Blog
Inslee axes full funding for Blanchard– beloved Oyster Dome threatened with clear-cutting
It was nearly one year ago when I first reported to you that one of Puget Sound’s most popular hiking spots may soon succumb to clear cut logging. The Oyster Dome, the Pearl of the Chuckanut Mountains—the only place in the Cascades where the mountains meet the Salish Sea—is in very real danger of being…
Read MoreNew Trail to Frog Mountain! — I’m hopping with joy!
When the Wild Sky Wilderness was established in 2008, part of the original negotiations was that several new trails would be built within this 106,000 roadless area. This was a good faith move of course to counter anti-wilderness claims of folks being locked off their land by providing even more access. And if you have…
Read MoreAnother Trail Fatality-Why?
It saddened me to read this morning—that yet another hiker has perished likely because of bad judgement. My thoughts and prayers are with his friends and family. I wasn’t there, so I don’t know the circumstances. But I have hiked Lava Canyon and it is indeed a place that can be quite dangerous if prudence…
Read MoreThe Moose is Loose in Washington State
I grew up hiking in New Hampshire, one of the moose-densest states in the union. Moose are everywhere in the Granite State. Highway signs warn of hitting them which is a real road hazard in the state. On return trips to my home state to hike and paddle, I almost always see these largest members…
Read MoreSix Things You Didn’t Know About Pikas
Spend enough time hiking across talus slopes in the Cascades or Northern Rockies and you are bound to hear the high pitched whistle of the pika. Stand still for a minute or two and you are bound to see one or more of these cute little fur-balls scurrying across and under the talus. You may…
Read MoreThe Hanford Reach –One of Washington’s unsung Great Places
When we think about Washington’s great national parks and monuments, we usually quickly think: Mount Rainier, Olympic, and North Cascades National Parks as well as the Mount St Helens National Volcanic Monument. Very few of us however think of the Hanford Reach National Monument. Created by President Clinton in 2000 by using the Antiquities Act…
Read MoreAttack of the Agitated Owl
If you hike and trail run frequently this time of year, you may feel the wrath (but hopefully not the talons) of an overly protective barred owl. Now most folks are worried about not-so-friendly encounters with bears, mountains lions, rattlesnakes and other assorted critters. Fair enough. But it’s those owls that worry me and you…
Read MoreROMANTIC GETAWAYS FOR OUTDOOR ENTHUSIASTS
Happy Valentine’s Day! And this year the romantic holiday falls on a three day weekend thanks to our Presidents. The only thing I love more than my wife (and son) is the great outdoors! Okay—I love my wife and little boy more—and I love spending time in the great outdoors with them. Now, despite the…
Read MoreFirst in the Nation—and some pretty decent hiking too!
The whole country will have its eyes on New Hampshire today as Granite Staters flock to the polls in the first in the nation primary. The state is very proud of its role in helping to choose our president, and nowhere are politics taken so seriously and politicians scrutinized so thoroughly than in this tiny…
Read MoreThe Oyster Dome to be Clear-cut?
One of Puget Sound’s most popular hiking spots may soon succumb to clear cut logging. The Oyster Dome, the Pearl of the Chuckanut Mountains—the only place in the Cascades where the mountains meet the Salish Sea—is being considered for a large logging operation. A large segment of trails including a portion of the Pacific Northwest…
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