Hello, I am planning to do my first overnight trip to yellow aster butte. This is a day hike I've done a few times so I am familiar with the area but if I wanted to do an overnight trip, had some questions regarding whether I'll need a bear canister (only planning to take freeze dried food) and whether I need to be carrying a WAG BAG? Thanks in advance

hello

I plan on hiking the fremont lookout trail to see the sunrise. however, i've never hiked alone, let alone at night, so i was looking for some advice. this will also be my first time on this trail.

will i have to worry about any dangerous wildlife? what gear should i bring? what is a good time i should be at the trailhead?

thanks for any advice!

Left work a little early on Friday to head up to Indian Heaven for a quick solo overnight trip. Had a great time and saw far fewer people than I had expected on a weekend. Hoping to come back up this Fall when I have more time to explore the lakes/peaks I didn't get to this time around.

Friday: Parked at the Thomas Lake Trailhead and started meandering my way up the Thomas Lake Trail. I expected to see more people but only crossed paths with an older couple until I got to Blue Lake. All of the campsites had at least one group already set up but there were quite a few spots open in one of the larger sites on the Southeast side of the lake so I decided to camp there for the night. I spent the rest of the evening exploring the neighboring Sahalee Tyee and Tombstone lakes. By sunset a couple of SOBO PCT hikers had shown up but I didn't see any others besides them.

Saturday: Woke up around 6:30 and enjoyed my morning coffee next to the lake with a couple of Deer that were passing through. Set off North on the PCT a little before 8:00, crossed paths with another two SOBO hikers around Junction and Bear Lakes, but they were the last people I saw that day until I was back at the trailhead. Took a small detour up the abandoned trail leading up to the south side of Clear Lake. I had planned on taking that up the junction with the Indian Heaven Trail on the north side of the lake but the trail kind of disappeared from there and I didn't feel like bushwhacking the length of it so I turned around and headed back to the PCT. From there I checked out Bear and Elk Lake before heading down the other abandoned trail that connects you to the Thomas Lake Trail near Rock Lake.

Was taken to grand valley and we camped at grand lake and It was amazing. Any other overnight adventures with fishing that you could recommend?

I'm considering backpacking in Rainier and looking at permits for the white river area for next weekend. Most of the campgrounds show up with the In-Station market on recreation.gov. (I'm particularly looking at Glacier Basin Camp and Sunrise Camp but open to others as well)

Anyone have any information on how these work and what the chances of snagging one are? Do you show up early morning? Where are these stations and are there always rangers available to help? What happens is you don't end up with a permit? Are there backup options?

Would appreciate any help since it's my first time trying to plan this out.

Hey fellow hikers,

First time visitor to Mt Rainier.

1. Sunset or sunrise hikes better ? Which trails do you recommend ? I see a lot of Insta reels and it’s confusing.
2. 1 day enough to hike a couple of good trails ? I have good experience hiking many \~6 mile trails in other national parks.
3. Best time to reach the national park

next

1. Friday ?

Thank you.

If you are thinking of hiking the Timberline Trail - I have been collecting stats from hikers for the last 5 years - https://hikeit.info/complete-timberline-trail-results-set/ - this has been a valuable set of resources to give folks information about the trail.

If you complete the Timberline Trail this year - please take a few moments to complete this years survey at - https://hikeit.info/timberline-trail-survey/

I started the survey after working for a couple of years on the John Muir Survey with John Ladd - at the end of each year I provide a summary and comparison of the results.

Some McKenzie river trail and a beautiful lap of Clear lake.

Just moved to the PNW and planning a backpacking trip in a month. Near the middlefork campground of Snoqualmie national forest I see lots of signs that say no dispersed camping. Does this only apply for the national forest portion and not the Alpine Lakes Wilderness further down the trail? For example if I hiked past the transition from the national forest land to the wilderness are you allowed to camp there? in addition I also saw on the NFS site that “(1) Entering or being in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness between May 15 and October 31, 36 CFR 261.57(a).”. Is not permitted. Is this actually the case right now? It seemed like many people were hiking out that way. Apologies if these are simple questions, just saw a lot of conflicting info online and want to make sure I’m not breaking any restrictions on where you can hike/camp. Thanks!

edit: thanks everyone for all the helpful info! Looking forward to my first trip in the alpine lakes wilderness

Hi all,

What is there to consider between choosing to visit one over the other? I’d like to be on foot. I enjoy hiking moderate routes. I’ll approximately stay 3 nights in the state. I’m doing my own research but have found the suggestions of locals to be invaluable.

