Table of Contents
Hikes at a Glance
Stroll in the Park
Easy Walk
Moderate Workout
Prepare to Perspire
Knee-Punishing
Climbing into the hills toward Doris, John Wayne Trail East (#70).
Acknowledgments
My wife, Marlene (aka B. B. Hardbody), deserves much more than thanks for her patience, encouragement, and help in completing this guide at a less-than-convenient time, as well as for the maps to point you down the trails herein. The trails wouldnt be there were it not for the hard work of National Park and U.S. Forest Service staff and volunteers who keep them in such good condition, to whom we all owe our gratitude.
Thanks also to the guidebook authors who directed me to the trails I hiked for this book: James P. Johnson, Ron C. Judd, Mike McQuaide, and Dan A. Nelson. Each pointed my tired old feet downor usually uptrails I had never walked before. I am grateful as well to The Ladies and Two Guys, who joined me on regular hikes that kept me in good enough condition to walk the trails outlined here. The Ladies and Two Guys are nearly as oldolder in some casesas I am. The Ladies: Jean Corn-well, Karen Johnson, Tamae Johnson, Joyce Kimmel, Gayla Perini, Ann Richey, and Linda Weinacher. The Two Guys: Jim Drannan (the Gnarly Dude) and Gary Larson. And I thank Steve Zugschwerdt, who took a day away from his unending remodeling project to shoot the cover photo, and who volunteered to help me move furniture.
Thanks, finally, to Terence Maikels and all of the folks at Sasquatch Books.
Introduction
Ive only recently remembered what slipped my feeble mind around four decades ago: we who live in Washington State reside on an extremely rare piece of real estate. If I didnt care about the hundreds of scolding letters Id receive from all of you who respect the English language, Id suggest that our state is almost unique. Pitifully few places in this countryor on earthpack such variety and beauty into such a small package. Where else can you walk from ocean to glacier in one day? Where else can you drive from rain forest to desert in a few hours?
Few places give us such diversity. Walk into the Olympic Peninsula rain forest to find trees that were saplings hundreds of years before Columbus landed on Americas shores. Wander sage-dotted coulees etched by rivers of ice that covered the continent millions of years ago. Wonder that in the middle of a land where rainfall totals less than 5 inches every year, cool lakes stretch for miles. Climb in less than an hour to the still-steaming maw of a volcano, so close the sulfur sneaks into your senses. Bask in the sunshine of Wenatchee or Yakima or Spokane, the warm light that draws thousands of moss-draped Westsiders. One of the most powerful rivers in the nation splits our state in two; the greatest ocean on the planet washes our shores; our mountains embrace more living glaciers than any in the Lower 48.
Little wonder, then, that a place of such geologic diversity would spawn such a splendid variety of animals and plants who share this small corner of our nation with us. The largest mammal in North America cruises the wetlands and forests of northeastern Washington, while the smallest rodent harvests hay on the slopes of Mount Rainier. Keeping company with the moose and the pika is an array of wildlife few earthly zoos could match: Herds of two elk species graze from the Olympic Peninsula to the Blue Mountains; mountain goats and sheep climb along the high, lonely ridges; foxes, coyotes, and wolves sing to us from the edge of forest and desert. Even the grizzly bear, the icon of free, wild North America, calls this state home.
And dont get me started on plants, largely because I dont know a helluva lot about them. Suffice it to say that once I hiked the hills of Eastern Washington and climbed the canyons of the Columbia River Gorge, I realized Id need something other than my trusty Wildflowers of Mount Rainier to identify those purple and yellow blossoms popping up everywhere. Likewise, I found I might fill two distinctly different life lists with all those winged creatures in the sky, trees, and sage.
Despite the territorial dichotomy created by Washingtons Cascade Mountains, I found the pedestrians who ply our pathways from west to east and north to south are pretty much the same. They all know and love the country at their back doorbe it forest or flatland, mountain or meadow, desert or river. In checking the trails for this guide, I met a 95-year-old hiker walking a Mount Baker trail, a 52-year-old woman jogging through pines along the Spokane River, and Real Mountain Climbers toting a football to the summit of Mount Adams for a pickup game. All told me about their favorite trail or hike and spoke about the beauty of the country around them.
From the college kids climbing out of the Salmo-Priest Wilderness to the 89-year-old hiker on the Chain Lakes Trail, all the people I met who hike the wild pathways of Washington will tell you the same thing: walking is the best thing you can do for your soul and your bodyespecially if you are surrounded by the beauty you can find around our neck of the woods. Age and physical condition are simply not as important to them as getting outside to see what surprises Mother Nature plans for them. It is in that spirit that I offer this guide to all of you.
Sooner or later, we all realize that easy hike is a relative term. What might be an easy hike when you are 22 years old, so full of vim and vigor, is not likely to merit that same adjective when you are 52 and the vigor has morphed to varicose veins. So while the 100 hikes outlined in this guide are all labeled easy, you are likely to find yourself wondering at least once if I am already senile. If you feelas I often do when trying to keep up with my wife, B. B. Hardbodylike a leaking hydration pack, Ill be happy. In fact, if you dont curse your humble correspondent at least once while sweating up a hill or limping back to the trailhead, I have failed in my mission. Dont be fooled by the title. Unless you are a retired Olympic athlete or can still jog a dozen miles in under an hour, youll find plenty of hikes in this guide to keep your heart rate up and your lungs sucking harder than a Dyson.
