Snowy Holiday Hiking Collection

Allison and I discussed whether or not we should release a new post during Hanukkah/Christmas and New Year's.  We decided that everyone would probably be too busy with family, food, and presents to be able to concentrate or have the time to read a full blog post. Same conclusion we came to on Thanksgiving.  We still wanted to release something, and I thought to myself, what relates to the holidays and also hiking????

After a few minutes, it came to me, Snow.

We settled on doing a compilation of pictures and short descriptions from previous hikes where snow played a major role.  If you missed any of the original posts, just click on the title for the post below to be taken to the original post.  We also decided to throw in a teaser picture and description for a future post from one of the prettiest hikes we did right before leaving Seattle in August, Snow Lake.  We'd like to wish all the Hiking Trails and Puppy Dog Tales' readers a great Hanukkah/Christmas and New Year.  We will resume normal posting the first week of January. 

Snow Lake - July 10th, 2014

As promised, our first entry in the Snowy Holiday Hiking Collection is Snow Lake.  The post for Snow Lake is in the queue of backlogged hikes from this summer which are being posted chronologically every week until we get caught up.  If you like the picture on the left, you are in for a treat as I saved some of the best pictures for the full post. The full post will go up in February.  

Dog Mountain (North Fork Snoqualmie) - May 15th, 2014  

Snow held Katie and I back from the completing the last 400 vertical feet of this hike and gaining the summit.  Dog Mountain is a trail in the Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest which was abandoned between 50-70 years ago.  At 9 mi. and almost 3900 ft. of elevation gain this trail is a challenging and technical day hike for anyone wanting to get off the (recently) beaten path.

Mt. Si Summit

via Boulder Garden Loop and Old Si Trail - May 20th, 2014

via the new trail from the main parking lot - April 22nd, 2014

Mt. Si is the most popular hike close to Seattle and one off our favorite early season training hikes in the Pacific Northwest.  The primary reason for this being that it is usually clear of snow quite early in the season compared to the surrounding mountains.   This season, however, that was not the case.  We did two of the three different ascents this year and had a snowy adventure both times.

Skyline Lake  - April 14th and again May 13th, 2014

Being that this is the only snowshoe we have been on the entire season, it represents the snowiest of all the hikes in the Snowy Holiday Hiking Collection.  If you are up for a challenge and prepared with winter survival training and gear then this is the hike for you.  We rarely rate hikes as difficult, and this is one that we have assigned that rating to.  If you are in good shape and want a challenging hike with an amazing payoff this is your hike.  We've never seen the lake, so if you hike it, let us know if you find it!

Mt. Rainier - March 11th, 2014

Snow really didn't effect us much on this short hike/visit to Mt. Rainier, much of this looming and iconic volcano's visual beauty comes from the sharp contrast between the blacks and greys of the rock and the pearl white snow.  Hiking in close proximity to Mt. Rainier is a quintessential part of the Washington hiking experience and should be experienced by everyone who has an opportunity.

Greenwater and Echo Lakes - May 4th and 5th, 2013

You may notice that Echo Lake has been struck-through in the title above.  That was, as you may have guessed, thanks to snow!  Allison, Katie and I tried our best to make it to the lake, but after trudging a ways in snow and falling several times into snow covered tree wells, we made the smart decision to not push on to echo lake.