Completed Hikes
Lake 22
Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest, WA
June 12, 2022
Length: 5.40 mi (8.70km) | Elevation Gain: 1,350ft (412m) | Time: 3h
Lake 22 was one of the first hikes I’ve done after moving to Seattle! It’s a very popular hike, so I’ve seen in a lot in recommendations and the lake at the end looked especially gorgeous.
Still being blissfully unaware of PNW weather, I’ve driven two hours to the trailhead only to find myself at Mt. Baker Snoqualmie park at 10am in the rain. I didn’t want to turn back because I was already committed, so I changed my sneakers to waterproof hiking boots, put on cheap “touristy” rain overall (that I luckily had in the trunk), packed a few snacks and headed onto the trial. The first part of the trail I was hiking in the rain, until I got high enough to be hiking in… the snow! As someone who only used to do trails in New England, seeing snow in the middle of June was astonishing to me. Also freezing. After getting to the lake and taking a lot of pictures, my hands got so cold I couldn’t move my left pinky anymore.
I got back to the parking lot when it was already sunny again. On my way back I even stopped for an iced latte and tanned in the sun. Full day of weather shifts it was: from pouring rain to snow to tanning in the sun!
Bridal Veil Falls
Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest, WA
June 3, 2023
Length: 7.80 mi (12.5km) | Elevation Gain: 2,720ft (830m) | Time: 4h35m
Bridal Veil Falls was part of a bigger hike that leads to Lake Serene. It was my first strenuous hike of 2023 and I wanted to do something challenging.
I started the hike pretty late, around noon, since it was a Saturday and I first needed to get a good night’s sleep after a work week. The trail goes through the woods at first and there’s a detour to the falls about 3/4 of the way. Once I got to the falls I spent some time there eating my deserved banana Cliff bar and enjoying the view. About an hour later I got to the end of the trail, the lake itself, which was already covered in sunset light. There is a big (and warm from the sun) rock in front of the lake that everybody has their lunch on. You could even lay down and rest there. The only problem were mosquitos and bugs though, that also wanted to join the party.
I got back to the parking lot around 8pm, right in time for sunset, and enjoyed the golden hour on my way back home.
Little Si
North Bend, WA
June 4, 2023
Length: 7.38 mi (11.90km) | Elevation Gain: 3,200ft (975m) | Time: 4h15m
Little Si Mountain was the hike I did the very next day about Bridal Veil Falls. I was determined to dedicate my entire weekend to exploring new hikes and really felt like I needed to challenge myself.
I’ve spent my morning watching F1 and got to the trailhead around 9am. In two hours time I was already at the top eating my sandwich. The last part of the hike requires some scrambling and you really just sit at the rocks, but the view of Mt Rainier and the weather were gorgeous.
The wildlife at the top has definitely gotten used to people coming there with snacks, because I practically got attacked there by chipmunks and birds for a bite of my energy bar. One bird actually flew right to me, as I was eating my sandwich, grabbed a bite and flew away. That’s when my lunch break was over and I realized I’m better off eating on the trail.
I got back to my car around 1pm, and was already on my way home mid-day. My Apple Watch also rewarded me with a new badge “Longest Hiking Workout” at the time: “You just hiked 13.0km and set a record for your longest hike yet”. Spoiler: I’m going to beat it again in October.
Tolmie Peak Fire Lookout
Mount Rainier National Park, WA
July 29, 2023
Length: 7.76 mi (12.50km) | Elevation Gain: 1,620ft (494m) | Time: 4h10m
Now this was the first hike in a while that I’ve done with someone else. Usually I prefer to hike alone – I see hiking as a very therapeutic activity that helps me sort my thoughts out or even simply catch up on my podcasts.
At the end on this hike there is a fire lookout, from which you’re able to see Mt Rainier in all its glory and a beautiful Mowich Lake below it. We even packed swimsuits for this hike, since the weather was promising and the sun was shining! But, of course, we are still in the PNW, which means the clouds and the fog can come over you at any point. Our way up was sunny and pleasant indeed. So warm we even had to take our jackets off and hike in our t-shirts. However, right when we got to the view, the fog came over the mountain and we couldn’t see anything anymore! That’s the reality of hiking around Seattle: you drive for two hours, you hike for two hours, only to see a lot of fog!
We still enjoyed our lunch break and talked about life on our descend and all the way home.
Granite Mountain Trail
Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest, WA
Oct 7, 2023
Length: 9.16 mi (14.75km) | Elevation Gain: 3,665ft (1,117m) | Time: 5h10m
My most challenging hike yet!
Whenever I feel overwhelmed with life or can’t make up my mind about something, I go on a very strenuous hike to set myself up for a challenge, to overcome that challenge, to feel accomplished afterwards. Of course the gorgeous views are a plus for your reward, so in the middle of October I’ve chosen the hike that was listed as one of the best for PNW fall foliage. Now, I’m used to New England fall foliage with all the maple leaves changing colors, but here in the mountains it was something different! The colors were popping and I’ve never seen anything like that for bushes and moss.
I was proud to see it only took me about two hours to gain all of that elevation and my heart rate stayed at the average of 150bpm the whole way up. I took 3L of water with me and a thermos of tea and still felt like I needed more to stay properly hydrated!
Mt Rainier was gorgeous and, as you can see on the Home page photo, I was very happy with myself. That hike was almost the same elevation gain and length as Mt.Washington in New Hampshire, so I feel confident about doing that sometime soon next!
Mount Willard Trail
White Mountains National Forest, MA
Oct 15, 2023
Length: 3.19 mi (5.14km) | Elevation Gain: 951ft (290m) | Time: 1h50m
As a true Bostonian for 6 years of my life, I can say fall is not fall if you haven’t gone leaf peaking in White Mountains. So even after moving to PNW, you can always find me on the East Coast around October, at least for a weekend.
This year we got to White Mountains right at the fall foliage peak, the middle of October. Now for this adventure we were looking for something less challenging but still very rewarding in terms of the views. The hike over Crawford Notch was the perfect choice for it, because it only took about an hour to get to the top, but you were still rewarded with the view of all yellow-orange-purple maple leaves! What we didn’t account for was the colder than anticipated weather though. At some point at the top is started drizzling and the temperature got close to freezing (it was 4ºC, 39ºF). Also you can imagine my white sneakers did not do well on the muddy trail, but when you’re hiking on another coast away from home, sometimes the hiking boots just don’t fit into your carry-on.
We had a lot of hot tea on us and treated ourselves in the Moody Moose for a hearty dinner of mashed potatoes and BBQ ribs afterwards.