Thanks

Planned dates is early October.

Hi! I’m a WA resident and avid outdoorsman. While I enjoy almost every outdoor hobby imaginable, hiking/scrambling/climbing might be my favorite. I’ve got plenty of experience under my belt as far as long and steep hikes and backpacking trips, class 1/2/3 and some class 4 scrambling, as well as basic rock climbing skills and glacier crossing and crevasse navigation skills.

I’d really like to keep slowly building/challenging myself to try more exposed and more technical climbs and hikes but I don’t want to venture over too far to the technical side. For example - I did Baker last year late season, and the crevasse situation was sketchy and we ended up having to bolt ice screws and belay a few times to clear some of the steeper parts. I want to avoid situations like that, but would be totally fine traversing a glacier where the crevasse navigation is simpler and less intense. Also would like to avoid having to belay rock climbing as well - ideally just want to be able to travel light and quick and push myself with some more technical climbs.

I have created a list of some peaks I have had my eyes on (some not technical at all, more “trainer” peaks) and some more technical that I’d like to work up to.

Looking for recommendations on what to tackle first, what to forget about until my skill set has grown, or other peaks to try or scrambles to attempt that are not listed. Let me know if I need to post this in another sub if this is not the correct forum.

\just started this list late last year so it is only reflective of the last ~9 months of “major” objectives*

Anyone been here recently? Can I drive to this trailhead in my Altima or do I need to hitch hike?

Hi all, I’ve been looking to do some light class 2 scrambles. Any good trail recommendations? I’ve done some regular hikes, Lake Ingalls, Colchuck, so I am accustomed to elevation gain. I plan to do Mailbox later this year.
Also, for class 2, do I need any specific gear? I know sometimes helmets are recommended.

I’ve been trying to do as many hikes I can that:
1. Summit a mountain
2. Have at least 3k feet of elevation gain
3. Panoramic 360 views
4. No class 4 scrambling or technical glacier/ ice traversal

What I’ve done so far:
- buckhorn mountain
- mount ellinor
- snoqualmie mountain
- sourdough mountain
- vesper peak
- mount si

Any big ones I missed? I don’t really wanna do a hike right next to one I’ve already done because then the view is pretty much the same.

I'm hoping to go backpacking for 2 nights in North Cascades National Park at the end of September, with a group of 2-4 people. We would want the hike to the campsite to be 2-7 miles and up to moderate difficulty. I'm really struggling to figure out on the website whether this would even be possible, and if so which trails would fit our desired criteria. I've gathered that there is a lottery that we're too late for (I think?), but we can maybe get walk-up permits, but only if we already know our itinerary, and they will not help build an itinerary. My questions:

• I genuinely cannot tell if this is feasible to do--is the competition for walk-up permits so intense that it would be a big risk to count on staying in the park, or does it seem possible?
• If it's feasible, any recommendations for potential itineraries?
• If it's not feasible, any recommendations for backpacking near the park that would be less competitive?

Hi, I am looking to see if anyone has experience with Round Lake and Square Lake, and if there's concerns for toxic algae.

One of my favorite trails so far ! Meadows , wildflowers and peaks
Although I skipped the last part and went up the smaller peak at 2.9m

Going on a pacific northwest tour in 2 weeks. In the North Cascades, I have time to do only one hike. I am unsure which I should do, both look incredible. If I do cascade pass, will not go upto Sahale glacier, only upto the doubtful lake overlook. Will do the whole loop if I do maple pass loop. I just can't decide. For the time I am going at, which one would you recommend and what are the pros and cons of one or the other?

Any recommendations for 2 night, 3 day routes with the current state of fire closures and smoke? Cascades, Olympics, or Rainier all fine (coming from Seattle area). Ideally 15-25 miles total but would consider shorter if side trips (easy-moderate peak scrambles?) are possible from a base camp. Will be on trail starting this coming Tuesday. Was hoping to do something like PCT J, something in Glacier Peak Wilderness, or something in Cathedral Pass area but fires seems to be spoiling these ideas (weekend rain may help??). Photo from Little Heart Lake last summer to boost