overgrown and in disrepair. Other climbers have come in via Mill Creek or even from Harts Pass, but there was another approach that piqued my interest.

5/31/2025 Brad and I set off to summit the high point of Snagtooth Ridge – Big Snagtooth – starting from the same pullout on the side of Highway 20 that I used to climb Silver Star Mountain via Burgundy col. We immediately dropped down to the river on the familiar junky climber’s path, losing 200 or so feet in the process. We wandered around a bit off trail to find a suitable place to cross the creek, eventually finding a nice log to shimmy our way across. Crossing Early Wint