In a boulder field just below the summit of Mailbox Peak, a chatty pika babbles away, seeking attention from any and all. Its urgent tone reminds...
By Mike McQuaide | June 26, 2008
If you let a kid in the forest be a kid, he or she will take to
hiking like moss takes to a streamside boulder during a damp spring.
That means letting your little ones get a bit dirty and wet, letting
them pick up bugs and worms and letting them stop along the trail to,
say, get a pungent whiff of skunk cabbage. And you just might find yourself growing an active and healthy young
hiker with a sense of connection to what makes the Northwest the
Northwest.
By Greg Johnston | June 5, 2008
Blanchard Mountain towers more than 2,200 feet above Samish Bay -- along with adjacent Chuckanut Mountain it's the only place where the Cascade Range touches the briny tidelands.
By Greg Johnston | May 8, 2008
Sometime in the spring, when most area ski lifts roll to a halt, I
imagine dogs across town heave a communal sigh of relief. The season of
their people heading to the mountains without them is finally over.
Now, when the backcountry beckons, dogs -- trail dogs, that is -- can
answer the call. Ahhhh-ooooh.
By Lisa Wogan | May 12, 2008
Pet Dish
If you listen to KPLU (88.5 FM) in the morning, you know all about the nature oasis at 8:58 a.m. If you don't, set your alarm.
By Lisa Wogan | May 1, 2008
Pet Dish
In the annals of designating days, weeks and months of remembrance and recognition, National Scoop the Poop Week (April 1-8) falls somewhere--literally and figuratively--between Dental Assistants Recognition Week (March 5-11) and Techie's Day (in early October).
By Lisa Wogan | March 31, 2008
Mount Constitution, move aside. With the recent opening of Turtleback Mountain to hikers, it's like a whole new world has opened up on Orcas Island.
"You can walk this mountain for three hours and have two hours worth of views," said Tim Seifert, executive director of the San Juan Preservation Trust. "Here, you feel part of the landscape, where on Constitution, you feel like you are hovering over it."
By Stuart Eskenazi | July 5, 2007
Hike of the Week
You'd better be jolly if you take this hike on a hot day, especially with time constraints. You may find yourself grumbling well before you get to the summit because the trail is anything but good-natured.
Want solitude? If so, this trail is ideal since few hikers tackle it in summer because you have to gain a lot of elevation for views that are more easily gotten from other trails. True, you may run into an occasional horseback rider or motorbike, but I had this multiple-use trail all to myself on a recent day.
By Karen Sykes | August 17, 2006
Hike of the Week
What's the difference between a tarn and a lake? If you go as far as Wildcat Lakes, you'll get a feel for the difference, because you'll see both.
Webster's dictionary defines a lake as a "considerable body" of standing water and a tarn as a "small, steep-banked mountain lake or pool."
By Karen Sykes | August 3, 2006
Hike of the Week
As much as I try to resist such adjectives as "best," that shopworn word does describe the hike to Ingalls Lake, a popular destination in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.
Forgo fancies of solitude, or visit in fall when the tarns freeze and the larch trees turn color. Then it will be cold enough that you may not want to get out of your sleeping bag.
By Karen Sykes | July 20, 2006
