Hike With Me - Vadnais-Snail Lake Regional Park

Vadnais-Snail Lake Regional Park

Vadnais Heights, Minnesota

Trail Hiked: Vadnais Lake Trail, Sucker Lake Loop

Distance Hiked: 10.15 miles

Elevation Gain: 282 ft. 

Duration: 3h 26m

This hike is not remarkable from a statistical or difficulty standpoint. That’s not why I’ve hiked in this park more times than any other, by a considerable margin. But it seemed appropriate for a birthday hike this year, and I won’t say what number birthday it was, but I’m writing this in blog form and I’m not on social media, so… I was born in a year with a 1 in front, that’s all you need to know.

The best part of this park is the narrow causeway between the lakes, and it’s not even close. I’ve been on that strip for sunrises and sunsets, spring and fall migration, standing on leaves and ice, smiling brightly and shedding tears. I’ve been there alone and with a partner, on a first date and a last, reconciliation and devastation. I’ve left enough emotional ink on this trail to compose my own symphony. 

It was much better to have a happy memory there than avoid it for remembering a bad breakup or when some family I didn’t even know decided on my worth as a person because I had the nerve to be birdwatching instead of yakking at top volume with strangers 

During the summer, one can park in the middle of the lake, and loon spottings are as common as the gavia immer itself. The winter still provides access between Vadnais and Sucker Lakes respectively. 

The other side of Vadnais is… fine. Mostly wooded, fewer scenic views, doesn’t loop back around, so that makes it an odd 3/4 out-and-back. 

Sucker Lake is… fine. After crossing the county road and railroad tracks, it’s at least a loop, but there isn’t much to see. There is a little strip north of the lake where swans are regular denizens, so unless you’re Jess Mariano, that’s a nice feature.

I hit all those spots for the camera, plus getting some extra miles in to compensate for not traveling far and doing an easy trail. Even picking this trail despite it being a gorgeous weather Saturday was a big deal for me, given that summer weekends mean I’m either getting out early or avoiding anywhere popular as much as possible. This day worked exactly how I needed it to, and was a comforting contrast to the unfortunate events of a Discord phone call a year prior. 

This is a place I go back to when I want to catch the best of spring migration. Before the leaves are back on the trees, after the yellow-rumped warblers are the only new ones for a while, hanging out by the small section where the causeway banks left is a fantastic spot, especially just as the sun is coming up and people haven't ruined it with their bluetooth speakers or obnoxiously loud conversations yet. The sunrises over this lake are phenomenal.

This is a great place to get Northwoods vibes without a three-hour drive, as despite its proximity to the 694, the noise pollution doesn't infect the atmosphere much.

Hike With Me - Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory

Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory

Duluth, Minnesota

Trail Hiked: Hawk Ridge

Distance Hiked: 4.31 miles

Elevation Gain: 272 ft. 

Duration: 1h 34m

This was not my intended destination for this hike. 

Wait, I don’t have those, I’ll rephrase.

I settled for Hawk Ridge because I’d wanted to head north to get some miles on the SHT with fall colors prevalent and summer nuisances, not so much. But, one nuisance that plagues this area from Memorial Day to Labor Day was having a revival tour. Damn. I hadn’t even seen that pop up on my Ticketmaster. I felt left out. 

But also, when the 61 was a standstill well short Two Harbors, I joined several others turning around in the median, now considerably less motivated despite my major milestone goal mere single digits from being achieved, and I wanted to do it somewhere special to me. 

Instead, I settled for Hawk Ridge. Plenty colorful, decent enough trail, and all the road dust you could ever hope to need an inhaler for. 

I feel like I’m giving the place an undeserved bad rap. It’s not wilderness with a vague throughway like Brewer, rather well developed with some great views of Duluth and Gitchee Gumee. It just wasn’t what I wanted that day, so I sleepwalked through it like a New Yorker finally going to the Empire State Building for the first time. “It’s great and all, but I’ve seen it a hundred times.”

All the same, I still hit 2000 miles for the year, and 41 days earlier than last. 

It’s hard to go wrong with a park in Duluth, don’t let my malaise convince you otherwise. Sometimes autists gonna autist, it just wasn’t what I wanted for such a milestone.

That said, I couldn’t ask for better fall colors on my camera. We in Minnesota only get them for about 9.87 seconds, so it’s good to appreciate the fleeting moments before they become soggy slippy dippy hazards compiled on hiking boot bottoms like they want to live vicariously through you to become a spontaneous hockey player.

Hey, it’s Minnesota, even the leaves are stereotypes sometimes.

