Category Archives: Moderate Hikes

Bandera Mountain Hike, July 2014

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Bandera Mountain
Date: July 4, 2014
Difficulty: 6 out of 10
Distance: 8 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 3,400 feet
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Exit 45, I-90
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Dry to the top
Hiking With: Mike Curry, Rick Massie, Jim Powell and my dog Macho.

I didn’t hike Bandera at all last year, but for some reason I have already hit the top of this hike three times this year. What I like about this hike it gives you a mile of warm up on easy grade going into a moderate grade and then onto a thigh pounding son-of-bitch ending with magnificent views with the bonus of Mt. Rainier in your face.

Mike Curry, Rick Massie and Jim Powell joined me on a beautiful July 4th holiday. We started on the trail around 8:00 a.m. and made it to the top less than two hours. For some reason this hike is becoming a lot like Mt. Si…voluminous of people on weekends and holidays. Totally recommend starting before 8:00 a.m. on weekends or you will be parking along the dusty road.

I brought up a quart of homemade chicken rice soup that my wife Linna made that I warmed up on my trusty MSR stove/pan. After a nice lunch, rest and photo-ops it was time to descend and weave through the masses of people heading up. We ended with a cold pitcher of Mac & Jacks at Sure Shot Tavern in North Bend, Washington; this wasn’t our normal watering hole…North Bend Bar & Grill was closed due to the July 4th holiday.

Mount Ellinor Hike, June 2014

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Mount Ellinor
Date: June 6, 2014
Difficulty: 6 out of 10
Distance: 6.2 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 3,200 feet
Time: 3 to 4 hours
Location: Near Hoodsport, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Northwest Forest Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Dry to Snow-Pack
Hiking With: Jim Darmiento & Macho the dog wonder.

This is a short but fairly steep hike with 360 degree views, unfortunately the summit was socked in so we stopped short and had a quick lunch. As we were putting our backpacks on and getting ready for our descent, along came a huge ass mountain goat on the trail.

Two years ago an older gentleman was killed by a mountain goat on this very mountain so this was in my head during the ascent. As we were approaching the summit, three young men was descending and they stated they saw a lot of goats and mentioned they were not afraid either. After hearing that…I was being cautious. So when my friend Jim Darmiento bellowed out the word “GOAT”, that was all I needed…I quickly grabbed my poles and jumped on the snowy slope and glissaded to a safe distance. Mr. Mountain Goat had a baby goat with him and when we looked back up the slope he was proudly staring down at us.

We finished the day at Jim’s cabin on Lake Panther where we cooled off with a nice swim and a few beers around the campfire.

Bandera Mountain Hike, June 2014

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Bandera Mountain
Date: June 1, 2014
Difficulty: 6 out of 10
Distance: 7.6 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 3,400 feet
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Exit 45, I-90
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Dry to the top
Hiking With: Mike Curry, Linna Freeman and Macho the Dog Wonder

What a beautiful day to hike Bandera with a bunch of friends.

Mt. Washington Hike, May 2014

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Mt. Washington
Date: May 24, 2014
Difficulty: 6 out of 10
Distance: 9 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 3,200 feet
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Exit 38 near North Bend, I-90
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Dry to Damp at the top
Hiking With: Mike Curry, Linna Freeman & Macho the dog wonder.

My wife Linna organized this Mt. Washington hike with a few of her friends. Anytime you have a large group it takes a while to get everyone on top and some of them haven’t hiked in a while so it took a good 3 hours to summit.

This was a fun group and I was able to burn over 3,700 calories for the day! We finished the day off with a few cold beers.

Little Saint Helen’s Snowshoe, January 2014

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Little Saint Helen’s
Date: January 5, 2014
Difficulty: 5 out of 10
Distance: 7 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 1,200 feet
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Exit 47, I-90
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Packed Snow
Hiking With: Mike Curry, Dr. Robert McElroy, Rick Massie & Macho my dog wonder.

A good friend of mine, Robert McElroy asked me to hike Little Saint Helen’s off of exit 47 on 1-90 near Snoqualmie Pass in Washington with a few of his friends. I have never done this hike….actually I have never heard of it either. Maybe because it doesn’t have a lot of elevation and during the summer there are horses and mountain bikes on the trail. I would never hike this trail during the busy summer, but with snow on it, it keeps all the bikers and horses off.

I asked Mike Curry and Rick Massie to come along too; this was my 5th hike in 2 weeks with Rick Massie. We didn’t quite make it to the trailhead due to snow, so we had to hike an extra mile to where we wanted to start. Due to the numerous logging roads and the snow we were never sure if we were actually on Little Saint Helen trail, it really didn’t matter what road or trail we were on, it was a gorgeous sunny day for a snow hike.

Mt. Washington Hike, January 2014

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Mt. Washington
Date: January 1, 2014
Difficulty: 6 out of 10
Distance: 9 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 3,200 feet
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Exit 38 near North Bend, I-90
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Damp to lightly packed snow on top.
Hiking With: Mike Curry, Rick Massie & my dog Macho

After a year of traveling, playing, wining and dining I tell myself that I am going to reduce my excessive indulging of life! Well…at least cut back on the calorie intake. I try to start every New Year’s Day with a hike to start the year off right.

