The
previous two years were among my best ever. The second and third most
miles I have hiked in one year. They were two of the three
1,000 miles years I have ever had. They were the second and fifth
most elevation I have gained in one year. I finished 2023 averaging
101 miles per month in October, November, and December. I came into
2024 feeling a bit burned out. In January 2024 I hiked only 56 miles.
It would be one of only two months under 70 miles. It did take off
the pressure of another 1,000 mile year. Now I could just go back to
aiming for something over 800 miles. This was a year of many good
months and no great months. I had one month of 90 miles, two
months in the mid 80s, and seven months in the 70s. After six trips in
January I was out 7 to 9 times in the other eleven months. My biggest
elevation gain was 22,900' in August and I had six months over 20,000'
including five in a row. It was a good year to slow down a little after
the two huge previous years while still getting out on 96 trips.
Perhaps the biggest let down was not getting in even one backpacking
trip. I also did not get in any cross country ski trips. Gas prices
started the
year near $5.00/gallon and were still near $4.00/gallon at the end. I
chose more close in hikes than normal. Our mid-week after work hikes
continued for another year. That made about 14 years in a
row. Now that the others have retired and I can get out earlier in the
afternoon, our old 4:30 pm starting time has changed to about 2:30 pm.
That means instead of putting on headlamps soon after starting in mid
December, we now put them on half way down our descents. I kind of miss
the old hours of hiking in darkness but I also like getting to the
summit for sunset now.
On the positive side, we squeezed in three larch
hikes this year. That may be a record. We did not have much wildfire
smoke this year though I did do one Snoqualmie Tunnel hike to avoid
smoke. We also did not have any long extremely hot times in the summer.
Just some normally hot days.
I did get
back to some places I had not visited in years. A summer trip
to Park Butte Lookout for one. Also, a trip to Davis Peak for the first
time since 2002. We had a sunny day with few other hikes seen. A first
time wildflower hike was to Cashmere Canyons. Just south of there was
probably the most grueling hike of the year. Gary and John
joined me for another Devil's Gulch - Mission Ridge adventure. At 17
miles with 3700' of gain it was a long day. A day full or wildflowers
in bloom. As usual, we did not see many other hikers or mountain
bikers. It was not one of my great years but it was a very good year. I
finished with 906 miles and 228,400' of elevation gain. It marked the
first time I have ever had three consecutive years over 900 miles. Now
I will break down the year by the numbers.
I
had no record months of miles are
elevation gain this year. I had no
100 mile months. It was a consistent year of good but not great months.
As always, I do try to hike
at least 800 miles and go over 200,000' of gain. 600 miles is a good
year. 800 is a very good year. In 2024 I reached 800 miles for the
fifteenth consecutive year and nineteenth time ever. I reached
200,000' of gain for the twenty second consecutive year and twenty
fourth
time ever.
One goal I do have is to gain
at least 10,000' each month. If I am
doing that, I will stay in good hiking shape. That streak reached 19
year and 4 months or 232 months. Ironically, the last month I did not
gain 10,000' was August 2005. August is usually one of my best months.
After hiking a record 108
days in 2023, I dropped down to 96 days.
That
is still a lot but have 12 less days on the trail helped to minimize
burnout.
This website, Hiking
Northwest, continues to grow. On March 26,
2024 it
reached its 22nd Anniversary. A lot of hiking websites have come and
gone in that time. This one just keeps growing. I ended the year with
1130 trip reports. That is an average of just under one trip
report per week for twenty two years. One trip report with an average
35 photos takes a lot of time.
In 2022 I had a record 60
trip reports. This year I had 54. That
is
still above average. I aim for an average of one per week and
this year I did slightly better than that.
This was the fourteenth year
I have been doing after work hikes
with
Gary Westerlund, John Sluder, and David Holm. Now I am the only one
working. They are a major
reason I have been able to keep up the 800 miles years
while being employed full time.
After doing two backpacking
trips last year, I was disappointed to
not
get in a single trip in 2024.
Well, enough of that. It is
time to review my year month by month
and
look at my Top 10 Hikes of the year.
