Trail Running the Stiletto-Copper Pass Loop

Alex and I had planned for our summer/fall hiking season to end with our Ice Lakes backpacking trip the first weekend of October. We thought it would be the perfect way to wrap up the season with a larch-yellow bow. Then we saw the forecast for the second weekend of October and knew we had to squeeze in just one more trip. The forecast was downright summer-like with clear skies and highs in the 60s. Alex needed to leave for a work trip on Sunday so we couldn’t go on another backpacking trip, but we could get out on a day hike or trail run on Saturday.

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A Larch Loop through Glacier Peak Wilderness

Every fall, Washingtonians flood to the mountains for two to three weeks each October to embark on an annual “larch march”. During this brief window of time, the needles of larch trees in the high alpine turn from green to a vibrant shade of yellow before dropping entirely for the winter. They are among a few species of conifers that drop their needles annually and they do it in such a vivid display of color that people from all over come to see the spectacle. It’s tough to nail the timing of the larch trees turning. It’s a narrow window and can shift depending on seasonal weather patterns, but when you are able to get the timing right the scenes are jaw-dropping. I try to go on a larch march once a year, but I don’t think I’ve ever got the timing quite right. I would either be too early and the trees would still be slightly green, or I’d go too late and entire stands of larches would be brown or naked. Those hikes were still undoubtedly beautiful, but I felt as if I wasn’t getting that experience that so many other larch-lovers get. Until this year.

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Trail Running the High Divide Loop

A few weeks ago Alex and I had a three day weekend planned with the intention of climbing Luna Peak, a mountain I’ve been dreaming of climbing for years now. As our trip dates approached the forecast grew increasingly wetter, with possible snow forecasted for the summit of Luna. That trip was off the table so I looked around the region hoping to find someplace with a more favorable forecast, but everywhere I looked I just found more wet weather. It looked like we weren’t going to be able to do a backpacking trip after all, but Sunday was looking clear, especially in the Olympics and I got the wild idea that maybe we could squeeze a traditional backpacking trip into a day trip.

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Journey to the Chilliwacks

The Chilliwacks are small cluster of peaks located in the northern-most reaches of North Cascades National Park. In fact, they are so far north the trail actually starts in Canada before crossing the border and entering the park. These peaks are known for their ruggedness and remoteness, and like any other rugged and remote places they are not easy to reach. I have had my eyes on a trip to the Chilliwacks since I first saw a photo of Silver Lake in a blog post years ago—which pivotal blog post I saw that photo in has since faded from my memory, but that image of the lake has stayed with me ever since.

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Sloan Peak via the Corkscrew Route

I had the third weekend of July set aside for a climbing trip with my friend Kara and her friend, Sam, since the beginning of the year. Initially we had planned to climb Snowfield Peak over the weekend but between the oppressive heat and wildfires near Highway 20 we decide to change our plans. Kara suggested Sloan Peak since it was a climb that had been on her radar for years and it would still give us a Snowfield-esque experience, though in a much smaller package—Sloan has the steep, forested approach, it crosses a glacier, and it has a fun scramble to top it all off. The main difference is that Sloan can be done in a day and we wanted to avoid hiking with overnight packs in the heat so it seemed to fit our bill perfectly.

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Photo Diary: Vesper Peak

When Alex and I first moved to Washington in 2017 I made a long list of hikes and backpacking trips I wanted to do in the area and Vesper Peak was one of the first I added to my list. Somehow other trips kept taking precedence and Vesper Peak kept getting relegated to the back of the pack. Every year I’d slate it in and every year it would get bumped. This year I was determined to finally make it to the summit so I planned it as the first backpacking trip of the season to ensure we’d do it.

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July Turns: Steamboat Prow and the Inter Glacier

During our Olympus climb Sander, Dan, and I talked about trying to climb/ski Mt. Rainier via the Emmons Glacier during the long Fourth of July weekend if the conditions were right. We thought it would be the perfect cherry on top of an incredible ski season. Unfortunately, the conditions were not right and a huge heat wave was forecasted to sweep through the state with highs in the 80s and 90s over the weekend and a freezing level above 16,000’. We didn’t want to climb the mountain during such an intense period of heat but we also didn’t want to let a long weekend go by without at least a little adventure so we pivoted to a day trip to Steamboat Prow and a ski of the Inter Glacier.

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Return to Olympus

In 2021 I attempted and failed to summit Mt. Olympus. It was one of my first big mountain experiences after taking a mountaineering course and the mental and physical tolls of the climb left me feeling completely frayed before we even made it to the summit block. I knew that continuing on could be unsafe in my condition so I made the very difficult choice to stop climbing as I watched from afar as everyone else in my group went on to summit. I was so grateful for my time spent on the mountain but there was also a small part of me that felt I had unfinished business on Olympus.

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