Linna and I enjoyed a four day weekend with friends.
Burroughs Mountain Hike, August 2023
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Category Archives: Moderate Hikes
Maple Pass Hike, October 2022
Five other couples joined Linna and I for a beautiful fall weekend in the Winthrop, Washington area for a three day weekend filled with food, friendship and fun.
All of us hiked up Maple Pass on Saturday and spent most of our time taking pictures of the fall colors.
We Got To The Maple Pass Parking Lot About 7:30 a.m. And All The Parking Spots Were Full So We Parked Along Highway Like Everybody Else.
Mt. Baker Hiking, September 2022
Linna And I Met Up With Jim And Ione Darmiento On Thursday to Start Our Long Weekend In Glacier, Washington. Jim Rented A Super Cool Three Bedroom Airbnb That We Took Full Advantage Of The kitchen.
Our First Hike On Thursday Was A Short Hike On Table Mountain. Next Day Was Yellow Easter Butte…But It Was So Socked In From The Clouds The Views Were Thick Soup.
with Mt. Shuksan In The Background
Jim Darmiento & Mt Bsker
Bandera Mountain Hike, July 2021
Six of us brave souls hiked up Bandera Mountain to see the sunrise. We woke up at 1:15 a.m. and left the house at 2:00 a.m. to meet up with Craig Schilling, Tao Song, Xiao Wen and Xiuyun at the trailhead at 3:00 p.m.
Granite Mountain Hike, September 2018
Linna wanted to complete another fall color hike before the season was over and from the WTA trip reports, Granite Mountain was reaching full peak. We met up with Mike Curry at the trail-head at sunrise and got an early start on the hike knowing that it was going to be a busy day on the mountain…especially on a beautiful fall sunny day.
The reports were accurate, vibrant fall colors decorated the mountain. Near the pond area and the back side were abundant with thick flamboyant fall leaves. We had lunch near the look-out tower huddle by some of rocks to protect us from the chilly wind.
On the decent we ran into hordes of hikers seeking the same pictures we took. 
Chloe Wei, Rick Freeman and Mike Curry enjoying another hiking day.
Rick Freeman & Mike Curry
The colors we were seeking…..near the pond.
Mike Curry, Linna Freeman and Rick Freeman loving Granite Mountain
Linna Freeman overlooking Mount Rainier
Mike Curry hiding from the brisk wind
Mt. Dickerman Sunrise Hike, July 2017
Mount Dickerman
Date: July 22, 2013
Difficulty: 7 out of 10
Distance: 8.6 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 3,875 Feet
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Near Verlot, Washington (Mountain Loop Highway)
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Northwest Forest Pass
Trail Conditions: Dry To One Patch Of Snow
Hiking with: Linna Freeman, Matt Kerby, Craig Schilling & Macho the Wonderdog
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- My Heart Rate
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- Our Route
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- Freeman On Top
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- Dickerman Altitude
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- Wild Flowers
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- Can You Find Me?
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- Linna, Rick & Craig
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- Matt Kerby
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- Mt. Dickerman
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- Linna Freeman
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- Rick Freeman
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- The Man – The Pose
This was supposed to be our third sunrise hike, but the low clouds made it impossible to see the sunrise. The last time I was on top of Mt. Dickerman was early June 4 years ago with a lot of snow, today’s hike was snow free. We made the summit in 2 1/2 hours with a couple of tents perched on top….our group woke them.
We hung on top for 45 minutes to take all of those non-sunrise pictures, but even without the sunrise you have a 360 view of sheer beauty. On the way down we started to run into those Saturday morning hikers and the lot was full by the time we got back to our car at 8:30 a.m.
Scorpion Mountain Hike, July 2017
Scorpion Mountain
Date: July 4, 2017
Difficulty: 6 out of 10
Distance: 8 miles / 12.9 Kilometers round-trip
Elevation Gain: 2,650 feet / 808 meters
Time: 5 to 6 hours
Location: Near Skykomish, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Northwest Forest Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Dry to a few snow patches on summit
Hiking With: Linna Freeman, Rick Freeman, Matt Kerby, Craig Schilling, Tao Song & Macho
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- Purple Haze
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- Valley Of Lillies
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- Freeman
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- The Group
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- Beautiful Mt. Stuart
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- Last Bit Of Snow
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- Scorpion Mountain Location
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- Our Altitude
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- Vast Amounts Of Wild Bells
For our July 4th celebration we started our day hiking a new trail off of highway 2 near Skykomish, Washington. I usually hike the I-90 hikes out of Seattle, but when I invite my wife I know it’s a pre-requisite to come up with a new hike to entice her to come out. Scorpion Mountain was a new hike for us and we were blessed with a sunny warm July 4th without the crowd. We invited our good friends Matt Kerby, Craig Schilling and Tao Song to share this quiet beautiful hike.