January
I
hiked only 6 days in January. I
started strong with five
trip reports. all the hikes were on Cougar, Squak, and Tiger Mountains.
They included hikes starting at 16F, 19F, and 54F. That is quite a
range. The 16F Cougar
Frozen Loop had great ice scenes. On a Tiger 3-2 Loop it reached
60F.
For the month I
hiked 56 miles with 12,700' of elevation gain.
February
In
February I had 8 trips.
Five of them had trip
reports. I ventured away from I-90 for hikes to Granite
Lakes
and Blanchard
Hill.
For the month I hiked 78 miles
with 20,600' of gain.
March
In
March I had 8
trips. This
month five hikes had trip reports. I had 75F and 62F warm days. I hiked
16 miles at Wallace
& Jay Lakes and hiked a
new trail on Chuckanut
Mountain with Gary. For
the
month I hiked 77
miles with 19,100' of gain.
April
April
had 7 hikes. Four trips rated
trip reports. I did 12
and 13
mile
loops on Cougar Mountain, a 17 mile trek on West
Rattlesnake Mountain, and a
great new wildflower trail at Cashmere
Canyons. For the
month I hiked 77 miles with 16,600' of gain.
May
June
Six
of my 7 trips have trip
reports. Gary joined me for a 12 mile 4200' gain hike to Thompson
Lake.
We headed west for a trip up Mt.
Townsend.
Lastly, we headed to South
& Middle Tiger to find
logging has obliterated and built some
trails on Middle Tiger. In June, I hiked 67 miles with
20,800' of elevation gain.
July
For
the month I had 8 days
hiking. Four days have
trip
reports. The month started with Gary and I doing a 4000' gain hike up Earl
Peak.
We next did a 3900' gain hike up Mt.
Dickerman. A
very hot day had a morning hike up 2
Tiger summits then a hike
through the cool Snoqualmie Tunnel for 14
miles. Finally, we did an old favorite, Snowy Creek
to Rock Mountain.
For
July I
hiked 70 miles with 20,800' of gain. The gain was my highest for one
month ever.
August
The
month had 9 days hiking and 4
days had trip reports. Gary joined me for a trip to Park
Butte Lookout and the Scott Paul
Trail. He had not been to Park Butte in 29 years. I made my usual visit
to Rainbow
Lake and did trail brushing to
Blazer Lake. It should be good for another 3 or 4 years. For
August
I hiked 90 miles with 22,900' of gain.
September
Only three of my 9 trips have
trip reports. I did three memorable trips. First was a loop over Bean
Peak with rain on the way back.
Next was a trip up Davis
Peak. I had not been there in 22
years and Gary 24 years. Last was a fall color hike up Green
Mountain. We had great
colors.
For
the month
I hiked 74 miles with 20,500' of gain.
October
I hiked 9 times and four have
trip reports. This was larch month. Gary joined me for great larch
colors at Ingalls
Lake. We then saw larch on a
hike up Navaho
Peak. Lastly, Gary, John, and I
saw larch going to Exclamation
Point Rock. Three larch trips
might be a record for me. For
the month I
hiked 86 miles with 20,000' of gain.
November
I hiked 8 days in November
and only three merited a trip
report. My last trip of the year away form the I-90 corridor was north
to Fragrance
Lake and the Rock Trail. Next
was a big Tiger
Loop headlamp hike that put me
over 800 miles for the year. A big storm knocked down many trees. Gary
and I hiked another Tiger
Mt. Loop and cut out quite a few
branches and small trees. For
the month I hiked 73 miles with 18,600' of elevation gain.
December
I
hiked 8 days and four had trip reports. Gary, John, & I did a
12 mile trip to Grand
Prospect, the ridge, and West
Peak. We went for a headlamp hike over Tiger
Peaks with a great sunset. On my
birthday, I did my 15 mile East
Tiger Long Road trip. The year
ended, as always, with a NYE hike on Tiger Mountain. This was for the
41st time in 42 years. For the
month
I hiked 73 miles with 16,300' of elevation gain.