Trip Reports

The central core of the Enchantments from Enchantment Peak I managed to snag a three-night core permit for the Enchantments from July 1st through July 4th - but just for myself. This year Enchantments permitting migrated onto Recreation.gov for the first time and the system is somewhat different. Last year you just requested a permit for a given entry date and then once you won the permit lottery you were able to adjust the number of people as you saw fit (up to a maximum of eight if I recall correctly). So this year when it asked for the number [...]

Morning mist on Pete Lake On June 15th Person B and I went on an overnight backpack to Pete Lake which lies northeast of Snoqualmie Pass in the Central Cascades, just a mile east of the PCT. We wanted something short and flat and lake-ish so I browsed around on the WTA's Hike Finder Map until I stumbled across it. At about five miles each way with only 400 feet of elevation gain Pete Lake fit the bill. Overnight permits for Pete Lake are self-issue at the trailhead and a Northwest Forest Pass or America the Beautiful pass is required [...]

Your humble correspondent living out his childhood lumberjack fantasies I went on a four-day logout along the Duckabush River as part of the WTA's Backcountry Response Team. This was my first time doing anything like this and I got to cut downed trees in half with a two-person crosscut saw, kick giant logs down steep slopes, and generally just live out my lumberjack fantasies. Oh, and I also got a hard hat with my name on it, a t-shirt, and a sticker. And muscles. If you're looking to do multi-day backpacking trips where you cut and clear logs off of [...]

Mosquito Creek With nighttime temps forecasted to be a balmy 43F (unconfirmed since I left my thermometer attached to my old Exos) I decided to head out to the coast for a weekend to cure myself of cabin fever as well as test out a bunch of new gear. I've backpacked every section of the Olympic Coast except the following three: Kalaloch to Ruby Beach, Oil City to Mosquito Creek, and Cape Alava to Shi Shi. Since I'd already been to Mosquito Creek from the north (via Third Beach and Toleak Point) I decided to try approaching from the south, [...]

Spent a night and a day with the Washington Trails Association working on a reroute of the Bogachiel River Trail (erosion wiped out parts of the old trail). This was the first time I'd done trail maintenance with the WTA in 10-15 years. No pictures since I didn't bring my camera due to the heavy rain forecast (which didn't happen until we were done working for the day) and not a lot of notes since I was busy digging up ferns and roots and removing topsoil. However: Sleep Slept great! Temps never dipped below 50F in the tent so I [...]

The wall from just beyond the trailhead Ancient Lakes (aka Quincy Lakes) is a pair of coulees separate by a mile-long basalt "rib" or wall. On a previous outing with Person B we had ascended to a saddle on the wall with an amazing view of Dusty Lake but did not attempt to reach the top. This past weekend I went on a solo trip to check out the top of the wall with hopes of catching some epic panoramic views of the Columbia River Gorge. It was also the only night with lows in the 30s (as opposed to [...]