Look, trying to pop the readers with silly hyperbole aside, I’ll say this: it would’ve been really easy to be bitter. Not just this day but the year and change preceding it, and I don’t think people would blame me if I had been. I still have moments, but they’re just as fleeting as the ennui for Hawk Ridge on this hike; when years prior, people would’ve been sick of dealing with its backwash. 

I hit 2000 miles 41 days earlier than last year as I said, but that’s just as much a hiking goal as it was personal validation for the work I’d done in therapy and pushing myself to be better… not just as a hiker, but as a person who no longer gets bogged down in sick cycle carousels and lingering resentment. 

I’m a year older and I’m not slowing down. I don’t need bitterness as fuel when radiant enthusiasm is a default. 

Only one more Proclaimers queue to go for my yearly goal!* 

(From that point, I’m significantly closer as of this writing.)

Hike With Me - Mt. Si

Mt. Si 

North Bend, Washington

Trail Hiked: Mt. Si Trail

Distance Hiked: 8.68 miles

Elevation Gain: 3,228 ft. 

Duration: 4h 20m

I treated this hike like an epic solo quest of personal redemption. Just me and the Twin Peak(s), I’m gonna kick your ass even worse than last time when my mental state was the opposite of its improved status, when I struggled and had to take plenty of rest breaks but now have another year’s endurance and several thousand miles behind it. Just you and me, mountain… who the hell are all these other people? Black Lodge escapees? Transplants from Camel’s Hump to remind me how much more training I need to be a true blue blood long-distance hiker? Inception-like projections before I drop my totem in the moss to make sure I’m not supposed to swan dive off the top to get back to reality? 

Or I’m just not the only person who doesn’t mind hiking in the rain, but that’s not nearly as ridiculous and hyperbolic, now is it? It’s not anything truly unforgivable, like not wanting to dodge horse-based scatological landmines on a Hiking Club trail, but it’s in the conversation. (Sorry to keep picking on you, random person commenting on my Fort Ridgely review, but it’s the most random thing I’ve ever been called out for.)

I was more prepared for this hike than any other I’ve ever done. I had snacks, motivation, my expiring Washington State Parks pass that I’d gotten to use all of once before my life blew up.  I had the motivation to redeem myself for reasons created only by the antagonizing, self-depricating villain in my own head. Fuck the rain, let’s beat this thing like a superpowered fist with BOB’s face on it, and film it!

Of all hikes to forget the damn holster screw, really?!

Guess I’ll see how much balance I’ve gained after another 2500 miles in a year? Turns out, quite a bit, it only fell once. Not bad for someone who almost always almost falls.

This trail sets unreasonable expectations for other mountain hikes. Extremely well-maintained, perfectly-designed switchbacks, rest areas to stop off and wonder why you’re doing this to yourself on purpose... But it’s also like growing up near Gettysburg, going on a field trip there every year, and then thinking “oh, all historically-preserved battlefields must be this amazing!” Oh, Naive version of me I only made up for this anecdote, you’re so silly.

The last little bit of boulder clinging to get a real summit view is no joke, even if I still did it to have even less of a view of nothing than the first time, but I also look legit enough that younger hikers now ask my advice by saying “listen to the professional.” 

Or I’m old. Who knows?

Now, did I get near the bottom and go back up a few hundred feet just to beat my elevation gain record also? 

I didn’t not do that. 

Even “professionals” gotta be unnecessarily ridiculous sometimes. It’s good for ya. A little “but did you die?” for the road, it’s healthy in moderation.

Hike With Me - St. Croix Crossing Trail Loop

 

St. Croix Crossing Trail Loop

Stillwater, Minnesota/Houlton, Wisconsin

Trail Hiked: St. Croix Crossing Loop Trail

Distance Hiked: 6.99 miles

Elevation Gain: 502 ft. 

Duration: 2h 10m

Despite my usual need to complete new trails for verified complete badges, and even with how insanely crowded this trail usually is, it was my 400th hike for 2026 and I just felt like filming something I hadn't before. 

Also, as no doubt the weather will show, anything else was not particularly ideal for the circumstances. 

I've written about this hike before. Hell, I used it for my Wisconsin portion of the Great Wander of 2026, although that decision was made out of far more distress than this one. Sometimes, something old and familiar with confidently assured miles and a decent level of elevation gain is all one needs, and though 

Stillwater is a beautiful town of old industry that has adapted to the insatiable need for repurposing and consumerism, and I'm not saying that's entirely a bad thing. Clearly it's working. Drive down up the 95 on any day between Memorial Day and Labor Day... if you can... and the parking lots will be almost as full as the crosswalks where folx feel the need to take selfies regardless of the light status. The hike itself is no flat old railway bed (see the nearby Browns Creek State Trail for that itch to scratch), but it's also not so difficult that entire hoards of families on a day with temperatures without any minus qualifiers to toddle along while being completely oblivious. For, in a tradition I imagine is even older than the town itself, gaggles of tourists can't help themselves but walk entirely side-by-side on a busy trail and somehow get offended if anyone else dares to not completely avoid their special bubble... even on a suspension bridge where one side is traffic and the other side is a funny little droppy drop to the river below. 

