This spring in the Pacific Northwest has been a frustrating procession of storms, gray skies, and chill-inducing temperatures but last week, for the first time in what feels like months, the clouds parted to grace us with a shining sun. And just in time for Alex’s and my trip along the Oregon Coast! We’ve been dreaming about driving along this famed stretch of Highway 101 since before we even moved to Seattle.
Read MoreIf you’ve been reading my blog for awhile you may have noticed that trips and adventures don’t always go as planned and sometimes objectives require multiple attempts before we’re successful. This was the case for Ruby Mountain in the North Cascades. In May of 2021, Alex and I started our tour at the Happy Creek trailhead bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. We knew the day ahead of us would be arduous but we felt we were adequately prepared both mentally and physically. It turns out we were wrong.
Read MoreThis January offered a string of sunny, warm weekends with relatively low avalanche risk, resulting in many to dub the month Juneuary and head off on adventures usually relegated to the stabler spring months. Alex and I couldn’t let an opportunity to climb and ski a volcano in the depths of winter pass us by so we, too, headed for the mountains. We make it a goal to ski Loowit (Mount St. Helens) once per year and chose this for our Juneuary destination.
Read MoreThe name Snowking Mountain elicits thoughts of icy royalty—a peak draped in a velvet robe of snow in an area that is so difficult to reach it feels as if it were guarded. Snowking resides in the Glacier Peak Wilderness, just on the outskirts of North Cascades National Park and while it may not be guarded in the literal sense, the route requires battling the terrain nearly every step of the way. In fact, one of the reasons this blog post has taken me nearly half a year to write is because of how shaken our experience on the trail left me.
Read MoreWinter 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 MoreSeemingly endless days, crystal-clear alpine lakes, and golden sunsets, it’s finally summer in Washington! I know technically it has been summer for well over a month, but winter holds on in the mountains of Washington. Snow clings to the slopes and ice lingers in alpine lakes well into July some years. I usually try to wait until the end of July to go on backpacking trips with alpine lakes for a destination.
Read MoreIn May, Alex and I attempted to climb Ruth Mountain with the goal to camp on the summit and ski off the following morning. However, if you’ve read my previous blog post you will know that due to snowy navigation difficulties, we did not make it to the summit to camp. We were eventually successful in summiting the following morning, however, we were stuck in a total whiteout. The inclement weather made for a disappointing summit experience and I returned home with a feeling of unfinished business.
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.
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