This was supposed to be a snowshoe trip to a 4000-foot-high vista point overlooking the White River Valley near Greenwater. And yes, we did go to the vista point, but there was absolutely no snow whatsoever. We knew that going in, so the snowshoes stayed at home. The weather was quite cloudy and showery, so the views were limited, but the consolation was the pleasant trail and great scenery along the way. The Palisades are a steep wall about 1000 feet high that flanks the valley just off Highway 410, and the trail switchbacks right up to the top of them. The old growth trees, soaring rock formations, and tumbling waterfalls make for a very scenic hike. We climbed to a pair of cliff-top overlooks know as North and South Snoquera Points.

Grab your umbrella and your comfy walking shoes, time for a rainy day walk on this wonderful rail-trail on the east side of Lake Sammamish. The railroad was built here in the 1880's, with the promise of bringing prosperity to all that lived and worked along the route. After over 80 years of service, the rail line was abandoned in the 1970's, and then after years of legal wrangling, the trail was established in 2006. Hundreds of big ticket homes have been built along either side of the railroad right-of-way, so walking the trail is almost like a "Street of Dreams" tour. But there are natural delights too. Right when we first set foot on the trail, a pair of eagles perched on a tall tree right overhead. Most folks wound up walking about 6 miles, skirting the northern half of the lake and winding up at Marymoor Park in Redmond. 

This trip took place on the last day of the "January drought" that has delivered a span of 14 dry days in a row to western Washington. The route to Big Four Picnic Area in winter involves walking the Mountain Loop Highway. The highway is gated closed about 24 miles east of Granite Falls, and even though the elevation here is quite low (1600 feet), snow still (mostly) covers the highway beyond the closure gate. The snow that remains is all frozen and very hard on the surface, so we eschewed snowshoes in favor of traction devices, and wound up making good time on the 2-mile stretch to the picnic area. After a quick break for lunch there, we continued on the 1-mile trail leading to the Big Four Ice Caves. The caves themselves are buried in snow and aren't much to see, but the setting there at the foot of the 4000-foot wall of Big Four Mountain is something to behold. A layer of high clouds denied us much sunshine, but didn't hamper the views a bit. 

This was a hike to the top of a 2800-foot high forested hill near Quilcene on the Olympic Peninsula. Lying in the eastern Olympic rain shadow means that Walker often has very little snow, even in mid-winter. And this year, thanks to the milder than normal temperatures, and recent dry spell, there's not even a trace of snow on the mountain. There's an excellent trail starting just off Highway 101 that climbs a steady 2000 feet in 2 miles to reach the top. On this clear January day, over 100 hikers were out enjoying the spring-like conditions. Although most of the hike is in the trees, there are two overlooks that give partial views to most directions, so we got to see Rainier, Baker, Adams, and St. Helens, as well as the jagged peaks of the eastern Olympics.

We enjoyed nice weather for this easy tour on a gated road near the Mount Baker Ski Area. Snow conditions are a little sad right now, as the dry, mild weather persists. It looks and feels more like spring in the mountains, and the snow depths are only a fraction of what they normally would be at this point in January. We mostly snowshoed the road, but as we progressed, there were more and more melted-out areas, so some of us opted to remove the snowshoes and go with traction spikes. At least the view were great from the Knob, a small clearing at road's end, where we paused for lunch before heading back. We wound up walking about 4 miles, and logged 600 feet elevation gain coming and going.

This is a historic park near Olympia with excellent facilities and trails that have served visitors since 1921. The CCC worked here in the 1930's building numerous trails, roads, and structures that remain intact and are regularly used today. We connected several park trails to form a 5-mile loop route, enjoying beautiful forests, wetlands, a few interesting bird sightings, and a foggy view of Deep Lake.

Ahhh, a nice clear blue sky trip-- finally! We couldn't have asked for a better day to snowshoe to the top of this 5500-foot peak near Stevens Pass. This was a challenging trip, covering about 7 miles with 2200 feet of elevation gain, and we spent close to 8 hours total out on the snow. After beginning with a 30-minute walk on the short road through Yodelin village just off Highway 2, we headed into the forest, basically making our own trail the entire way up. The snow was quite firm and crusty for the most part, and there were some interesting snow bridges to cross, but the group persevered and everyone made it to the top. On the way home, we stopped for an excellent dinner at Maggy's Mexican Restaurant in Gold Bar.

This was a hike around the trail system at a "secret" state park on Whidbey Island. Dugualla is an undeveloped park not far from Deception Pass, and is fairly little-known. We hiked about 4 miles through the forest and down to a beach on Skagit Bay. The weather remained quite foggy most of the day, but it was a very mild 55 degrees, quite un-January-like. I did something rather unusual on this hike, deciding to forego using my cell phone for the day, and taking no pictures. It was a chance to re-calibrate my routine, and I quickly realized that the phone is not nearly as essential as we tend to think.

Hyak Lake is a quiet little spot tucked in the forest in the middle of the busy Snoqualmie Summit Ski Areas. We actually started from the Silver Fir Lodge, part of Summit Central Ski Area, and snowshoed up through the trees away from the ski runs. There's a bunch of confusing trails that lead every which way in the forest, so it definitely helped to keep eying the GPS in order to stay on track. There's about 3 or 4 feet of snow in most places up there, but unfortunately today we had fog, rain, and the snow was quite wet and heavy. Progress was slow going up the 700-foot climb over about 1.3 miles, but we all reached the lake and returned safely. A big "well done" to everyone in the group for persisting today in spite of some challenging conditions. Hope your next trip will be sunny!

This ski trip to the area east of Stevens Pass off Highway 2 was certainly in doubt for awhile, what  with the road closure and then the lack of snow. But things eventually all worked out, and the skiing was great. We parked at the Nason Ridge Sno-Park, just outside of Lake Wenatchee State Park. The trails right around the sno-park criss-cross the Kahler Glen Golf Course, and then you can connect with the Nason Ridge Trail, which offers over 15 miles of groomed tracks. We didn't do nearly that much, but did get in about 8 miles of skiing, and even enjoyed some sunshine and views at times. 

Lake Padden is in south Bellingham, and sits at a relatively low elevation of 450 feet. So we were a bit surprised to see slushy snow on our drive to the park. It didn't really stick long, and most of our walk around the lake was simply on wet ground, not snowy. But it was a reminder that January is still here. We cut our walk a little short when steady rains came around late-morning, so our planned 5.5-mile walk wound up being maybe 4.3 miles. Next stop was the Big Stick BBQ restaurant in nnorth Bellingham, where our group of 13 enjoyed some great BBQ (Texas Cheese Steak and cornbread for me). After lunch, still with a little extra time on our schedule, we ventured into downtown B-ham and found a gourmet dessert shop called Pure Bliss. Suffice to say, no one went home hungry.

This was a snowshoe trip at Snoqualmie Pass into a peaceful forested valley and alongside a gorgeous snow-lined creek. Starting from the Pacific Crest Trail Trailhead, you quickly leave the freeway noise and the ski area crowds behind, making tracks under tall evergreens laden with fresh snow. The weather offered up a little of everything, but was fairly kind to us overall, and there were even a few afternoon sunbreaks. After about 2 miles or so, we turned around at a spot near the foot of Red Mountain, retracing our tracks back to the start.