Campsite at Snoqualmie Lake by Kathryn Ponio We've already shared the first half of this hike with you when we posted about our trek to Otter Falls. That hike got us curious about what lay beyond. What would it be like to keep going? Keep walking past Otter Falls, past Big Creek Falls. Keep walking until you nearly reach the end of the Taylor River Valley and then climb the 1400 feet up to Snoqualmie......

Stories of stranded and caved-in hikers have been dominating the local news in the past couple of weeks. Last week, two boys were rescued after an ice cave they were standing in collapsed. Both survived the cave-in but with serious injuries. Just this Tuesday, the sad news broke that an Oregon 15-year-old who was buried after a sand cave he was digging collapsed had succumbed to his injuries and died. Yesterday came the story of......

"Sauk Mtn. 7/20," by twoblueseven This is the kind of photo we should probably revisit sometime in mid-Februrary, to remind us of the extraordinary natural beauty of Western Washington in the summertime. More reminders of what makes our region so delightful abound in our Seattlest Flickr pool. Check it out!......

Having avoided tougher hikes all year due to general gutlessness and late-melting snow, we finally tackled a real challenge in Bandera Mountain Monday, confronting our lack of conditioning and the embarrassment of seeing people twice our age negotiate the same slopes without our pained expressions of agony. Bandera is one of the big, bald mountains on the left-hand side of I-90 as you near the Pass. It’s easy to get to, but that’s about......

A 54-year-old avid hiker from Snohomish County was killed this weekend, when an inexperienced hunter mistook her for a bear and fired a single fatal shot. Pam Almli was hiking with a friend on Sauk Mountain in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest on Saturday morning. Reportedly, Almli was bending down and putting something in her backpack when she was shot. The name of the tragically mistaken hunter has not been released, as he is under......

Otter Falls is stunning. Truly breathtaking. A place which must be seen in person to be truly appreciated. Photos and flowery descriptions do very little for this place. As we scrambled over the short, steep ridge separating the falls from the main trail, all we could say was, "Wow." Two years ago, we tried to find Otter Falls, but we were thwarted! We'd read about the hike in Dan A. Nelson's book, Best Hikes with......

Snow Lake is a cakewalk by Alpine Lakes hiking standards. If you’ve done one hike in the Snoqualmie Pass area, chances are it’s this one. Easy to get to, easy to climb, and it packs a lot of scenery into eight miles of trail making it ideal for both first timers and returning locals looking for some easy beauty. The lingering winter snow pack this year has transformed the usually docile trek into a......

This weekend marks the first time the Mountain Loop Highway will be opened in it’s entirety since 2003. Ravaged by floods and heavy snowfall in years past, the roadway’s long-awaited opening provides access to some of the most scenic day hikes in the Seattle vicinity. Barlow Pass is the headwaters for an assortment of great trails rising above the historic mining town of Monte Cristo. A four mile walk along the Sauk River and......

There’s no point suffering through all the rain out here if you can’t enjoy the scenery when the weather doesn’t suck. One of the best places to witness one of the Cascade range’s nearest and most beautiful namesakes is just a short drive east on I-90. It's ideal for this time of year when the mountains are purging themselves of the winter snow, yet the weather is agreeable enough to be out in the......

Seattlest keeps waiting and waiting for the right weekend to head out for our inaugural hike of 2008. There are few things we love more than hiking through the cool misty forests of Cedars and Doug Firs; the monotony of one-foot-in-front-of-the-other up a mountain brings us a zen calm. After driving through the mountains for Memorial Day weekend, we were feeling especially itchy to head out on the trail. But we are going to......

So far, spring has been colder than the Mariners' bats. We’re not advocating global warming, just a little regional pick-me-up, something to get people dressing sluttier and make outdoor activities appealing. Given the three odd weekends of sun we had last summer coupled with summer ending earlier than usual, it doesn’t take much sun depravation here before folks start getting antsy. The average temperature for April was down from last year. And, given the......

Ah, Spring is here. Or was, for a few hours. The trail up Little Si outside of North Bend was where Seattlest spent our paltry ration of good Spring weather Saturday morning. This hike is only five miles long, close to Seattle and the highway, and has a known payoff: a wide, 180 degree view of the Snoqualmie valley and the neighboring Mount Si that isn't really subject to interference by weather or foliage.......

Mt. Rainier photo courtesy of Seattlest Flickr Contributor, mraaronmorris A search for a missing hiker on Mt. Rainier continued at daylight this morning. The search for Devin Ossman began Monday night after park rangers spotted his car, and his wife reported him missing. The 45 year-old man from Mukilteo arrived at Mt. Rainier on March 17th for a day hike and has not been heard from since. A ranger spotted Ossman's vehicle near Kautz......

There were all the things a soapbox derby should have at last weekend's Redbull Soapbox derby in Fremont: sleek, high-design vehicles next to totally scrappy, yet hysterically themed clunkers (the pickle seemed to be a crowd favorite). Attitude, bravado, and shenanigans mixed with derring-do. There were kids and old folks, and everyone in between. And ridiculous skits before each run (many requiring the removal of pants), a nice twist. Unexpectedly, there was Sir Mix-A-Lot and......

Seattlest spent this weekend visiting friends in Spokane. We know, we know. "Why, in God's name would you go to Spokane?" Trust us, we've heard it before. But Spokane isn't all bad. It has a few great restaurants, a small but fascinating music scene made up alternately of young, unable-yet-to-escape kids in punk rock bands and older, happy-to-be-settled-down really good musicians all playing in a small town which is full of outdoor opportunities in urban......

