Trip Reports

Mount Jerry Garcia from the south shore of Waptus Lake Last weekend I went on a two-nighter to Waptus Lake. Nestled within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Waptus Lake offers incredible views of Summit Chief and Bears Breast Mountains as well as access to the PCT. The relatively flat 9-mile hike in follows the Waptus River on and off and sports a number of small creek crossings to keep things interesting. The horse ford Unfortunately the foot bridge at the end has been washed out so access to the main campground is via a horse ford where moderately-paced water currently sits [...]

This week's adventure was a day trip to French Cabin Mountain North, located near the northwestern corner of Cle Elum Lake. The forecast called for rain so I was eager to try out my new rain wrap. Recent trip reports indicated that there was a swift water crossing at the very start so I was excited to give that a go as well (I don't really do many water crossings). Goals Test out creek crossing using DexShell waterproof socks ✅ (they were awesome)Test out Enlightened Equipment rain wrap in extended heavy rain ❌ (barely got sprinkled on) The water crossing [...]

Third time's a charm. After two previous attempts both ended in turnarounds due to snow I finally got enough sense to bring a pair of snowshoes with me. The final turn into the northern bowl at just above 4,000 feet was the end of bare ground but this time I was able to float over places where previously I was postholing. On the way up I encountered a few interesting people, one told me about a giant white "spirit turkey" that he'd seen a few weeks earlier down in the clearcut where I'd parked my car. Unfortunately searching for spirit [...]

Ancient Lakes and the neighboring Babcock Bench along the Columbia River Gorge are among my favorite places to backpack. The arid openness yields views for miles and the ground is crisscrossed with hiking trails and old jeep tracks. On previous trips I'd often thought about how great it would be to be able to quickly scoot around the landscape on a bike. With state lands re-opening on Tuesday I took the day off to put my idea to the test. My bike is a ye olde Trek DS 8.3. It's a hybrid bike which means that it's not a great [...]

A previous excursion to Sasse Mountain via the Jolly Mountain trail ended in heartbreak as the snow just below the summit became too mushy to handle without the snowshoes that I'd left back at the cabin. Fast forward past a month of snowmelt to my second snowshoe-free attempt (this time via the Sasse Mountain trail) and voila! Another turnaround due to too-deep too-soft snow just below the summit. If only I'd had some sort of warning - a premonition, perhaps? - or some way to predict this outcome... Oh well. Goals Reach the summit of Sasse Mountain (total failure, but [...]

On Sunday we had a break in the rain so I decided to explore another one of the local trails. The south-facing approach and 5,000 foot elevation of Hex Mountain all but guaranteed a snow-free adventure but after last month's turnaround just below the summit of Sasse Mountain I decided that I'd lug along a pair of snowshoes just in case. It would prove to be one of the lesser mistakes on this trip. The first half of the trail to Hex Mountain is just an old logging road; eventually the actual trail splits off to follow a ridge to [...]

Last weekend I went out on a day hike to Sasse Mountain to focus on elevation-related fitness as well as to test out some gear. At the trailhead I discovered that the snow was particularly crusty so I left my snowshoes behind in favor of just using trail runners and traction spikes. This got me to just below the summit where the road petered out and I would have needed to ascend a steep ridge to continue. Since the snow was pretty slushy I opted to avoid postholing for the next hour and turned around. Goals Reach the summit of [...]

Thorp Creek Burned a couple days of PTO to finally do a mid-week overnight in the snow. I think it's safe to say that my goal of winter backpacking competency is still a little ways off. Goals Reach Little Joe Lake and possibly the summit of Red Mountain (turned around)Test out Crescent Moon's snowshoe bootiesDetermine whether trail runners and snowshoes are a feasible combinationTry layering nitrile gloves over liner glovesSee whether shorts and baselayer bottoms hit the sweet spot of venting and insulationTest out the X-Mid in the snow on an overnightCheck out the holding power of REI's snow stakes [...]

A boulder keeps watch above the basin's watering hole Echo Basin is a basalt coulee which lies immediately south of Frenchman Coulee in the Columbia River Gorge in central Washington. The area is incredibly popular with climbers but is also home to a large sand dune which is a great place for desert gear testing: Goals Explore Echo BasinExplore Frenchman Coulee (ran out of time)Explore south to I-90 (ran out of time)Trace the climber's trail up from the bottom of Echo Basin to the northern wall (ran out of time)Test trekking pole ends in the sand to see which ones [...]

Looking east across the north rim of Echo Basin A few weeks ago I did a trip heading south from Ancient Lakes along the Babcock Bench to see if I could connect up to Frenchman Coulee at the south end of the bench. Unfortunately due to a late start and short daylight hours I fell a few miles short of my goal and had to turn around. This past weekend I returned to finish the job but starting from the south instead of the north. The area is similar to Ancient Lakes in that there are two coulees, Frenchman Coulee [...]