I asked Mike Curry and Rick Massie to join me for knocking off Mt. Washington on the first day of 2014. Usually Mt. Washington is a fairly quiet hike with only a few cars at the trailhead on any given day, well today the parking lot was full with a Seattle “Meet-Up” group. We took off before the 30 plus group got started and made it to the top to claim the only dry large rock available. It wasn’t long until we were surrounded with this group of friendly men and woman.

We ended the hike with a cold Mac & Jack’s at our favorite pub in North Bend, Washington…the North Bend Bar & Grille.

Granite Mountain Hike, November 2013

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Granite Mountain
Date: November 22, 2013
Difficulty: 7 out of 10
Distance: 8.6 miles / 13 Kilometers roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 3,800 feet / 1,158 meters
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Exit 47, I-90
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Wet to Frozen to Packed Snow.
Hiking With: Rick Massie and Macho the dog wonder.

It has been unusually cold and sunny here in the Northwest, but to see the sun in November is a treat and one should take advantage of that. Rick Massie and I decided to hike Granite Mountain about one hour west from Seattle knowing we would have beautiful skies and abundant views from the summit.

We got an early start with only one car at the trailhead. The trail became snow packed about half way up where we stopped and put on our traction devices. It was damn windy as we came out of the trees into the open, we stopped and added layers. The wind was blowing a constant 30 mph plus on top, the last time I had so many layers on was maybe when summited Mt. Rainier in 2005.

After the hike, I warmed my mind, body and soul with a bowl of jambalaya soup at the North Bend Bar & Grill.

Goat Peak Hike, September 2013

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Goat Peak
Date: September 21, 2013
Difficulty: 4 out of 10
Distance: 5 miles / 8 Kilometers roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 1,500 feet / 457 meters
Time: 2 to 3 hours
Location: Near Mazama, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: None Required
Trail Conditions: Damp
Hiking With: Jim Darmiento, Ione Darmiento, Linna Freeman, Rick Massie and Macho.

The hardest part about Goat Peak goo.gl/XUCb1n is the 11 miles of rough gravel road heading up to the trailhead. The trail starts off fairly easily and then gets down to business with over a mile of steepness without traverse. The last half mile lets your heart-rate calm down as you stroll to the look-out.

At the look-out you will encounter the famous Lightning Bill and his two dogs Thunderdog-Shilo and Blaze; he has manned the look-out for 19 years now. Our group arrived on top just in time to snap a picture with him before he closed down the tower for the winter.

After a quick descent we headed back to our rented Cottonwood Cottage in Winthrop, Washington and cleaned up and had a lovely dinner at Sun Mountain Lodge.

Granite Mountain Hike, August 2013

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Granite Mountain
Date: August 29, 2013
Difficulty: 7 out of 10
Distance: 8 miles / 13 Kilometers roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 3,800 feet / 1,158 meters
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Exit 47, I-90
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Wet
Hiking With: Jim Darmiento, Rick Massie and Macho the dog wonder.

It has been over a year since I have hiked up the beautiful Granite Mountain so I was overdue. My friends Jim Darmiento and Rick Massie joined me for this wet fest of a hike. Seattle hadn’t had any rain for two months and today the rain decided to retaliate during our hike. The air was warm so we started off without rain gear, but of course we were saturated within the first mile. No biggie, we had dry clothes to change out at the top with.

Jim hadn’t hiked for a while so the pace was a little slower going up, but still made it to the look-out tower in a respectable time.

We started our Labor Weekend today and ended it with a cold beer at our favorite after hike hang out North Bend Bar & Grille.

Mt. Dickerman Hike, June 2013

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Mount Dickerman
Date: June 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 Packed Snow.
Hiking with: Linna Freeman, Emelie Espling, Paul Bates, Mei Yin, Alyssa Yin, Tamara Chinn & Macho the dog wonder.

Since my wife Linna is getting bored with the I-90 hikes out of Seattle, we decided on Mt. Dickerman www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/mount-dickerman on the Mountain Loop highway for a couple of reasons. The 360 degree summit view is to die for and on the most part this trail is never crowded. Not everyone is willing to drive 75 miles from Seattle to stomp through snow and exhaust every muscle in their body as they consume every bit of energy they might have.

We were a party of seven ranging from Alyssa Yin of 12 years old to me…53 in about 3 weeks. I knew there would be snow on the trail but, I didn’t think we would be stair stepping straight up the mountain; this turn a moderate hike into adventurous alpine ascent. The descent was much faster taking advantage of the snow slides; we had some great laughs and even some scary moments.

I think Emelie Espling had the most unexpected turn of events. First post-holing on the descent when her body was still moving forward this could have been disastrous. Second, she had an uncontrollable slide and fell four feet on her ass in a tree well. All seven of us made it back to the cars in one piece….just a little sore!