TrailChick

Washington State Hiking and Mountaineering Challenges

Need a fun way to challenge yourself this year? Consider tackling one or more of these 8 Washington State Peak Lists. Some can be completed in a season and others might take your whole life, but whether you're a hiker, scrambler, or mountaineer, each one has something for everyone. Get out there and get your challenge on!

Essays

The Wild Olympics

The Wild Olympics campaign would permanently protect more than 126,000 acres of new wilderness in the Olympic National Forest and designate 19 rivers and their tributaries as Wild And Scenic Rivers. What does the natural beauty of the Olympics mean to you?

Fire Lookout Journal

North Twentymile Fire Lookout: Lessons in Perserverance

Tales of surviving a remote hike in near triple digit temps and finally checking off a summit that has evaded me for four years!

Bicycling

Bicycling the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park

Bicycling Glacier National Park's Going-to-the-Sun Road in spring while it's still closed to vehicle traffic is one of the most personal and incredible ways to see the beauty of this extraordinary Park! Enjoy this mile-by-mile guide with lots of photos and trip planning tips!

Fire Lookout Journal

Tamales and Fire Lookouts: Lookout Point, Quartz Mountain, Wellpinit, and Ray Kresek’s Fire Museum

It's a pretty great thing when you can spend a few days celebrating your dad's 70th birthday with tamales, apple pie, and fire lookout adventures!

Essays

My dad, my outdoor hero!

Who inspires you to get out and explore? My outdoor hero is my amazing 70-year old dad who is living proof that staying fit and having an intrepid spirit keeps you eternally youthful.

Backpacking Fire Lookout Journal

2018: The Year of BIG Adventures

A look back at some of my biggest outdoor adventures of 2018, mostly to remote Washington State fire lookouts, and some funny fire lookout bagging stats along the way. What were your big 2018 accomplishments?

Fire Lookout Journal

Fire Lookouts and Mother Nature: North Mountain and Darrington Ranger Station

Triple digit temps, thunderstorms, fires, and horseflies.... the reason I oftentimes have a Plan E when heading out for a weekend lookout bagging adventure!

Fire Lookout Journal

Discovering the Blue Mountains and Their Fire Lookouts

The Blue Mountains of southeast Washington span 4,000 square miles of land and contain open ridges, big mesas, deep canyons, natural springs, loads of wildlife and surprising solitude. This wilderness is one of Washington’s best surprises!

Backpacking Fire Lookout Journal

Fastpacking Miners Ridge Fire Lookout

An incredible 30+ mile ultralight overnight to Miner's Ridge Lookout, deep in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. This was lookout #46 for me and I enjoyed not only surprising solitude, but one of the most fantastic mountain sunrises I've ever seen!

Travel

Exploring Eastern Washington Coulee Country

With its plentiful blue skies, sunshine, and warm temps, Eastern Washington's Coulee Country offers a fantastic spring reprieve from Western Washington's drizzle as well as some of the state's most amazing geological wonders! The earth's once largest waterfall? A soapy lake similar in alkalinity to the Jupiter moons? Consider a weekend road trip to soak up the sun and explore these incredible attractions!

Fire Lookout Journal

Lookout Point: A Hearse and a Shovel

It's not every day a visit to a fire lookout could be considered subject matter for a horror movie, but thanks to an abandoned hearse at the summit, Lookout Point earned a spot on my top 20 fire lookout adventures simply because it was so weird and creepy!

Backpacking the White Pass/Pilot Ridge Loop in the Glacier Peak Wilderness

Traversing the Golden Stairway: Starvation to Old Baldy

Cooper Mountain Lookout Site

Trail Angels are Real

Musings of a Serial Soloist

My dad, my outdoor hero!

An Off-Grid Airstream Winter

Investing in Energy Independence

Off-Grid Lessons: When Winter Says “Nope!”

Washington State Hiking and Mountaineering Challenges

The Wild Olympics

North Twentymile Fire Lookout: Lessons in Perserverance

Bicycling the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park

Tamales and Fire Lookouts: Lookout Point, Quartz Mountain, Wellpinit, and Ray Kresek’s Fire Museum

My dad, my outdoor hero!

2018: The Year of BIG Adventures

Fire Lookouts and Mother Nature: North Mountain and Darrington Ranger Station

Discovering the Blue Mountains and Their Fire Lookouts

Fastpacking Miners Ridge Fire Lookout

Exploring Eastern Washington Coulee Country

Lookout Point: A Hearse and a Shovel

Backpacking the White Pass/Pilot Ridge Loop in the Glacier Peak Wilderness

Backpacking to Heaven on the Devils Dome Loop

Washington State Hot Springs

Hiking Beehive Basin—With a Surprise

Hiking the Grand Canyon’s Rim to River and Back in a Day

Washington State Hiking and Mountaineering Challenges