Rainier reigns!

If you've been wondering why I haven't posted lately, it's because I just finished up an epic 8 days. From last Sunday to yesterday I hiked 102 miles, half of them backpacking, and most of them in Mount Rainier National Park. Six of those eight days were on the trail-one day had me running a 10K road race benefiting our local humane society and just one day allowed me some rest! This morning I had to drive into Seattle to be on a KUOW talk program. I'm finally back home and all I want to do is what my cats seem to do very well--Sleep! I'm beat! So, it is time to let the body recover before I head back out into the woods once more-and its time to get caught up with some writing. I'll just give you a little highlight of the last eight days here and then I'll write in more detail about these places in upcoming entries.

• The Northern Loop in Mount Rainier rocks! It is truly a Northwest classic and a nice shorter and less popular alternative to Rainier's Wonderland Trail. Windy Gap is one of the most spectacular places (pictured right) in the park.


• The Huckleberry Trail in Mount Rainier National Park is perhaps lonelier than the Laughingwater trail and a wonderful trail sampling many of the park's natural zones from alpine tundra to low country old growth rainforest. I hiked this trail with fellow guidebook author/photographers Alan Bauer and Karen Sykes and new friend Bob and we had a great time on the trail.


• My wife and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary by doing a 19 mile hike into the Horseshoe Basin in the North Cascades National Park. It was a rigorous day hike of 5,000 vertical feet but we were rewarded with a lonely basin, old mine, and a cirque full of waterfalls.


• The first Annual Anne Jackson Run to benefit the Skagit Valley Humane Society was a huge success and Scruffy Gray and Giuseppe thank all who attended and helped raise funding for their fellow furry friends who unlike them need a loving home.


• This morning's interview on Steve Scher's Weekday with WTA's Jonathan Guzzo was a lot of fun and hopefully you found it interesting and informative. Click here if you'd like to listen to it.

Okay-time to catch up with things before I go hiking again!

World Hiker

coming to the airwaves soon! Yesterday I was on Steve Scher's Weekday program on KUOW 94.9 FM to talk about local hiking options and my new book Day Hiking Central Cascades. We ended up chatting a little about hiking in South Korea, France and Italy. Steve was intrigued to know more about hiking in Europe and I had so much fun on the program that I'll be coming back soon to do a segment on hiking in Europe. Now, I won't be talking about the Alps and the Cinque Terre- that and the pot bars of Amsterdam are Rick Steve's specialties. I'll be talking about hiking in the Apennines, Sicily, the Aeolian Islands, the English Lake District, Ireland, Slovenia, Bulgaria and the Pyrenees. Stay tuned here for when the program will air-I'll give you a head's up.

In the meantime-if you missed my talk yesterday- click here and advance the podcast 20 minutes-that's when the fun starts. And if you're interested in hiking in Europe visit Mountain Hiking Holidays-they're a great Northwest-based European (and World) hiking outfit that I have guided for. A bien tot!

(photo- trekking across the rooftop of Bulgaria-the Pirin Mountains)

On the Radio!

This week Tune in -Turn on-Hit the Trail!
I'll be coming at you over the airwaves twice. On Wednesday I'll be on Steve Scher's Weekday on Seattle's KUOW 94.9 FM. To you conservatives out there-that's an NPR station. Hey-I voted for McCain, so you guys can listen in for an hour! You might learn something!

On Friday I'll be on Lisa Bradshaw's show on Wenatchee's KPQ 560 AM. For you liberals out there, that station carries Rush Limbaugh first, so don't tune in too early. But don't worry- I think Rush is a fool too when it comes to conservation issues, so lend me your ear. You might learn something too! And Andy Dappen will be joining me for this program.

Seriously, both shows will be a lot of fun and the emphasis will be on hiking in Washington with a few conservation issues intertwined. I'll be looking forward to your call when we take them from the audience.