More:

https://i.imgur.com/reVHcaW.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/8Pk0KCu.jpg

Battery life is affected by the cold also, so yet another strike against the Tesla or any other EV

I don’t know if you’re looking for things like abandoned structures way out in the middle of the woods, but if you are both Iron Goat trail and Monte Cristo might do the job. Both are within an hours drive of Seattle, and both are mild enough hikes to make carrying camera gear possible. You can find pictures of both on alltrails.com.

Great shot, I love the warm light with the cold colors of the lake. I’m definitely adding this hike to next year’s list.

It was still packed even when I got there around 2:00 PM, and with the worst kind of people - I’ve never in my life seen so many off leash dogs, not to mention the dog poop bags and toilet paper lying right in the middle of the trail.

With all the gorgeous scenery in WA I thought people here wouldn’t be so trashy, but apparently I was wrong. I definitely wouldn’t do this one on a busy weekend again.

It’s near North Bend. https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/snow-lake-1

Apparently it’s a popular snowshoe destination once the real snow hits, that has its own guide: https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/snow-lake-snowshoe

Thanks!

This is only the second snow of the year there, and most of it had melted off by the time I got to the lake in the late afternoon. I’m trying to get in as many hikes as possible before the real snow hits and limits where I can go.

Where did you shoot him? Every time I hike without the camera I see one, every time I bring the camera I don’t.

> Prius

Better torn to shreds on poorly maintained forest roads instead of in its natural habitat: camping in the left lane of I5 going 20 mph below the limit.

Unless they’ve fixed it up since early summer, the road to the Goat Lake trailhead was also very bad with bits of broken car parts littering the ditches.

Sultan, Gold Bar, and Monroe are pretty safe small towns with slightly more reasonable real estate prices, but the first two are still in the process of gentrifying. All are easy to get to Bellevue/Redmond from, but if you work in Seattle proper it’s kind of a trek. I have no idea what the schools are like.

It definitely feels like a tougher hike than I expected. I’ve been on hikes with way more elevation gain that were also at pretty high altitude, but Skyline just left me huffing and puffing the whole time for some reason.

Thanks! There was some haze but no really significant amount of smoke, and it didn’t stink or anything. All in all a great hike, and the crowds were gone by the time I made it above the glacier viewing area; I don’t think I saw more than four or five people after that.

Skyline is definitely going to be a return trip for me.

Thank you! Being from the flat and boring south, I’m still learning how to carry a camera while hiking and regret not bringing a different lens on that trail.