Posts about Backpacking

Backpacking at Lake Stuart in the Enchantments

I have never won the Enchantments Lottery. I think I've come up empty-handed four times. I've mostly only applied for the Colchuck Zone, but I tried applying for the Stuart Zone this year with identical results: Unsuccessful. I've written a lot about the Enchantments Lottery and developed

Halfway Around the Wonderland: Mystic Lake to Sunrise, Day 7

One of the most impressive views of Mount Rainier is the area below Skyscraper Mountain at the saddle between the incline from Granite Creek and Berkeley Park. The trail climbs out of the trees and into green meadows as the landscape transitions from sub-alpine to alpine.

Halfway Around the Wonderland: Cataract Valley to Mystic Lake Camp, Day 6

In Tami Asars's book, Hiking the Wonderland Trail, she mentions a tarn a few hundred feet west of the saddle at the top of Moraine Park saying it makes for a nice reflective shot. As Jordan went out ahead of us I told him he could wait for us at the saddle

Halfway Around the Wonderland: Eagles Roost to Cataract Valley via Spray Park, Day 5

Entering Spray Park was magical. We hiked slowly, looking around in awe at the landscape. The meadows were green, and many areas were blanketed with wildflowers. The air was clear and calm, and the temperature was cool. In 2017, I backpacked the same stretch of the trail with my sister, and the

Halfway Around the Wonderland: Golden Lakes to Eagles Roost Camp, Day 4

Two of my three big concerns would be at play today. Starting the trip I had three things I was worried about but wouldn't have an answer for until we were on the trail. The first was crossing the North and South Mowich Rivers. Both crossings could have bridges washed out.

Halfway Around the Wonderland: Klapatche Park to Golden Lakes Camp, Day 3

As we reached our closest distance to the bear it relented and began moving up the brush toward the island of trees making small grunting sounds. We believe it was communicating with the cubs. It sat down in the shade and we slid by into camp. Some camps have obvious "best" sites. For example, it's

Statistics Based Strategies for Winning the Enchantments Lottery

This article explains: how the Enchantments Lottery works, why people misunderstand the advanced lottery quotas, the method I used for predicting application entry success in the Enchantments Lottery, and; how the probabilities generated from those models can help an applicant optimize their app

Halfway Around the Wonderland: South Puyallup River Camp to Klapatche Park, Day 2

St. Andrews Park is gorgeous. It was open and green, and we quickly found the purest stream to get water from. It was the best water we had seen in the last 2.5 miles from South Puyallup Camp. We would have plenty of water in the next mile. I stopped a couple of

Halfway Around the Wonderland: Westside Road to South Puyallup River Camp, Day 1

I won the Wonderland Lottery but I was given the last window to make an itinerary before reservations were open to the public. I spent weeks logging on before my reservation window to check what was available. I built itineraries just to see them disappear the next day.

Another Way to Improve Your Chances In the Enchantments Lottery

However, not every person in the applicant's group is named. As a consequence, in a group of four, each person could apply. This strategy is not new. People do this when trying to win the state and national lotteries

Advice on Winning the Enchantment's Lottery (2023 Data Update)

This post will likely conclude a series of posts examining Enchantments Lottery data published by the USFS. In previous articles, we looked at common advice given to curious applicants to improve their chances of winning a permit.

Evaluating Enchantment Lottery Performance: Awarded-to-Skipped Ratio

Avoiding Bad Advice on Winning the Enchantment's Lottery (Part II)

In my next analysis, I wanted to break down the results by looking at the group size, day of the week for entry, and month for entry to see if the advice online holds when we look at the data that determines whether an application is accepted or unsuccessful.

Avoiding Bad Advice on Winning the Enchantment's Lottery (Part I)

You shouldn't apply for the Core Enchantments if you want to win I have personally repeated some variations of this statement. Purely based on my few failed attempts. However, I'm not the only one who has spread this "advice". It didn't take

Backpacking to Pete Lake So We Can Hike to Spectacle Lake

Money Trees

To my surprise, and to the surprise of probably every other person who has ever used recreation.gov, that lottery application fee goes to Booz Allen's bottom line, the Washington D.C. consulting firm behind recreation.gov.

Wonderland Trail Backpacking Planner

There are route-planning applications that use similar data and feature the ability to explore and plan routes. However, what I didn't get from these applications was the ability to see all my options.

Backpacking the Eastside of the Wonderland, Again

During my reservation window, I logged into recreaction.gov and quickly reserved Summerland Group Site for a Friday in mid-late August and then Indian Bar Group Site the next night (Sat.). In 2020, I did this same section of the Wonderland but in the opposite direction and a cloud of smoke.

Devil's Dream on the Wonderland Trail

It's been the year of one-night backpacking trips. Starting with Cape Alava on the coast in April, then Mount Margaret in the middle of August, and finally, another trip to the Wonderland Trail at the end of August. This post is about the last of the three one-nighters: Devil's Dream

One Night at Bear Camp in the Mount Margaret Backcountry

The Mount Margaret backcountry sits above Spirit Lake in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Two trails create a loop, connected by the Johnston Observatory to the west of the backcountry and the Norway Pass trailhead on the east side. The northern part of the loop is the Lakes Trail, visiting a

Backpacking the Ozette Triangle Loop

I first came across the backpacking possibilities on the coast after my cousin gave me Backpacking Washington: Overnight and Multi-Day Routes by Craig Romano. I had been out to the Olympic National Park to backpack before—we ventured to the Enchanted Valley—but had

Two Nights on the Wonderland Trail (Olallie Creek Camp, Indian Bar)

I could not foresee the wildfires, road closures, and smoke that would put the trip in jeopardy and add to the events of this crazy year...there was enough hope to continue the trip...by Sunday it was a consensus that the trip was well worth it.

Backpacking in the Mount Margaret Backcountry (Panhandle Lake, Dome Camp)

Awoke to beautiful weather the second day. I could not wait to get up and take it all in. I saw our goat friend on the high slope for a few minutes that morning while I watched the sunrise chase down the rocks towards the lake.

Backpacking on the West Fork Foss Trail - Central Cascades

This will just be a brief trip report about a recent backpacking trip with some friends and family into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness on the West Fork Foss Trail. This area offers many campsites on a variety of lakes, and we spent two nights at Copper Lake. Below are some quick stats, information

Backpacking to the Enchanted Valley - Olympic National Park

This will just be a brief trip report about a recent excursion with two of my cousins as we backpacked up the East Quinault River Trail into the Enchanted Valley. Below are some quick stats, information, notables, and pictures.

Wonderland Trail Backpack

Gallery from a two-night backpacking trip with my sister on the north side of the Wonderland Trail. The Wonderland goes around Mt.Rainier in Washington State.