Trip Reports

Columbia River Gorge from the Babcock Bench The Babcock Bench is a basalt bench spanning the eastern side of the Columbia River just north of the I-90 bridge. It's hikeable from the north via the Ancient Lakes trailhead at the end of Ancient Lake Road all the way down to Frenchman Coulee, a distance of around 10 miles one-way. On previous trips to Ancient Lakes I'd explored the top of the basalt rib between the two coulees but was left wondering whether the southern wall of the southern coulee was similarly accessible (the northern wall of the northern coulee leads [...]

Cle Elum Lake from a knob along French Cabin Road Went for a quick daytime jaunt up French Cabin Road to test out my new French-made snowshoes, the Symbioz Hyperflex Adjust by TSL Outdoor. They've got a really nice combination of features: Easy on/off and adjustment thanks to Boa adjustment for the toes and a ratcheting strap around the rear of the boot. I still have nightmares about adjusting and securing the tails of the Voile straps on my old MSR snowshoes. Never again!Flexible platform. That's right, these snowshoes bend to conform to the terrain, allegedly to increase traction. They [...]

Now that my Sno Park permit has arrived I'm free to hit the nearby winter recreation areas, particularly Salmon la Sac which is just down the road from my cabin. Today I went on a short ski of the Sasse Mountain Trail (aka Forest Service Development Road 4315) to get a bit more comfortable on skis and evaluate some gear choices. Mostly I'm just happy that I'm getting outside in the winter instead of being stuck indoors waiting around for the spring thaw as I've done in the past. After this my plan is to spend the night in the [...]

I went skiing for the first time yesterday. Winter had finally come to the Central Cascades so I drove up Salmon la Sac Road to the Pete Lake turnoff and did a little bit of tooling around on my new Altai Hok snowshoe-skis. There were only a few inches of snow with a hard thick crust so conditions weren't ideal (or so I assume since I have no frame of reference) but since I was just doing loops around a parking lot I still had a good time. I first read about the Hoks in Ultralight Winter Travel and was [...]

I headed back to Red Mountain Trail #1330 to do some solo trail maintenance, managing to clear about 10 downed trees (including one leaner) and brushing most of the first fifth or so of the trail. I didn't quite make it to the first creek crossing but when the trail is as overgrown as it is I wasn't expecting to even get that far. It poured rain on and off for the whole five hours with temps in the low forties which gave me a great opportunity to test out my gear in the rain. Also due to the rain [...]

Red Mountain from the trailhead On Sunday the 3rd I took a break from working on the cabin to go check out one of the local trails. Red Mountain sits right at the north end of Lake Cle Elum in central Washington and from a distance it appeared to be both snow free and to offer some great 360-degree views of the surrounding area. It was only 34 degrees when I got out of the car at the trailhead but the WTA description said that trail was more or less straight up to the saddle below the peak so I [...]

A pond on the outskirts of Deer Lake On August 10th I co-led a trip for The Mountaineers to Seven Lakes Basin after the original co-leader was unable to make the trip. Located in the heart of the northern Olympics, this alpine basin is, as the name suggests, dotted with lakes and has been near the top of my to-do list for a couple years. Unfortunately, lousy weather meant a lack of both views and dryness so I'm hoping to return next year to take in the full experience. On the plus side I did spot six black bears in [...]

Robin Lakes plural The 2019 backpacking blowout continues with an overnighter I led on August 3rd to Tuck and Robin Lakes, a group of alpine lakes situated just east of the PCT at Deception Pass in the North Cascades. From the Tucquala Meadows trailhead you head north past Hyas Lake towards Deception Pass, turning right at the sign for the Tuck and Robin Lakes trail. The trail skirts the mountainside a short ways before switchbacking steeply up to Tuck Lake. From there it's a cross-country scramble across cairn-studded granite up to Robin Lakes. We had some difficulty finding the route [...]

"A Sea of Granite" (teal tent near bottom right for scale) On July 26th I led a two-night trip for The Mountaineers to Gothic Basin, a beautiful alpine basin that I'd previously only visited on a day hike a few years ago. The basin is located off of the Mountain Loop Highway, a scenic highway which winds through the mountains between the towns of Granite Falls and Darrington in Washington State. It shares a trailhead with the Monte Cristo ghost town (an old mining town that was active until around 1900) before splitting off onto trail 724 which was originally [...]

Mount Teragram looming over our first work site (far right) I spent July 18th through 21st doing trail maintenance in the Mount Margaret Backcountry, an incredibly beautiful area located in the northern portion of the Mount Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument, just north of Spirit Lake. This was my first time visiting the area and also my second BCRT with the Washington Trails Association, the first having been a log-out on the Duckabush River. Although I did move a log and trim a tree, the focus on this trip was rebuilding trails: Installing a new foundation and raising up the [...]