This is not your typical off the exit I-90 hike, it takes some driving time and effort. After getting off of highway 2, you have 7 miles of a narrow paved road onto a narrower overgrown dirt-road for another 6 miles up the mountain. We only had two groups ahead of us when we started, but managed to pass them to have full access to the summit to ourselves. This hike has a gain of 2,500 feet, but after reaching the Sunrise Mountain you descend over 200 feet to only ascend again to summit Scorpion…making this trek a bit more difficult.
Before reaching the summit of glacier lilies and a couple of large mounds of snow you get to hike through a mature forest and alpine meadows. You have a 360 view on top with Glacier Peak, Spire, El Capitan and the top of Rainier showing.
Linna and I ended our hike with some delicious Korean BBQ at Blue Ginger in Bellevue, Washington.
Bandera Mountain Sunrise Hike, June 2017
Bandera Mountain
Date: June 30, 2017
Difficulty: 7 out of 10
Distance: 8 miles / 12.88 kilometers round-trip
Elevation Gain: 3,400 feet / 1,036 meters
Time: 5 to 6 hours
Location: Exit 45, I-90
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Dry to the top
Hiking With: Linna Freeman, Matt Kerby & Macho the Dog Wonder
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- Colors Colors Colors
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- Freeman In Bear Grass
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- Matt Kerby Over I-90
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- Lillie
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- The Freeman’s
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- Macho The Dog Wonder
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- Mt. Rainier
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- Purple Haze
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- Bandera Sunrise
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- Linna On The Prowl
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- Freeman Retard
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- Kerby & Freeman
My wife Linna made a lifetime goal of 100 sunrise hikes…after today we will only need 98 more! We met up with Matt Kerby at the local Home Depot at 2:00 a.m. and loaded everything into his new SUV. We started at the trail-head at 2:45 a.m. and reached the summit in 2 hours…which means we had actually had to wait for the sunrise for 30 minutes.
It was perfect weather through-out the morning, but the mosquitoes were so nasty it affected your movements. I put on my jacket so only my face was shown, I came down the mountain with only one bite. Matt ended up with a couple of welts on both sides of his forehead.
It’s a good feeling when you are descending down the mountain heading back to the car and it’s only seven in the morning and seeing people heading up wondering…what the hell.
Granite Mountain Sunrise Hike, May 2017
Granite Mountain
Date: May 27, 2017
Difficulty: 7 out of 10
Distance: 8.6 miles / 13.8 Kilometers round-trip
Elevation Gain: 3,800 feet / 1,158 meters
Time: 5 to 6 hours
Location: Exit 47, I-90
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Northwest Forest Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Dry to Snow Packed
Hiking With: Mike Curry, Linna Freeman, Matt Kerby, Craig Schilling, Tao Song & Macho
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- Look-Out Tower
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- Curry, Kerby, Freeman & Schilling
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- Linna With Sunrise
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- Magic Hole
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- Sunrise On Mt. Rainier
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- Matt Kerby
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- Macho The Dog Wonder
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- Sunrise
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- Descending
Seven of us decided that getting up at 1:00 a.m. to summit Granite Mountain to see the sunrise would be worth it…and we were right. Our group consisted of Mike Curry, Matt Kerby, Craig Schilling, Tao Song and my wife Linna Freeman. This will be the first sunrise hike for most of us and probably the earliest start for a hike too.
I am not sure how we decided on Granite Mountain for a sunrise hike, but we all knew they would be a lot of snow on top left over from a very wet/snowy winter. After reading the WTA trip reports, the avalanche conditions were minimal and post holing wasn’t an issue. We had to be a bit more cautious on the snow when it started to open up on top, there were numerous foot trails going in different directions, but I have been up Granite so many times I had a good feel for our direction to the summit.
Matt Kerby reached the summit in time to snap some beautiful sunrise pictures, some of the photos posted will be his art. There were many groups coming up as we were descending and by the time we got back to the parking lot it was nearly full.
Craig and Tao invited us back to their house for breakfast. Of course when we got back home Linna and I took a long nap.
Yellow Aster Hike, September 2016
Yellow Aster Butte
Date: September 30, 2016
Difficulty: 6 out of 10
Distance: 7.5 miles / 12.07 Kilometers round-trip
Elevation Gain: 2,600 feet / 792 meters
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Near Glacier, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass
Trail Conditions: Dry
Hiking With: My wife Linna, Jim & Ione Darmiento, Erik & Emelie Espling, John Biltucci
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- Our Altitude
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- Snack Break
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- Rick Freeman & Jim Darmiento
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- Freeman The Exorcist
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- Jim & Ione Darmiento
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- Jim & Ione Darmiento
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- Linna Freeman Loving The Views
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- Darmiento & Freeman With Mt. Shuskan
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- Our Hiking Route
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- John Biltucci, Jim Darmiento, Rick Freeman & Erik Espling
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- Rick Freeman On Top Of Yellow Aster Butte
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- Our Wonder Dog Macho
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- Heading To The Top Of Yellow Aster
My wife Linna chose this hike months before our Mt. Baker weekend and she happened to picked the perfect date for beautiful fall colors. Our group rented a beautiful house near Glacier, Washington for the weekend.