This nearly killed me yesterday https://www.trailrunproject.com/trail/7011192/boulder-skyline-traverse Spoiler
I’m of the opinion that the vast majority of boots offer little if any ankle support in any appreciable way. They’ll help keep shit out of your shoe and give you higher waterproof protection. Unless it’s a super burly trekking/mountaineering boot, the height of your boot isn’t going to be any more beneficial than a pair of trekking poles or simply paying better attention to where you’re stepping.
I got back from a two-week road trip through Idaho on Thursday, and I'm just now going through photos. There are some really neat places all across the state that you never hear about. I would highly recommend exploring the state. I drove 3,300 miles through almost every section of the state. It was a more challenging road trip than others I have done just because the infrastructure is not there with parks, paved roads, and organized trails. That also meant there was never any traffic congestion, and I never saw more than 10 people on any trail.
Hiking in Idaho is so great. Not having a National Park in the state/region seems to help keep a lot of traffic away. The Sawtooths are more than worthy of NP status Did you happen to get up to the Panhandle? We might have crossed paths at some point #crazymirite
I did a little bit. It looked like there was still snow on the hikes I wanted to do on the Priest Lake side of the Selkirks. The only real hike I did up there was Harrison Lake, which was very nice. Also went up and checked out Copper Falls near the Canadian border, it has a nice little nature trail. I flew in and out of Spokane, so we started in Lewiston and left through couer d'alene.
So some irish guy has been missing in teton natl park for a week or so now... That's a pretty good way to fake your death
Went to the trailhead of Torreys and Grays Saturday at 430 AM. It was full. Woof. Pivoted to Mt. Sniktau
Woke up and did Trappers Peak in North Cascades Nat Park. 11 miles roundtrip, a little over 3,000 ft of gain. Been wanting to bag this one for a long time Spoiler This is the Pickett Range, which is pretty notorious for being the most treacherous climb in WA. Shit is gnarly
Have a buddy coming into town next weekend, have a group doing Spade and Venus Lake for 2 nights. 28 miles / 6,000 ft of gain: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/washington/spade-lake-trail Hike part the PCT, about 9 miles and flat, on night 1, camp. Day two wake up and go 4 miles and 3,500 ft of vert. Is going to be brutal with packs. Day 3 gotta hike out about 14 miles. Hell yea.
Wife and I did Maroon Bells 4 Pass Loop over 4th of July. Three days, two nights. 28 miles and almost 9k elevation gain. The trail goes up and over 4 separate 12.5k passes. We did 2 the first day, 2 the second day. Absolutely the most beautiful backpacking trip we've ever done. Got caught in the hail on the second pass of day 1, otherwise weather was stunning. Somehow I didn't take a single pic from the top of any of the passes though... Spoiler: Pics
was going to do that this weekend, but our 3rd individual's schedule doesn't line up. I almost don't want to look at your pictures because I know I will do it one day soon. Sounds amazing.
It was seriously amazing. Keep in mind you need reservations for parking to do the the four pass loop. I believe you can do a hike from Crested Butte that provides a shuttle to the trail head but I don't know anything about it.
I can only speak for the PNW, but it was the driest April - May - June I've experienced up here. Coupled with the crazy heatwave and routine of late summer fires, I think it's gonna be a rough summer. Really hope I'm wrong.
Wooooo. 3 days/2 nights up to Spade and Venus Lake. First day was 9.5 miles in, only 1,000 ft of vert. Left around 4, got to camp right around sunset, get to sleep early. Wake up Saturday, hike 3.5 miles and 3,000 ft of vert. Very few switchbacks, just fucking straight up with full packs. Brutal. But worth it Spoiler Dropped packs, scrambled another 1,000 ft and 2 miles to Venus Lake: Spoiler
More of Venus: Spoiler Scored another epic campsite Spoiler Woke up this morning and hiked out 14.5 miles, down 4,500 ft AND gained 1,800 with the up and down. Cheese n rice we are spent.
Absolutely gorgeous. That lake water is *chef’s kiss* I’ll post my hiking pics early in the week. Did Isabelle glacier near Nederland, CO
Did an easy couple miles by Hoosier Pass south of Breckenridge. Blue Lakes Trail. Nothing hardcore at all as I was lugging 25lbs of human cargo.
Canada opens up August 9th finally. The GF and I will visit her family in Canmore and Calgary probably Labor Day weekend. They can catch up for the weekend, and I will go hike the Three Sisters Trails (not a sexual reference, but a set of mountains in the region). Nothing better than celebrating an American holiday in a beautiful part of another country. #lookatme
Young man on the right is handsome, but the guy on the left looks like he would def overcharge for a service call to fix my pool.
