Washington

Olympic National Park
Glacier Peak Wilderness
Mount Rainier National Park

Olympic National Park

Cape Alava Trail

The Cape Alava trail on the northern Olympic coast starts at Lake Ozette (6 miles return)

Low tide on the coast when we arrived

Cape Alava trail on the Olympic coast in the National Park in Washington

We made our way north towards Tskawahyah Island as the sun was going down

Cape Alava hike in Olympic national park, Tskawahyah island at sunset

Sea stack formation at Cape Alava

Rialto Beach to Sand Point

Rialto beach hike on the Olympic Coast of Washington

In late July, my brother and I walked one way from Rialto Beach to Ozette (20 miles)

Hole-in-the-Wall

Rock hopping on a backpacking trip along the Olympic coastline in the national park

The majority of the walk involves rock hopping with campsites on isolated beaches

Low tide pools on the walk from Rialto Beach to Sand Point in Olympic National Park Washington

The fog lifted on the second day and we explored some tide pools

Overland trail on a hike in Olympic national park

Overland trail connecting the beaches

Olympic coast backpacking walking through high tide

My brother timing his run. Tide charts are provided when picking up permits at the Ranger Station in Port Angeles

Norwegian memorial camp on the Olympic coast of Washington

The Norwegian memorial campground has plenty of beach space away from the tide line

South Sand point beach on the Olympic coast, Washington

With the mist/fog returning, we blitzed the final day hiking ten miles back to the car at Ozette

Glacier Peak Wilderness Circuit

Climbing Boulder Pass in Glacier Peak wilderness in Washinton

I started the walk at the White River Trailhead and went over Boulder Pass the first day into the Napeequa

Napeequa Valley camp in Glacier Peak Wilderness Washington

The Napeequa is rugged and overgrown, felt more like an Alaskan valley

Butterfly Butte from the climb towards High Pass in the Glacier Peak Wilderness

The smoke from the California fires blew in overnight, the glaciated Butterfly Butte seen here in the distance

High Pass on the Glacier Peak Circuit walk

The trail from High Pass to Buck Creek Pass is probably the best on the circuit, the smoke however was at its worst

I did the walk counter-clockwise with a relaxed pace on the eastern side. Extra distance was covered in the second half as the pack got lighter. There would also be the option of climbing to Camp Lake on the western side and making the walk seven days

Overview Map

Camping at Image Lake in the Glacier Peak Wilderness

I arrived early at Image Lake with a planned half day walk from Buck Creek Pass

Fall colors over a smoky Image Lake with a view of Glacier Peak in October Washington

Smoky sunset above Image Lake

From Image Lake the remainder of the walk was on the Pacific Crest Trail, which had some beautiful forest sections

Glacier Peak from Grassy Point

High camp on Grassy Point with a view of Glacier Peak

Just enough room on the summit for the tent

Layers of forest on the Pacific Crest Trail

The final day was downhill into the forest along the Indian Creek Trail

Mount Rainier National Park

Glacier Basin

Lake on the side trail to Emmons Glacier

Ben and I did a short overnight walk to Glacier Basin from the White River Campground in August 2017 (6 miles return, 1500ft gain)

The Inter Fork creek level was low so we found a way back to the Glacier Basin trail through to the trees

Climbing off trail from the Glacier basin camp

After reaching camp (brown lake below), we climbed off trail looking for a way to summit Burroughs mountain

Our tent on Glacier Basin Trail in Mount Rainier National park

Glacier Basin Camp

Sunrise on Mount Ruth with the tip of Rainier visible from our camp at Glacier Basin