Looking to make some friends with peeps in the UL backpacking community. Anyone here from the south sound?

My wife and I are doing some spring cleaning and are saying goodbye to our trusty dehydrator. Came in handy for prepping snacks for hiking but we haven’t used it in a long time and would prefer to have the cabinet space back.

If any ULer wants it, it’s all yours! Pickup in West Seattle.

Hey guys! Me and my husband are doing a backpacking trip in the Olympic national forest from June 25th to probably June 29th and are looking for a group to go with. If anyone is interested let me kno

Hi Washington UL community!

I moved to East Seattle 2 weeks ago and would love to get a quick overnighter in to get my feet (literally) wet. Is there anything close-ish that would do? Teaming up would be cool too!

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Cheers,

Monk

Planning to hike Duckabush and over Lacrosse to Honeymoon Meadows next week and just got an email from the rangers about reports of snowpack. I’m comfortable with micro spikes but not an iceaxe and just wondering if anybody has been up there in the last week or so.

I am a minor in the Seattle area and I plan to thru-hike the PCT in my gap year(spring-fall 2022). I am trying to start training and learning now but don't really have anyone to go with. My parents won't let me backpack solo. I'm looking for someone to do some early season overnight trips with me in the Olympics, along the PCT, or within a few hours of my home. I usually have random weekdays off of work. If you are not a serial killer and/or know of anyone who would be willing to meet with me near the Seattle area and get to know me to backack with (often on weekdays), please please please reply to this and let me know, and I'd love to arrange something!! Looking forward to hopefully meeting someone :))

This past weekend was absolutely glorious and I'm sure a lot of us got out on trail. I've been keeping an eye on overnight trip reports on WTA to see which trails are becoming more easily accessible, but I figure this sub might produce more info about trips I'd want to take than WTA. Thought I'd start a thread to share some mini reports and gather some collective knowledge about how things are looking following this amazing stretch of weather.

My trail beta won't be super helpful for anyone tracking snow, but I did an overnight at Norwegian Memorial out on the North Coast, leaving from Rialto Beach. My first time on that stretch of coast, it was a fun trip although a few of the headlands are super rocky with no overland routes, so the going was pretty tough at times. Not sure I'd be excited to do that route again, although I'd happily go back to Norwegian, it was the nicest camping spot we saw that day. If I were to do it again, I'd come in from the north to reduce the number of headland crossings. A few pics from the trip here.

As you may know, Mount Rainier National Park just announced some changes to their permitting system for 2021. Beginning this year, MRNP staff will no longer process permit applications directly and the permit system will move to Recreation.gov. This will be a big shakeup to the way permits are awarded and there are a lot of important details that go along with this change. I’ve seen some incorrect information about these details elsewhere on Reddit, so I thought I’d post a clarification in case it helps anyone.

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• Between March 2 and March 15, hikers can enter the Early Access lottery. If selected, they will be assigned a reservation time between March 22 and April 21, during which they can view site availability and book a permit in real time on Recreation.gov. Only one permit per person can be booked during Early Access.
• There will be four reservation times each day, with fifteen people assigned to each time. This means there will be up to 1,860 total permits available in the Early Access lottery. Rangers plan to issue around 600 Wonderland permits, so they could easily all be issued during Early Access.
• All park users will use the same permitting system; in years past, the split among permit requests has been about even between Wonderland hikers, other overnighters, and climbers. Rangers expect this distribution to remain true this year.
• On April 27, any permits not reserved during Early Access will become available to book on Recreation.gov.
• Walk-up permits WILL be available. All online permits, including Early Access and the April 27 permits, only make up 70% of available permits. The remaining 30% will be reserved for walk-up permits, which will work the same way they have in years past.
• To ensure no one books an “unrealistic” itinerary, Recreation.gov will not accept itineraries with more than 17.5 miles between campsites. They must have a consistent issue of people failing to make miles and camping where they aren't supposed to. Seems like heavy-handed approach to me and I hope this restriction doesn’t stick beyond this year; it essentially cuts trail runners and distance hikers out of the most desirable part of the permit process. For anyone that wants to book an itinerary with bigger days than 17.5 miles, they need to call the ranger station on/after April 27 or secure a walk up permit.

Links

• Permit stages explained
• Permit FAQs
• Permits on Recreation.gov

living on fidalgo island and seeing all those mountians to the east everyday has got me itching to get out...

Hi all! Cross posting here from r/PNWhiking to get opinions on the importance of wearing pants with sun, poison oak, and ticks in mind out here in the PNW. I'm considering a long Pasayten trip next Fall and many of the WTA reports mention encounters with a small number of ticks. I know it's a long ways away, but I'm impatient and want to get planning anyhow.

Come hang out at Optimism Brewery March 12, 6pm. Come hang out, talk trips and gear and make some new friends!

It didn't occur to me that this hadn't been posted here, but head over to Die Bierstube if you want to meet some Seattle UL nerds tonight! Starting at 6, ending who knows when. See you there!

Was thinking about doing some sort of Washington group hammock hang this spring if there was any interest in it.

So, I recently designed MYOG - UL DCF+VX07 run pack. It's pretty much a small pack designed for trail running-camping, and it fits the necessary (10+) gear for a quick camp setup (only for trails that allow bear sacks though). Lots of strap cushioning. I was the loser at the gym testing it out on a treadmill lol, but the real test is on the trails in Aug.

ANYWAY, I was just curious if there was anything like the Colorado 14'ers? or some system of trails or series of trails for high peaks or...if not, any good trails you recommend to run/camp.