Have a bachelor party next weekend up in Ross Lake in North Cascades, 23 mile long lake with the Northern part going into Canada. We have 16 guys at 3 campsites on "Cat Island," a tiny spot about 2/3 up the lake: Spoiler It's about a 1.5-2 mile hike to the lake, and we're bringing coolers and a bunch of other party b/s. Then we have 5 boats rented that we drive about 1.5-2 hours to the island. Staying Thurs-Fri-Saturday night, we'll be walking corpses by Sunday. We have grand plans to bag some peaks and do some other gnarly stuff, but knowing this group each night will be pretty rowdy, so we'll see.
Looking back at summit during descent of Wheeler Peak, Nevada, at Great Basin N.P. Summit is 13,064' and the highest point of the park, but about 80' short of the state high point on the opposite side of the state. This is from about 10,500' - the ridge partially appearing on the right had sustained 40 mph wind. It was a huge pain in the ass with the wind. Summit wind shelter flies the Nevada flag, and offers great views of the whole park and the contrast between the smallish high alpine park and the desert basin that surrounds it. It's a walk-up peak, but it was worth doing. We logged about 30 miles and 8K feet of elevation in our four days hiking there. Had a nice lake all to our selves one night as we were surrounded by 12K peaks all around it - this park was so quiet and amazing. How do you have a destination lake to yourself in a National Park after only 6 miles hiking (with 2200 elevation gain)?! The park's renowned dark skies yielded the best night skies I've seen in a long time. For the lake overnight, we saw one person more than 200 yards from the trail head the whole time, and got serious mountain lion vibes from footprints in the fresh mud and a few of their patented female sounding screams both days walking about 1-2 miles from the TH. There was a cat hunting that area - deer and turkey everywhere - but I still have yet to ever see one other than from my car. This park was a 10 out of 10 for us, easily the biggest sleeper USNPS park I've been to. We are booking Big Bend/Guadelupe and Isle Royale next.
That was one of the coolest experiences I've had in the PNW. Get there Thursday AM, have to haul 5 wagons, 8 coolers, and just way too much stuff down a 1.5 mile rocky path. One of our friends owns a brewery and brewed over 500 IPAs just for the trip. It sucked, but was worth it. Spoiler But we get to the bottom of the lake, load everything onto boats, and we're just a flotilla of 8 boats heading up Ross Lake to Canada with copious amounts of beer and other things. Spoiler I mean look at this:
A lot of the crew are burning man alumni, some absolute party animals. The amount of psychedelics we brought was pretty absurd. Just zonked out the entire time. I think more than 1/2 the crew ate 5g of mushrooms on arrival. It was intense. One of the dudes is an engineer/inventor guy and has an amazing laser set-up that he sets to music and/or does his own thing. So we're 5 miles from Canada, in one of the most beautiful national parks in the country, out of our gorges to this all night, every night: Spoiler We were up until 2-3 every night, so not a lot of hiking. Fucking shocker. But we did take the boats on the second day to a pretty incredible waterfall deep in the park: Spoiler I will 100% return to Ross Lake. Fucking A man.
The beer haul: Spoiler Every. Single. Night. Spoiler OK I'm done. Still trying to process that experience. Really hard to even put into words.
BamaNug My lady and her friend are flying into Seattle next weekend and looking to head out to Leavenworth and hike Colchuck lake. Hows the air quality up there? Any other hikes you recommend that are of a similar distance or closer? Edit: Too clarify I mean similar driving distance away from seattle, as for hike length day hike out and back.
Colchuck is awesome man, great choice. Right now the air quality is good, but it was real bad on Fri-Sat. I know it gets worse the more East you go. Just watch the smoke forecasts. Are yall going to Leavenworth only to hike Colchuck? As in a day trip from Seattle, or staying in Leavenworth? If yall are staying in Seattle, there are great hikes much closer than that. But, if you're already going to Leavenworth, that's a great choice. But you're still looking for day hikes within 1-2 hours of Seattle I presume?
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Doing a solo overnighter Saturday night into a Sunday AM scramble. Want to get some climbing in before big trek over Labor Day. Head to Melakwa Lake Saturday afternoon, just 5 miles and 2,500 ft. Wake up Sunday, scramble another 2,000 ft over 2 miles for Kaleetan Peak. https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/washington/kaleetan-peak-trail Not supposed to be technical, but helmet recommended and lots of scrambling. Pretty stoked
Tried to scramble up to Kaleetan Peak, but had some routefinding issues, ended up stranded on a small peak/false summit for like 15 min trying to get down. Wasn't fun. Had to turn around after that for time. And saw a goat. Spoiler Camped right at the top of this near lake: Spoiler
So can't do our original trek because of fires, so heading out this weekend for a 4-day trip to summit Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens. Each should take about 2 days/1 night. Mt Adams is a gain of 6,700 ft over 6 miles. LFG