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.

Epic Hikes of Washington State/Hike With Me - Northern State Recreation Area

 

Northern State Recreation Area

Sedro-Woolley, Washington

Dates Hiked: August 6th, 2024; July 6th, 2025; August 28th, 2026

Trail Hiked: Northern State Recreation Area Loop, etc.

Distance Hiked: 3.98 miles; 13.45 miles; 4.41 miles

Elevation Gain: 177 ft.; 699 ft.; 180 ft.

Duration: 2h 1m; 4h 5m; 1h 28m

Hiking has never been the primary reason for making this trek to northern Washington, although it certainly doesn't hurt either. 

Three hikes are listed above, and there were at least two more before I started keeping track with AllTrails. With my penchant for always wanting to go to new places rather than revisit older ones, that should convey just how unique and interesting I find this location. Not only is it symbolic and special in a personal way, not only is it a goldmine for those who enjoy photography of the abandoned variety, but its preservation is chilling and essential for not repeating the mistakes of history and how those with mental illness are treated by society. 

Harbor no illusions here, this is the site of a former asylum, and there's something distinctly uncomfortable about the fact that it's now a disc golf course. I love exploring abandoned buildings, and the time I took the video camera doesn't even begin to cover all the places to find there, but knowing what happened there before contrasts the aesthetic with an unyielding, haunting aura. 

The size of these essays does not even begin to tell the truth behind the crumbling structures, so may I suggest Under the Red Roof: One Hundred Years at Northern State Hospital by Mary J. McGoffin for much more than I can describe in 500 words. There's a cemetery that had to be rediscovered and plotted out by those who cared for folx who died there, so please read more about its history at your discretion. 

Conversely, it's also a very special and sentimental place for me, as my consistent returns have indicated. The unobstructed views of the Cascades are daunting and beautiful, while the hollowed shells of buildings that once were feel trapped in time despite the modern lingo in the endless graffiti. On one of the previous visits with Redacted, all four seasons collided within one trek, as it went from pleasant and sunny to hail onslaught in a mere few hours. Another time I visited was at the height of the Sickness, where I hiked the entire loop twice while spending more time than previous trips capturing as many photographs as possible. 

But, as several more Hike With Me's about Washington will complement, my mileage and time were kept short intentionally during my 2026 trip, as this wasn't even my only stop that day. This was my first solo wander to Washington without any plans, itineraries, or meetings with loved ones. Finding my own validation and wandering for no other reason than I wanted to, Northern State was oddly soothing and liberating despite the scars of the past as visible as ever; my own and the location's alike. 

I love the town of Sedro-Woolley. I set a story there once upon a time too. Northern State Recreation Area though, it's amazing for a good hike, urbex photography, and/or Geocaching, and I assume the disc golf is great too. 

But for me, it was peace.

Hike With Me - Beaver Island Trail

 

Beaver Island Trail

St. Cloud, Minnesota

Trail Hiked: 

Distance Hiked: 12.11 miles

Elevation Gain: 358 ft.

Duration: 3h 58m

Look, not every hike is necessarily about maximizing elevation gain or finding spectacular vistas at the perfect time of day. Sometimes, it’s just “I want to get good distance without nuch in the way of resistance to get the numbers up.” This was one of those times. 

But also, having an Adventure Lab to do along the way certainly helps in terms of motivation and focus.

St. Cloud probably doesn’t crack my top 100 in terms of places I’m excited to go in Minnesota. I always feel like it’s a junction point on my way to more interesting places, and that’s no disrespect to anyone who lives there… Well, maybe some. CityNerd referred to a certain mindset as “self-identified rurality,” and when a city has 70 thousand people, no amount of Truck With Attitude, I’m an Outlaw Despite Having the Exact Same One as the Next Four Behind Me makes it rural.

Beaver Island Trail is… perfectly adequate. It’s not completely bereft of interesting scenery, like perhaps the Dairyland Trail, but it’s not one I’d revisit to take it in again specifically. Going under the bridge, the path goes through a neighborhood before turning into the university, and meeting one of the many dams along the Mississippi River. From there, it’s a great path for tree canopies, local parks, and plenty of road noise nearby. I’m glad it exists, but being serviceable is not much motivation to travel 90 minutes without the lure of Adventure Lab finds and adding another Verified Complete trail to my list. I’d be much happier with something like this if I stepped out of my apartment and jumped right on it, but if I’m already traveling this far, urban trails that weave through neighborhood sidewalks aren’t what I’d seek.

Conveniently, the trail was suitable for the practice of further learning how to use my GoPro on the fly. Regardless of how much of a technical fuddyduddy as it likely makes me seem, figuring out the little tricks of using that thing is far more suited for flat and relatively banal mileage than the slopes of Mt. Si (spoiler alert). Mostly what I learned from my GoPro 5 is that the 12 I decided to buy when the replacement batteries for the 5 didn’t work was infinitely better, so it wasn’t entirely a waste. 

I have no intention of making St. Cloud seem like a featureless wasteland, despite my mostly playful ribbing earlier. Not to worry, no one in St. Cloud has ever said an unkind word about the Twin Cities or anyone who lives there, so I apologize for this uncharacteristic diversion of my usual completely objective travelogue. It’s not like I dared to be annoyed by horseshit on the Fort Ridgely Hiking Club trail during a Polar Vortex and the deepest pit of the Sickness or anything. That would just be silly.

I got 12 miles out of it. There are worse ways to spend a Sunday. I’m from Northeast Ohio, I would know.