2025 was another good hiking year.
2020 and 2021 were Covid years and I worked hard to get over 800 miles.
2022 and 2023 were two of my best ever hiking years. Both years were
over 1000 miles just the second and third 1000 years ever. 2024 was
still very good at 906 miles as I went over 900 on the last day of the
year. 2025 started very good and I was on pace for 950 miles at the
half way point. The second half of the year is usually better than the
first but this year I had lots of things get in the way. I have been
very lucky over 43 years to have almost no injuries that have kept me
from hiking. The last six weeks of the year my right knee was very
sore. November was a poor month and I was a little behind pace for 900
miles. December was a bit frantic at the end but on the last day of the
year I hiked 11 miles to reach 906 miles for second year in a row.
That is the first time I have had the same number of miles two years in
a row. That made it my fourth consecutive year over 900 miles.
On the positive side, I had two 3 day backpacking trips and 3 cross
country ski trips. In recent times I have had years with none of those
trips. The Meadow Mountain trip was a repeat backpacking trip. The road
to the trailhead was washed out so we took a different route that
included a boot path over the ridge between Crystal and Meadow Lakes.
The result was amazing solitude on Meadow Mountain and a whole lot of
ripe berries. The Moonshine Lake trip was all new trail after the first
couple miles. We had three new lakes and two summit scrambles. It was
very warm and a whole lot of fun.
April turned out to be my biggest mileage month at 100 even. April had
never been my biggest month before. I also had three more months in the
80s. My three worst months were 68, 68, and 53. As mentions, November
was the worst month. I had 5 months over 20,000' of elevation gain. I
ended with 215,600' of gain. That is my least gain since 2021 but was
over my goal of 200,000'. My website went over 40,000 photos this year.
The year ended just 13 trip reports short of 1,200.
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
sixteenth consecutive year and twentieth time ever. I reached
200,000' of gain for the twenty third consecutive year and twenty
fifth
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 20
year and 4 months or 244 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 in 2024 and 93 this year.
That
is still a lot but 15 days less than in 2023. A little time off is good.
This website, Hiking
Northwest, continues to grow. On March 26,
2025 it
reached its 23nd Anniversary. A lot of hiking websites have come and
gone in that time. This one just keeps growing. I ended the year with
1187 trip reports. That is an average of just under one trip
report per week for twenty three years. One trip report with an average
35 photos takes a lot of time.
This year I wrote 57
trip reports. I was on pace for a record of more than 60 but the last
two months slowed down. I aim for an average of one per week and
this year I did slightly better than that.
This was the fifteenth 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 no backpacking
trips last year, I was able to get in two very nice trips in 2025.
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 9 days in January. I
started strong with five
trip reports. Only one was on Cougar, Squak, and Tiger Mountains. I
started with a Mt.
Si-Teneriffe Rd loop. 3600' of gain was a good start to the year.
Next was a cloudy day at Blanchard
Hill-Oyster Dome. A Wallace Falls-Lake loop was good for
14 miles. My last report was a cold 22F day at Lord Hill.
For the month I
hiked 88 miles with 20,100' of elevation gain.
February
In
February I had 8 trips and 7 trip reports. Two were 10 mile
xc ski trips, at Hyak
& Cabin
Creek. Along with a couple West Tiger hikes, I did a trip to the train
wreck site on the 100th anniversary.
For the month I hiked 70 miles
with 15,800' of gain.
March
In
March I had 8
trips with 5 trip reports. I had one snowshoe trip to Kendall Lakes
and a last xc trip to Amabilis Mt. It
was 70F for a Tiger
1-2 loop. The month ended with a Figure 8 trip on Chuckanut
Mt. For
the
month I hiked 68
miles with 17,700' of gain.
April
May
June
Six
of my 9 trips have trip
reports. I started with a wildflower hike to Iron Bear Peak.
Next Gary & I returned to Diablo Lake and
went farther up Ross Lake. A Teanaway trip brought us to Miller Peak. I did
15 miles on East
Tiger. The month ended with another Teanaway trip on the Esmerelda Loop.
In June, I hiked 85 miles with
20,400' of elevation gain.
July
For
the month I had 6 days
hiking. Four days have
trip
reports. The Tired-Waptus
loop was a 13 mile trip. My first backpacking trip in 2 years The Moonshine,
Michael, Terrance Lakes trip has spectacular. Gary & I did a 16
mile Janus
Lake-Grizzly Peak trip. The month ended with my last Teanaway trip
of the year to Iron Peak.
The later big fire may keep me away for some time.
For
July I
hiked 76 miles with 20,200' of gain.
August
The
month had 7 days hiking and 4
days had trip reports. First was a trip to the North Cascades for a
hike to Easy Pass.
Some great views. My second backpacking trip was a return to Meadow Mountain.
Solitude, meadows, peaks, and berries. The last report was for Benchmark Mountain.
A long hike with fall colors, berries, and views. This month had my
most elevation gain. For
August
I hiked 73 miles with 23,300' of gain.
September
Only three of my 7 trips have
trip reports. First was my annual trip to Rainbow Lake. I
added Sir Richard's Pond but not Blazer Lake. Lot's of ripe berries.
Next was Mt.
Dickerman. It was a beautiful sunny day with great views. Last was
a 12 mile loop on Squak Mt. via Margaret's
Way Trail. For
the month
I hiked 68 miles with 16,400' of gain.
October
I hiked 7 times and four have
trip reports. I first hiked to the Kendall
Katwalk and Ridge Lake. 41F at start but it turned into a nice day.
Gary & I hiked to Lake
Valhalla & Mt. McCausland from Stevens Pass. A first time trip.
John & I hiked to Manastash Lake
for a larch hike. We were a little early though we did find some fully
golden. It was another first time hike. We did the RMT
One Way + West Peak. Lastly we did a 13 mile one way trip over South,
Middle, & East Tiger. Our first time on freshly scalped Middle
Tiger. For
the month I
hiked 81 miles with 16,400' of gain.
November
I hiked 5 days in November
and had only one trip
report. It was by far my poorest hiking month of the year. That report
was for my second trip up West
Rattlesnake from Hwy 18. At 17 miles it was nearly one third of my
miles. I just barely kept my streak of 10,000' gain months alive. For
the month I hiked 53 miles with 10,900' of elevation gain.
December
I
hiked 7 days and five had trip reports. It took a good month to reach
900 miles. My first report was for an 11 mile Cougar Mt.
loop. Then I did a 14 mile Wallace
Falls-Lake Loop. On my birthday I did a 10 mile Rattlesnake
Mt. Loop. Gary and I did a Tiger 3-2 Loop.
It really was a month for loop trips. The year
ended, as always, with a NYE hike on Tiger
Mountain. This was for the
42st time in 43 years.This was a one way trip over Tiger 1&2. We
saw the new Bob Rivers Bench at Poo Poo Pt. For the
month
I hiked 72 miles with 17,500' of elevation gain.