Winter in Washington usually means spending endless days waiting out frequent storms just to see a brief glimpse of the mountains, but the landscapes those storms leave in their wake are nothing short of incredible. In late December, the Mt. Baker area received a whopping four feet of snow in five days. After the storm subsided, I headed out on a daylong ski tour in the Mt. Baker backcountry with my friends Nate and Scott.
Read MoreDeep within Olympic National Park, surrounded by the verdant Hoh Rainforest and a winding network of rivers, lies the park’s crown jewel: Mount Olympus. At 7,980’, this peak is the tallest on the Olympic Peninsula and offers a birdseye view of the park. However, getting to the summit is no walk in the park, the trek requires 19 miles of hiking before visitors even glance a view of their lofty objective.
Read MoreI first saw Ruth Mountain in the summer of 2019 while Alex and I were hiking the Copper Ridge Loop. We were on the early stretches of the trail, making our way toward Hannegan Pass when a beautiful mountain face, its upper slopes still draped in snow in late summer, came into view. In my planning process for that hike I had been so fixated on the camp spots and other high points that I had entirely overlooked Ruth Mountain, but it was impossible to overlook on the trail, it dominated our views. As we got closer I said to Alex, “I’m pretty sure you can ski off that. We should do that!” 1.5 years later and we did just that!
Read MoreIn late October, Alex and I went on a trip that I have been dreaming of for years: a flightseeing tour over the North Cascades. I’ve long wanted to go on this flightseeing trip with Snowking Aviation, however, I had specific conditions in mind for our eventual flight. I wanted to fly in fall, after the first couple snowstorms coated the mountainsides in a blanket of snow, but the alpine lakes still remained unfrozen in their basins.
Read MoreLabor Day weekend is usually one of my favorite weekends to head out into the depths of the backcountry. The snow has long since melted, the days are still long and warm, and the bugs usually have declined to manageable levels. While 2020 may have put a damper on many trips, we were still going to make the most of our Labor Day. We planned to complete a four day trip in the Glacier Peak Wilderness that we have been dreaming of doing for years—the Spider Gap - Buck Creek Loop.
Read MoreIn August 2018, Alex and I visited the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and backpacked to the impossibly blue Jade Lake. Unfortunately, during our time in the area, smoke from nearby wildfires blew in overnight and completely shrouded all of the mountains in a dense haze. The views were still beautiful, but we knew that we would have to return one day to see the area without its cloak of smoke.
Read MoreThe Hidden Lake lookout in the North Cascades has been on my radar for years. I’ve always wanted to visit in the summer but the road is rugged—far too rugged for our Sedan—and the lookout is popular, which means you would be hard pressed to find any solitude there on summer weekends. However, in the winter the entire landscape transforms the tough summer hike into a grueling ski tour. The crowds diminish and the chances of getting the lookout to yourself increase (or so we hoped).
Read MoreEarlier this month Alex and I went on a dreamy backcountry ski tour with some friends in the Mt. Baker backcountry. The forecast for the day looked overcast and dreary, and we expected to be in the clouds for most of the day and possibly even snowed on. However, instead what we experienced was a winter wonderland. The clouds were light and airy and transformed the harsh sunlight into a soft golden glow on pillowy snow. We spent the entire day skiing laps in the Artist Point area, stopping often along the way just to stand in awe of the scenery surrounding us.
Read MoreWe pulled into the North Cascades ranger station in Marblemount at 5:00am, two hours before the office opened, but as our headlights swept through the dark lot we saw that we weren’t the first to arrive. There were already two people waiting at the front door, their headlamps illuminated a map as they talked over their options. I parked the car, turned off the engine, and walked over to join them. We were all here hoping to secure a walk up permit for North Cascades National Park over Labor Day weekend.
Read MoreAlex and I spent the first weekend of June climbing Mt. Adams and skiing from its summit with our good friend Nate. While it is possible to climb Mt. Adams in one day, we opted to take two days. The extra time would allow us to enjoy a sunset, sunrise, and a starry night from the Lunch Counter campsite.
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