Hi ! I'll never get used to how big and scary the bears get. Is this one black or brown ? They were not so happy to see me, was hunching at me like a cat 😬

Not me, but had to share. My 17 yo went up w a buddy starting from the trailhead at 4am to catch sunrise at the top. They had the place to themselves. Proud of that little peakbagger.

There's not many historical hikes in the USA, even fewer on the west coast (I envy my English relations, a walk around the neighbourhood can take you past 1,000 year old landmarks), but here's one just west of where I live.

Through the haze, there was plenty to see!

I started the hike around 7:25 this morning, and the parking lot was pretty empty. Got to the summit around 9:30 am. The hike was a bit easier than I expected, but all I had with me was my hydration bladder and trek poles.

(26F)Visiting from Texas and decided to try hiking while I was in the PNW. Ended up doing Teneriffe Falls and loved it way more than I expected. Safe to say I get the hiking thing now lol😂

This was my first real hike, so I’m curious what people who have done Teneriffe think of it. How does it compare to other hikes in the area, and what should I try next time I’m up here?

7 days solo- was going to fly into Portland, see Multnomah and Cannon, then head up the coast to Olympic. That’s already a long drive, and I’m now seeing (unofficial) plans of complete closure of HOH River bridge the same week I’m there, which would derail my coastal drive to loop around Olympic. I think I’m going to forget Cannon completely and change my arrival to Seattle.

I also plan to visit Rainier (Paradise) and if my life could be perfect, N. Cascades to see the larches. I’m aware of the unpredictability of both smoke and weather this time of year, and am totally fine adjusting as necessary. My question here is:

1) IF the bridge is closed, and I don’t make the loop around, is it worth it to go to Cape Flattery/Shi Shi/Second beach and then backtrack, or should I end my westward point at Lake Crescent?

2) From Seattle, would you hit Rainier first, or Olympic?

3) Would 3 days in Olympic, 2 at Rainier be enough?

4) Should I completely forget about my hopes for N. Cascades in a short time period and save it for its own trip?

My hyper-focused induced anxiety thanks you for your help 🙏🏻

Im going to Oregon mid November and i'm having difficulty finding places to camp at over night. I'm only going to be doing 1 quick over night trip on the weekend. I orginally wanted to go mirror lake or eagle creek but online it says the season of use ends on sept 30. Any suggestions on other places that will be open during this time?

Can anyone recommend any day hikes near this area? I’ve mainly heard of multi-day overnight trips.

I stayed in the Three Fingers Lookout on 8/20. I shared the lookout with two others. I took the more direct ridge route, which is about 7 miles with over 5,000 feet of elevation gain.

My YouTube video:

https://youtu.be/aazOdrhvHaM?si=B-vh-1FklG47xWxY

My Strava activity:

https://www.strava.com/activities/19843492220

We hiked the Larch Mountain Trail from Multnomah Falls to Sherrard Point yesterday. The trail is beautifully maintained and the views from at the top
are incredible. Total hiking time at a comfortable pace was 8 hours. There are camp spots along the way.
I highly recommend this trail.

26M. I feel like a hiking subreddit will possibly make less fun of me. I was born in Seattle, my dad's a third generation American and my mom immigrated from Southeast Asia. I've loved the outdoors and nature ever since I was a little kid, and initially went to school for ecology to study native plants. I work/ed really hard to overcome physical disability to hike, and I even got into backpacking once I had my strategies. Outdoorsmanship gave me a reprieve from my medical issues, homophobia, racism, and social pressure. When I was in college, I started to learn a lot more about history of native people, the impact of colonization on the environment, and how even well-intentioned environmental stewardship wasn't informed by native peoples and still perpetuated cultural (and even at times ecological) harm.

This... this might have fucking destroyed me. Hiking was the only thing that made me feel like myself. It's been 5 years since I graduated and I haven't been able to go on more than one hike a year just due to extreme guilt. I feel like there is no way I can exist that doesn't do harm to the natural spaces I love so much - even my steps or my breath. I don't belong here, my existence is the product of generations of extreme violence, but there's nowhere else for me to really go. I can only leave the house for work or class (I'm back in school for another career since I can't get myself to work in environmental studies).

Literally the only solution I have been able to think of this whole time is to just kill myself. That thought eats at me every second that I'm not distracted. I love the Sound, the Peninsula, the Cascades, the prairies, the Enchantments, the rivers and wetlands, and I love it all so much that I'm willing to do whatever it takes to prevent the harm I could do to it. Whenever I go even to a city park, my whole body aches, and even thinking about it makes me nauseous. I feel like I'm a disease to the thing I love most. I don't know what to do. My therapist says I do belong and that I should try doing it anyways, but I just can't get myself to do it. I feel broken and unworthy of being outside.

edit: You're all really nice (and honest) people. Replying is a lot for me but I read everything.

what hikes can i go to starting from uw seattle and using public transit?

Sgt. Greg Sanders, with Search and Rescue, notes they received 65-70 calls for Vesper Peak between May and September of 2025, and between May and August this year.

“Just this week, one of my partners had four calls up there in one night,” Sanders said in an email to KIRO 7.

Is it time to bring back gate keeping?

I don’t really get it. You climb over 3000 feet but you’re in the woods the whole time and don’t get a view until the very end, and even then the view isn’t that great because you’re not that deep in the mountains.

There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just that people could drive another 20 minutes down I90 and do Snoqualmie mountain, which is the same elevation gain but actually has impressive views. I don’t get why Mount Si became the most popular hike in the I90 area that everybody does when they visit.