A 5-day Altai Hok ski trip to historic guard stations in the gorgeous Blue Mountains of southeast Washington provided solitude, wildlife, and the perfect kind of quiet year-end reflection.
A trip report from a 3 day solo backpack of the Devil's Dome loop in the Pasayten. Devilishly steep? Absolutely, but full of heavenly ridgetop camps, North Cascades vistas, and surprising solitude.
Doe Mountain in the Okanogan Range is a former fire lookout site that makes for a sublime ridge line cross country outing. Neighboring Ike Mountain is an easy bonus.
A wonderful 3 days spent backpacking the White Pass/Pilot Ridge loop in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. This one has it all: wildflowers, green meadows, alpine lakes, old-growth forests, and mountains for miles.
A wonderful ridgeline traverse to McClure Mountain, not only a prominent high point in Twisp but also a former fire lookout location.
Recently I was able to visit the Yakama Indian Reservation as part of a fire lookout work party. I met some incredible people and saw a gorgeous land that few are privileged to see.
The Chiliwist Butte fire lookout site near Malott is a great early season destination and the Chilowist area also has some really neat history.
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?
Driveway Butte is a fantastic former fire lookout site just west of Mazama. The route is notoriously dry and hot and will test your legs but reward you with gorgeous views of the North Cascades, Pasayten, and spectacular Goat Wall.
Sometimes the most memorable adventures are the biggest disasters, aren't they? The story of kayak camping in a Mad Max-like apocalypse of wildfire smoke...
A day spent at the Columbia Breaks Fire Interpretive Center working on the Badger Mountain fire lookout and learning valuable skills in the art of lookout restoration, especially window glazing!
Another great ridge line ramble to an old fire lookout site, this time to Setting Sun Mountain (7,253') 5 miles northwest of Goat Peak near Mazama.