In the cold steady rain at Paradise, the parking lot was host to two kinds of climbers: those returning from Camp Muir after being weathered off, and those glancing upward into the fog wondering if they should even try. Joel Arbic and I were in the latter group, plodding slowly up the trail, hoping that [...]

Chip and I completed our second annual hike, and despite blowing out a tire enroute to our destination, it was a resounding success. We ventured out in front of Mount St. Helens to see what we could see. Much of our hike followed the Loowit Trail, which circles the mountain. The Plains of Abraham were [...]

The first mile of this trail is very popular on hot summer days, because it runs right along Denny Creek. There were dozens of kids playing in the water where the trail crosses the stream. I made my way up to Melakwa Lake on this hot Sunday afternoon, pausing frequently to drink from my water [...]

Lassen Peak is the southernmost peak in the Cascades. The Sierra Nevada Mountains start 10 miles further south. It erupted many times between 1914 and 1915, and steam regularly wafted from its crater until the 1940s. During one of the larger eruptions, debris was blown over five miles into the air, and ash fell as [...]

We drove through the middle of Nevada on what is called the “Loneliest Road in the World”. About the only people we saw were workers laying miles and miles of fiber optic cable across the state. We finally arrived at our campground late in the afternoon and grabbed the last site available. The campground was [...]

It has become traditional to conclude the hiking season with some sort of incredibly strenuous bash. What better way to put one’s hard won hiking prowess to the test? With these lofty goals in mind, Wayne carefully crafted the idea of a “Marathon Hike”. Either that, or he just slapped something together one night after [...]

When early October rolls around, it is time, once again, to visit the golden Larch trees in the Enchantments. After meeting in Leavenwoth, our ragtag group slept at the Ingalls Creek trailhead to get an early start on Friday. In the morning, we walked for several flat miles along Ingalls Creek, and then made the [...]

After a long stretch of rainy weather, the clear, starry sky that greeted us this morning was a welcome early Christmas present. By the time we picked up Kenny in Puyallup, we were over a half-hour late. “Thought you guys were doggin’ me,” he mumbled as we pulled up. All five of us squished into [...]

October is a good hiking month, because the air is crisp and the fall colors are at their best. The first weekend of the month was predicted to be sunny, and eight of us got our gear ready to leave for the Enchantments on Friday. An “advance party” of five departed first thing Friday morning, [...]

Prelude (June, 1996) The clatter of metal on pavement caused me to step away from the car and peer across the parking lot. Between sips of coffee, two fellows were unloading and sorting all sorts of climbing apparatus: pickets, flukes, carabiners, helmets, and some hardware I’d never even seen before. As we passed by, they [...]