From the comfort of my couch, it can be so easy to forget just how much I'm energized by time spent outdoors. Fall in particular is a challenging but important time for me to overcome my inertia and resist my temptation to spend the shorter, rainy days at home binge watching TV while plugging away at my current knitting project. I need as much time as possible out in the fiery beauty of fall, soaking in every falling leaf and newly emerged fungi before they all vanish for another year. So when two friends suggested in August that the three of us take a random Monday in October off work to go for a hike, I had to say yes. I was even prepared with a suggestion for the trail, Iron Goat to Wellington Ghost Town. I’d hiked the trail once before in October and remembered an easy hike along a spooky abandoned railroad corridor, framed by blazing maples.
Read moreLime Kiln State Park
Back in April, when life was hectic and exhausting, Alpine Trails Book Club provided the perfect escape for me in the form of a weekend spent camping on San Juan Island. Our April book selection had been The Light Between Oceans, a heartbreaking and beautiful tale of a lighthouse keeper and his wife who find an infant washed up on their remote island off the coast of Australia, then struggle with the fallout of their unofficial adoption of the girl. Obviously after reading of life on a remote and rugged island whose only structure was the light, we couldn’t leave the island without a hike to one of two lighthouses on San Juan.
Read moreLime Kiln
March is a tough time of year for planning hikes, but this year with plenty of snow still lingering from February’s epic snowstorm it proved especially challenging. At the last minute, I wound up switching up our plans to avoid steep icy trails, choosing the Line Kiln Trail based entirely on the fact that a recent trip report mentioned zero snow. Lime Kiln is one of several trails that I very well may have hiked as a child, but have no memory of, so I went in to our March Alpine Trails Book Club hike with fresh eyes.
Read moreRosario Beach & Lighthouse Point
Deception Pass is one of my favorite places for winter and early spring hiking, and after weeks of snow in early February, the snow-free trail to Lighthouse Point was a truly welcome sight. As our group gathered at the trailhead on a chilly morning under slate grey skies, I found myself immediately regretting not bringing my puffy down jacket. It may not have been snowy, but it was still cold! Thankfully the faint, sporadic sunlight that struggled through the clouds was enough to warm me once we got moving. Between the rugged views and rambling conversation, any lingering chill was quickly forgotten.
Read moreGold Creek Pond Snowshoe II
For the second year in a row - third if you count the year nobody came - our January Alpine Trails Book Club outing involved a snowshoe to Gold Creek Pond, followed by an afternoon of tea, snacks, and convivial conversation at my family cabin. Watching the forecast as the date approached, I worried that we’d have a repeat of last year’s epic snowstorm, making for lots of soggy gear and photos smudged and blurred by fat flakes. Happily, by the weekend all predictions of 7-8 inches of show on Sunday had vanished. Instead, our group of 15 set out under a low, dense blanket of familiar wintry grey, with not a glimpse of the surrounding mountains to be found.
Read more