Hard to imagine why it is that I don't like finding crowded areas at the peak of the nine and a half minutes of perfect weather we get in Minnesota, isn't it? 

My utter disdain for trail tourists (and tourists in general for the most part) aside, on a good day this trail is scenic and picturesque, even if it takes five solid minutes to get one unobstructed. The lift bridge is iconic, regardless of its timely capacity, and the views are spectacular when you can get them. The lift bridge crossing is significantly better than the suspension bridge, mostly because the former isn't parallel to a busy highway with distorting noise pollution at the best of times. Conveniently though, the suspension bridge carves out several places off the trail to snap some of those elevated photographs, and sometimes the trail tourists even manage to find them instead of getting huffy because you dared to go around them while they were taking their 38th selfie in a row while holding up traffic both ways. How dare you, hypothetical person not engaging in this behavior. The 38th selfie was the bestofies, don't you know anything?!

The hike itself? It's fine. Paved, but fine. 

Hike With Me - Appalachian Trail (Cumberland Valley Overlook)

Appalachian Trail

Carlisle, Pennsylvania

Trail Hiked: Cumberland Valley Overlook via Appalachian Trail, Cumberland Valley Overlook from Valley Road

Distance Hiked: 13.94 miles

Elevation Gain: 1,939 ft. 

Duration: 5h 34m

"Someday this will be a stop along the way rather than the starting and ending point," I kept saying to myself on this bright Saturday morning. Having been in Washington state only a week prior, slick conditions from night rain seemed all too familiar, along with the whole "being in Washington state one week and central Pennsylvania the next and needing to hike a mountain on the Appalachian Trail while I was there" thing, but that's too oddly specific to be a cliche, which makes it all the more peculiar that it happened twice. Cue Botchamania Taz animation: "But I digress..."

I was not raised in an outdoorsy family, which teithfully becomes a bigger understatement the more I consider it. I grew up less than a mile from this trail, and this overlook I could see from the house I lived in for over 20 years. Yet, the idea to hike up that way never even occurred to me when I was younger. Maybe I didn’t notice it because of all the sports I played for many years, but the more I got into hiking, kayaking, and wanting to be in the woods, I noticed how many people learned these things from their parents or other relatives, and we’re just used to pretty much everything. I had to learn everything all on my own as an adult, and things that seem to be common knowledge to most outdoorsy types, our lessons I learned the hard way because I didn’t have anybody to teach me. In contrast, with this hike, I’d officially hiked the entirety of Cumberland County on the Appalachian Trail, and since they were all out and back, I’ve done it both northbound and southbound. This was reassuring that sometime in the near future, I’d be able to thru-hike this trail.

Many people I grew up with in Pennsylvania, and others that I know now in Minnesota, they all learned how to camp, and learned how to live in the wilderness from their parents. That’s the part I still haven’t approached, or I’ve already done this hike. Yet, when even my grandmother is asking me where all this hiking and outdoorsy stuff came from, because it certainly wasn’t from my family, I’m never exactly sure how to answer. It seems like it happened by accident, and once I got a taste of it, I just had to keep going and improving. I’ve gone from “what even is an actual hiking trail?” to “I just hiked Mount Si last week (future post), and the elevation gain was too paltry on this one, so I’m going down the other side just to do it back again.” I’d also gone from thinking these were mountains, to hiking ones triple the size of this one, and feeling I needed a bigger challenge. Things sure can change with a lot of practice

The hike itself? Well, this state is called Rocksylvania for a reason. It’s where hiking boots go to die.

Just bring it.

Hike With Me - Cougar Mountain Regional Wilderness

Cougar Mountain Regional Wilderness

Issaquah, Washington

Trail Hiked: Cave Hole, Coal Creek Falls, Quarry, and Fred's Railroad Loop

Distance Hiked: 3.35 miles

Elevation Gain:413 ft.

Duration: 1h 2m

This was barely a notable hike in terms of statistics or time spent on the trail. The fact that I filmed it at all would be bordering on egregious if not for what it meant to me. But also, to be fair, had I stayed on that trail any longer, darkness would've taken over, and I'd rather not have met the creatures who were more emboldened by the lack of visibility. It wasn't about that. 

