Alberta Falls (CO)
The hike is not overly taxing, and delivers on wildlife and scenery, not to mention the payoff waterfalls. The drive along Bear Lake Road, also scenic and host to abundant wildlife, is a large part of the experience. The Alberta Falls Download Highlights: Forested, including...
Thunder Knob (WA)
Pinch me. A hike with major mountain views without a major climb. Awesome overhead vista of Diablo Lake with Davis Peak and crab-claw-looking McMillan Spires to the side. And, get this, real benches β on the trail as well as the summit. A perfect hike?...
Rainy Lake (WA)
One day youβll tell a friend, βI just took the best hike.β When you divulge the location (Rainy Lake), she or he will respond, βThatβs no hike. You can take a walk like that anywhere in the city.β Donβt back down. This is a hike....
Cuckoo Over Owls
It once roosted in a thicket the size of a two-car garage, amidst wetlands and diked agricultural fields near Stanwood, Washington. The brush was so thick, the Long-Eared Owl must have felt unassailable. Long-barreled photographic devices proliferated and trained at it like arms in a...
Bench & Snow Lakes (WA)
This down-and-back has a lot of what the average hiker might look for β enough up and down for aerobic challenges but not too strenuous for children and the creaky kneed, nice wildflowers and foliage, a couple of good payoff lake destinations, and breath-taking views...
Green Lake (WA)
In Seattle, when you suggest, βLetβs go walk Green Lake,β you head by the Woodland Park Zoo and brave the crowds around the paved pedestrian/wheeled path. In this iteration, you have an emerald-green alpine lake probably all to yourselves, listen to the roar of a...
Van Trump Park / Mildred Point (WA)
A breathtaking hike, both sometimes in effort and scenery. This takes you past iconic Comet Falls to one of the grandest views of Mount Rainier in the park. The Van Trump Park Download Highlights: Several cascades and waterfalls, including Comet, the most photogenic in the...
Skagit River Loop (WA)
This is one of the ultimate, excuse-free national-park hikes. Rain? Wind? Snow? Tree cover, baby. Too long? Youβve logged more mileage shopping at Cosco; here, you donβt dodge shopping carts, neither. Too arduous? Please. The only climb, at the end, lasts about 25 yards, less...
