By Anna Taylor
I love Hurricane Ridge in the winter, but my recent trip along Obstruction Point Road was a sobering reminder of how much our mountain landscapes are shifting. While the views remain world-class, the snowpack—or lack thereof—was the real story of the day. Trip Stats Setting off from the Hurricane Ridge parking lot, the first thing
It’s time for my favorite part of the year – my annual hike round-up! Last year, over the course of just eight months, I completed 17 hikes for 150 miles and climbed 38,675 vertical feet. I use my AllTrails app to track every hike, and I also have my Apple Watch as a backup. This
I started this year without a simple goal: to do as many hikes as I could! I started off slow, only completing one hike in January and one in February. As the weather warmed in March, COVID happened, state and Federal lands closed, and Mike and I started house hunting. After we found a place
When you do the same hike three times in one month, it must mean you like the hike. I’m definitely a fan of Lake Angeles. I’ve accessed the lake via two different trailheads in October and November. The easiest way to access the lake is to park at the Lake Angeles Trailhead, located just before
We set out for the Trailhead at 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning and I knew it was going to be a cold day in the mountains. Snow had fallen as low as 5,000 feet the Friday before and it was forecast to stay below freezing all weekend. I’d been at Lake Angeles the day before and
Mike and I had about a month to prepare for our big cross-country move. We knew it was coming, but we didn’t know when. Not having a firm date made the planning process complicated. We had to find a place to live. Reserve rooms at pet friendly hotels. Cancel bills. Change our address. Get the
This was my first “long” hike since moving to Washington two weeks ago. Like a true amateur, I didn’t have a plan. I knew vaguely this trail lead to a lake, but I didn’t really know how long it would take me to get there, or how long it would take me to hike six
On our last day in Guatemala we decided to wake up at 2:30 to watch sunrise from the tallest temple at Tikal. We took a private taxi to the entrance of the park and then met with a local guide who led us by flashlight through the pitch black rainforest. We climbed to the top
The ninth morning of our trip we rejoined the rest of the group and returned to Yaxha, this time under the full light of a bright Guatemalan sun. We climbed the largest pyramid in the complex, along with several other smaller ones. The climbing is always equal parts fun and fear. Footholds can be unreliable
After a peaceful night in our riverside cabin, we took a boat ride on the Rio Dulce all the way to the Atlantic coast to the town of Livingston. We weren’t in country during the rainy season, so for almost the entire trip we had beautiful, sunny weather, but Rio Dulce is in the rainforest,
Washinton Wandering 