Blog
Escape to the Sun: Five Great Northwest Rainshadow Hikes
Fair weather hikers rejoice! You don’t need to hang up your hiking boots during the rainy season thanks to our rain shadows. What’s a rainshadow? It’s an effect caused by mountains capturing rain clouds on their windward slopes; then wringing them out leaving the leeward slopes dry. It can be quite dramatic like on the…
Don’t Feed The Ticks!
Put all your cougar, bear, wolf, and Sasquatch fears aside. The biggest nuisances on the trail you’re sure to encounter this spring—especially if you venture south and east are ticks. While they’re not too much of a concern in Western Washington, their range is expanding and areas that were once tick free are now crawling…
Trailhead Break-in Epidemic–what can we do about it?
Here we go again. If it feels like I just wrote about this topic, it is because I did a mere year and a half ago. A rash of car break-ins, smash-and-grabs, car clouting (call it what you may, but they all mean the same thing- a big bummer to the end of a great…
Forest Service Considers A Selfie-Tax
Dealing with a proliferation of new trail users, the chronically underfunded Forest Service is considering imposing a radical revenue enhancer; a tax on selfies to help pay for a backlog of maintenance projects, increased search and rescue missions, and for crews to pick up after trash and deuce dropping hikers. “With so many hikers walking…
170 Miles and $5500–Thanks for a Successful Hike-a-thon
This past August was a tough month here in the Northwest with heat, large wildfires, and the worst air quality I have ever experienced. I had to cancel several high mileage hikes that I had planned because of the dangerous air conditions. Not surprisingly, this was my lowest hike-a-thon ever when it came to total…
Bring it on! Hike-a-thon 2018
It’s that time again! I am once again participating in the annual Hike-a-Thon for the Washington Trails Association! Last year more than 60 of you helped me raise more than $5500 for our trails! WOW! Thanks!! This year I’d like to top that and raise $6000 for our trails. Will you please consider helping me…
Forest Service to Close Trails with too many “Likes”
THIS WAS AN APRIL FOOLS POST FOR APRIL 1 2018 After monitoring Social Media sites for several years, the Forest Service has recently announced that it will begin temporarily closing trails that are too popular. If a trail has too many “likes,” has had posts go viral, or there are just too many darn shares…
Urban Trails Everett!
Twenty-five miles north of Seattle at the mouth of the Snohomish River, Everett is a city of more than one hundred thousand residents. The city has boomed over the past decade, and while Everett offers easy access to both the Mountain Loop Highway and Highway 2, sometimes you just want a trail nearby to stretch…
Three Best Family Friendly Snowshoeing Trips at Mount Rainier
While Mount Rainier and its neighboring craggy peaks offer excellent backcountry skiing and challenging winter hiking adventures—there are plenty of less-intimidating family-friendly spots within the frozen shadows of the mountain. Here are three of my favorite places to break tracks in the snow suitable for families with children and newbie snowshoers. Trail of the Shadows…
Celebrate the Lunar New Year with a hike or run in Richmond, BC
Visitors to British Columbia’s Lower Mainland often overlook Richmond for its glamorous northern neighbor, Vancouver. But this island city at the mouth of the Fraser River; the fourth largest community in the province, is no mere ordinary suburb. Surrounded by water, teeming with parks, and home to one of the largest Asian populations in North…