Mt. Hood may be an icon of northern Oregon, and its Timberline Trail may be epic with backpackers, but it also offers some great day hiking. The scenery can be a bit varied, too – waterfalls, lakes, meadows, rock scrambles,…
Hiking a Misty Mazama Trail to McNeil Point
The weather really can make or break a trip or a hike. Last year, visiting Mt. Hood, the weather went from socked in to quite cloudy, to totally cloudy and misty and rainy. The last day we decided to do…
Spectacular Gnarl Ridge below Mt. Hood
Sometimes there are hikes that you just know as soon as you arrive (at the parking area or the destination) that this is one epic hike. Gnarl Ridge, high on the southern side of Mt. Hood, was one of those…
Elk Meadows and Views of Mt. Hood (Or Gnarl Ridge, Part 1)
If you like hiking through woods and views across meadows, Elk Meadows on the side of Mt. Hood, Oregon may well be a hike built for you. It’s really a backpacker’s destination, a place for a short overnight hike and…
The Pass & Views above Upper Darby Canyon
A few months ago, I posted about finding fossils in Upper Darby Canyon on the west side of the Tetons. Well, my goal that day wasn’t fossils; in fact, I didn’t even know they existed until they appeared in boulders…
Return to Beautiful Bonneville Pass
When I first hiked it in 2012, Bonneville Pass was one of the most peaceful, lovely places I’d been to in Wyoming outside of the Tetons. So when we were going to be driving through the area again last summer,…
Day Hiking the Alaska Basin Overlook
Oh! Alaska Basin Overlook! I’d always heard that Alaska Basin was one of the most beautiful places in Wyoming, but at 15 miles RT, we just weren’t up to that kind of day hike. But then, while walking the trail…
Stairway to Heaven – Views and Wildflowers Galore!
I can’t figure out why you’d want to attribute something so beautiful, so uniquely made to the Devil, so why not call it something more appropriate – so much more accurate – the Stairway to Heaven? Because if you aren’t…
Medicine Bow Aircraft Arrow – So Photogenic!
A couple weeks ago, I mentioned I’d soon post about a much more exciting aircraft arrow than the one on Pilot Hill. Well, I got sort of carried away with fall posts, but here’s the rest of the story –…
6 Best Hikes on the Mt. Baker Highway
The hikes that begin from the Mt. Baker Highway in northwest Washington State have got to be some of the most spectacular in the Continental US. There’s something about Mt. Baker’s cone, Mt. Shuksan’s rugged profile, and all the other…