I've hiked this mountain before, both by accident and on purpose, both of which I've written about. I've done it from harder positions by starting out at the bottom, I've done it for longer by trying to get as many verified complete badges as possible, and I've done it when it's swarming with other hikers on a dewy Saturday morning after my trip to revisit the Melmont ghost town failed due to closed trails. It wasn't about that either. 

It wasn't even the first location I visited that day. Based purely on distance, it shouldn't have been that difficult to get in multiple hikes at sentimental locations, but this is Northwestern Washington, so a reasonable half hour drive in most places becomes several hours of navigating back roads versus doing an impression of a used car shop run by Joey Jeremiah and his fantastic fedora. Hey, alliteration! 

Earlier in the day, I headed up to Sedro-Woolley for the Northern State Rec Area, and along the way, picked up some Adventure Labs in Bellingham and Burlington, because this day just had a fetish for alliterative commonalities or something. That had the unfortunate effect of making the return trip to the metro near impossible though, as timing worked out in just the perfect way to be substantially horrendous. Not just normal "hey, it's Seattle and you spent an hour trying to get to the hotel five minutes away from SeaTac and there were two accidents and having streets that make sense would be too convenient" horrendous because, well... that was the previous night. Rather, for the time spent inside the car, states or time zones should've changed because, "It's beginning to look a lot like Fuck This, everywhere you look..." Then also, "hey, why should spots on AllTrails be listed with, you know, actual parking spots. That's just silly. Why not the middle of a neighborhood near people who look like they'd join an HOA for the clout?" 

By the time I arrived, the sun was already setting, as the season waned more than I expected after spending a majority of the summer on the trail. Challenge accepted. An hour before nautical twilight, a 3-mile trail? Les dew eet. 

I nearly jogged on the trail to get it done in time (by accident, ironically enough, those who intentionally run on trails with jutting rocks and ledges, you the real ones.) But just to leave bootprints on this specific mountain felt redeeming in a way I can't quite articulate, despite this flawed yet hopefully charming attempt. 

No regrets.

Epic Hikes of Washington State - Zach's Lookout

 

Zach's Lookout

Date Hiked: August 16th, 2025

Trail Hiked: Zach's Lookout, U1100 and Dickerson Falls Loop

Distance Hiked: 9.70 miles

Elevation Gain: 1191 ft. 

Duration: 3h 1m

It's a good thing Zach made a lookout, because otherwise this would be a mildly difficult hill in the Kitsap area without much of a payoff. I mean, other than the stats and gains, but usually the reward of a good climb is the view from the top, so say "yo Zach, what's up, thanks for the lookout" or whatever the kids say these days, because it's the only one you're going to get on this hike. 

The visibility was grand this day, the exact opposite of when I reached the top of Mount Walker and was lucky I could even see my own hand holding the camera when I was taking photographs. This was another one of the days where I wanted a good hike, a decent climb, and a pleasant distraction from the soul-sucking void deep within the Sickness that permeated the essence of my being at the time, but I also didn't feel like traveling very far. Fortunately, in Washington state, only driving five minutes can result in a gorgeous view for "only" an 1200 ft. climb on a Friday with perfect weather. In the Twin Cities, five minutes away for a hike usually means Greenways, traffic noise, and wondering if the scowling dude walking toward you just disappeared your neighbor with impunity. Oh, 2026, what the hell even are you? 

The most notable thing to happen on this particular hike wasn't even the trek itself though. This trail climbs up a hillside before it does a little loop atop the Zach-flavored lookout point. While on that hilltop loop, I found a set of keys with a Seahawks emblem on the chain. Oh good, that would only narrow down the owner of the missing go-go sticks by absolutely nobody, how fortunate for me. 

Luckily, the next two lovely ladies I encountered were the winners of the Showcase Keysdown, so Zach must've been looking out for them too, since the eponymous view was where we briefly met. They didn't have to call a locksmith to a parking lot, I got a momentary reprieve from the maelstrom of self-loathing and regret that wouldn't lift until the Sickness went away a short time later. Everybody got a little shot of dopamine unexpectedly that day is what I'm saying. 

This hike is perfectly fine, by Washington state standards anyway. In most other places, it'd be flooded every weekend with Zach fans and their fancy eyeglasses peering over the single spot where one could see beyond the treeline. There'd still be the straight couple who held up the line by taking 38 indistinguishable selfies (there's always one), but otherwise it'd get a solid 4.5/5 most likely. But, since it is in Washington state, I'd mostly recommend it only if you're near Bremerton, you don't want or need to travel longer than an episode of Zack Morris is Trash, and you want a hike that's good for the moment but you'll forget about it before you get back to the car.