Some of the largest and oldest trees in the Washington Cascades stand in the Grove of the Patriarchs. The Grove resides on it’s own island where the Ohanapecosh River separates it from the mainland. These ancient Hemlocks, Cedars, and Douglas firs make the rest of the trees around appear to...
The Box Canyon Loop is only a half-mile paved trail. In terms of difficulty, it does not go far on the scale. But in terms of concentrated splendor, it jumps right up there. The trail not only crosses a deep river gorge but follows a glacier’s path. Along the trail...
Ascending to 14,410 feet above sea level, Mount Rainier stands as an icon in the Washington landscape. An active volcano, Mount Rainier is the most glaciated peak in the contiguous U.S.A., spawning six major rivers. – www.nps.gov I spent the afternoon touring Mt Rainer National Park… at least the southern...
Ruby Beach gets it’s name because of the ruby like crystals that get washed to the beach from the fresh water flowing down the mountains and onto the beach. These crystals are the by product of the glacier activity that used to happen in this area. Although the road leading...
More trespassing, but in a light fashion. In all honestly I felt bad making the unpaid Ranger work any harder than he needs to right now. I’m not necessarily afraid of a citation, but of making the guy work harder considering he is not even getting paid. I feel for...
The plan was perfect; Camp the night just north of Winthrop, wake early, and set out to drive over the North Cascades Highway up and over the ‘American Alps’ in the early morning. It was all working perfectly until a Pacific storm sprinkled the plan with a little confusion… snow...
I kept hearing about how the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park is where the best hiking is, and I have no doubt of that. It also happens to be where most of the glaciers are, of the ones that still exist. Visiting this area was the primary reason...
Going-to-the-Sun Road is the only road that crosses Glacier National Park going over the Continental Divide at Logan Pass. It was completed in 1932. The road, both a National Historic Landmark and a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, spans 53 miles (85 km) across the width of the park. The road is...
I took the free shuttle to Logan Pass Visitor’s Center at the top of Glacier National Park. As I was studying the map trying to find something to do, a most amazing thing happened; Earlier in the day I had canceled on plans to go on a hike with Leigh...
Uncertain what to expect, I went ahead and started down the Avalanche Lake trail. Right at the start the trailhead map says it is 2 miles of uphill hiking… which turned me away initially, but the climb was not a big factor once I got started. The larger issue was...
