Exploring the Pacific Northwest

A Hot Hike and A Goat

This past Wednesday my wife, son, and I hiked up Mount Ellinor in the Mount Skokomish Wilderness. We started at the upper trailhead (saving ourselves almost two miles of hiking versus starting at the lower trailhead) and ascended roughly 2,000 feet over a little more than a mile and a half. It was HOT – especially since we started at noon. My wife did this hike a year ago at this time and saw…

You won’t believe the trail event happening this weekend

  This Saturday is the American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day. Noted as the largest annual U.S. trails celebration, National Trails Day is a day for hikers of all ages to head out a explore their local hiking trails and destinations. According to the American Hiking Society website, National Trails Day events will take place in every state, as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.…

Fresh off the presses and direct From the Trail: Wynoochee Lake Shore Trail - Bring your pith helmet for this one!

This weekend, my family and I checked out Wynoochee Lake Shore Trail in Olympic National Forest. Beginning at Coho campground near Wynoochee Dam, we hiked around the entire lake (~16 miles) and saw Maidenhair Falls on the northern end. It was an interesting, sometimes fun, and sometimes really difficult hike given the poor condition of the trail. In some sections, the bushes were so overgrown…