As noted previously, we're fans of the Uptight Seattleite persona because it seems to be gloriously, teeth-grindingly true. The Weekly's incarnation makes us laugh every so often, but the best gut-punch comes when we run across someone's real-life experience. The September issue of Harper's captures a great moment in an article on Canada's stepped-up defense of a less-iced-up Northwest Passage. The Canucks have been steaming around up there with warships, pissing on islands to piss......

Wallace Falls State Park is a little over an hour northeast of Seattle. The easiest way to get there is to get on 522 towards Monroe. At Monroe take a right on Highway 2, which trundles along through Sultan and Startup till you hit a tiny outcropping of trailer houses called Gold Bar. Take a left just after you get into town and follow the signs. The park is about two miles north of the......

Seriously, some of you are going to have to pick up the slack, because Seattlest only runs for frisbees and buses, and often not even for the latter. There will be another in ten minutes, right? We don't know much about the running world, except that people tend to develop favorite routes. Maybe you share them with friends or fellow runners, but it goes kinda like "OK, so after a couple blocks you'll see this......

They're actually doing it. The Port is getting King County Airport (AKA Boeing Field) in exchange for an Eastside rail corridor and a bag of baseballs. A bunch of Agreements were signed today making it so, with the other interested party being King County. When this deal was first floated to the public in October it was made clear that the rail corridor would be transformed into a recreational trail, something that we found to......

If you're hiking, consider charging up your iPod, as Seattlest finds out that a man lost during a hike was found by the glow of his iPod. That cleverness seems to be devoid in cops who were using police cruiser instant messaging clients - although we imagine IMs "so are you nakie" to be included in cop shows, just for realism. If only the cops were busting the Hummer-driving jerk who made a poor......

Last week, Seattlest confided that we'd left the confines of this country for places afar. We've got mountain-lust, and are making a vain attempt to trod upon at least a handful of amazing ranges as we see mid-lifeness lurking somewhere around the corner (OK, way the hell around the corner but so be it). And no, we're not talking some misguided "bag all the highest peaks in the world" kind of nonsense, but adventures more......

Maybe it started when we found out the Urban Hike domain is actually owned by a Pittsburgh group. Pittsburgh, we thought. Huh. In a burst of civic rivalry, we decided to go hiking around Seattle. (Also, blogging makes you fat.) For the first time out, we decided to walk around Lake Union, because it's much, much smaller than Lake Washington. We prepared for the hike by knowing, roughly, where Lake Union is and walking......

As you know, there's a strict quota on mentions of Craigslist per quarter. Not too many, not too few. Our longtime favorite CL section is the Missed Connections (not altogether unsimilar from the Stranger's I Saw U ads), for their mix of inept stalking, momentary erotic yearning, and occasional literary gems. However, in comparison to San Francisco (where we first discovered the CL MC), Seattle appears painfully shy. Still, we wondered, where is Seattle's MC......

This spring, the Forest Service will be increasing the permit range for camping in the ridiculously overcrowded highly popular Alpine Lakes Wilderness area. They were also contemplating a fee hike from $3 to $5, but the increase didn't move forward. Speaking of hikes, that is the point of this whole camping/day use pass business, right? We all just want to get outdoors and gawk at some wildlife and escape. Born free and all that. So......

For most Seattle dog-owners, our dogs are not mere pets. They’re our Frisbee buddies, our camping buddies, our hiking buddies, and we love to get their paws off the concrete and onto the dirt. With this in mind, Seattlest decided to hightail it out of town over President’s Day weekend, along with honorary contributor Annabelle, a husky/heeler mix with an affinity for belly rubs and dirty puddles. We consulted Annabelle’s favorite literature, Dan A. Nelson’s......

Seattlest has never been in Stand By Me. If we were corralled by a prepubescent hiking companion and asked what one food we'd want to eat for the rest of our lives, it would not be cherry flavor Pez. Nope. We'd pick smoothies. We used to be big fans of the local Juice Plant chain -- especially the Boys of Summer -- but when they went out of business, we became regular patrons of San......

Going into last weekend, the Huskies have shown that they can't beat arrogant fly boys or whiny dirty hippies. After Notre Dame trounced them 36-17 on Saturday, you can now add Catholics to that list. However, they do very well against insane weathermen. The Huskies played a strong defensive game in the first two quarters, trailing only 12-3 at the half. On the other side of the ball, the offense repeatedly gave up key turnovers......

Second only to December 21st, when we can finally stop crying in our coffee every morning because the days will actually start getting longer, this is our favorite time of year. Yes, paradoxically it does mean that days are now getting shorter, and soon to become downright gloomy at times, but Seattlest is complex and human like that. Regardless, the combination of perfect crisp air, autumnal colors, and you'll-soon-be-wearing-boots-and-sweaters temps makes us a bit......

In talking to friends this year about Bumbershoot, we have found that a lot of people are opting out, or only going one day. Some complaints: “I spend all my time waiting in line.” “All of the things that I want to see are playing at the same time!” “There is not really anyone I am that jazzed about.” “It is always SO crowded.” Since we have a blog, we can pontificate to the masses......

It has come to this. Today Seattlest will decend into the time-tested and approved depths of pointing and laughing at Craigslist posts. Welcome to the latest Seattlest feature where we click through thousands and thousands of Craigslist for-sale items and highlight a few incredible buys for you. These will be items that no Seattleite can pass on, so be prepared to act quickly and contact the sellers as soon as possible. Tibetan Brass Bell and......