I want to try up to Pea Soup Lake, or the other side via Cathedral Rock, but if there is any cool challenge here in Washington, I'd totally be down for that too. Looking to run up and then camp and chill.

Thanks!

Hey guys and gals, I'm looking for a bit of advice for a 70-100 mile hike for August or September this year. I did section J of the PCT last year in 3.5 days. I was eyeing section H, but I'm not able to take that much time off for a single trip this year. I'm open to anywhere in WA. Is there a good way to do part of section H and hit all of the goat rocks? Maybe a loop or something? Thanks in advance.

Mitsubishi LS2-2210 needle feed industrial sewing machine for sale. Auto everything except for the knee lift. Light/medium duty, best for slippery fabric and can do some foam. Ideal for sil nylon tarps and tents, Mountain Flyer type bags. $750, free delivery within 10 miles.

Table - 48"x20"

110V

Just want to see if anyone has got any cool gear lately or on the way? I just picked up a plexamid and can't wait to try it out!

Hey my buddy and I are new to Washington and would like to know about some good trails near Everett. Or some spots with great scenery.

Does anyone here go winter backpacking? I've done a couple of super short 1 night winter trips. I'm planning on buying a Luxe Octopeak to use as a hot tent this year to make it a bit more comfortable. Does anyone here use a Luxe tent?

I’m not ready to give up on backpacking for the season yet, but I also want to be somewhat dry.

Weather is changing my plans! Saturday doesn't look too bad, but I want a long one day (15).

Do you think the larches at larch lake will be out? With that too, I know they're out in the enchantments, would it be worth it to hike in there?

Larches are a goal, but the rain will make the colors but as fun :/

Hello,

We're Heading into Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest for our first PNW backpack trip. We've backpacked in the High Sierra where bear canisters are required. They're heavy and generally a pain to pack, but a necessary evil. So we use them and they're quite effective. Yet I'm trying to go lighter. While they don't seen required in many parts of the PNW, I know there are bears and many other animals out that can smell the food and would love to eat it. So what is recommended? Bear bags on long ropes with pulley systems? Then hope and pray they can't climb trees? Or do you just suck it up and take a bear canister?

If you use a rope system can you describe what's worked for you including any lesson learned? Or if you have a good story of what didn't work that would be good to hear also.

Thanks!

Derek

As some of you may know, the month of August is Washington Trails Association's Hike-a-Thon, their biggest fundraiser of the year. This year, a friend of mine has organized a trail-themed bar trivia night at NW Peaks Taproom in Ballard. She hosted a similar trivia night a couple years ago and it was a blast - all sorts of questions about hiking, conservation, and other outdoor-related topics, with some fun prizes up for grabs. Details are as follows:

Trivia for Trails!

Thursday, August 22

Beers at 6:30 p.m., trivia at 7 p.m. 

NW Peaks Tap Room in Ballard, 4818 17th Ave NW Seattle, WA 98107

Entry fee is $10 minimum donation to WTA per person

Max team size of 6 people - all ages welcome

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Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about the event, or if you can't make it but still want to contribute. Hope to some r/ULwashington representation there next Thursday!

Following up on my last post, the group is getting together this Thursday, June 27, at 6 p.m. at Hale's Ales. I've never been to an event of theirs but I'm looking forward to meeting some other ULers in Seattle. Hope others can join!

Not sure how much crossover there is between this group and the PNW Ultralight Google Group (formerly the MeetUp group), but they recently set up www.pnwultralight.com. It has some good resources for local trip planning tools, as well as an event calendar for group meetups and hikes.

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I've never attended an event of theirs but they seem reasonably active, with an outing at least every couple months or so. They're currently looking to get a happy hour on the calendar around the end of June, which should be a good introduction to the group. I'll post details here once I find out. Hope everyone's summer is off to a great start!

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Edit: I should mention, the group is Seattle-based, so the non-hiking activities are pretty localized. That said, there may still be value in the group for those outside of Seattle, as the group seems to travel for their trips. I think the most recent was the Chelan Lakeshore Trail last month.

I did a short trip up Ingalls Creek with a couple of friends. Tested out a couple new pieces of gear as well. Weather was decent and it snowed on us for about an hour Saturday afternoon. All in all it was a great first non snow on the ground overnighter of year for me.

I just discovered this sub recently. I'm always looking for like minded UL hikers to hang with, talk gear, and go on trips. I'm located in Yakima.

Looking to upgrade our 2P tent and I'm wondering if anyone here uses the Duplex or Stratospire Li and can comment on how they like them for use in Western Washington. Duplex gets all the love on r/Ultralight, but I'm wondering if a double wall tent is the way to go when the Olympic Peninsula is one of our go-to spots.

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Open to other options as well, but these seem to be the leading choices. I'm also aware of the Yama Cirriform as a DW option, but the front entry is probably a dealbreaker.

Hi folks,

I'm looking for suggestions on trails that can be hiked in April with minimal snow gear. Preference would be for trails in the Central or Eastern Washington region and around 30-40 miles in length. So far I've found some trails that can be linked down in the Blue Mountains or on the Olympic Peninsula, but I'm hoping to find something closer to the Cascades.

I'm getting pretty antsy waiting for good weather to get here, so I'm focusing my energy into permit planning since a few of the big ones are opening up soon. What are you hoping to snag this year? Any big plans out of state? For me, Wonderland is at the top of my wishlist, but I'm hoping to do the Hoh River Trail with a group of friends as well.

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