Hiking traditions in WA?

[Tony1]

Hey everyone, specifically anyone with experience hiking in Washington state. I'm planning on spending a lot of time next summer up there and of course, want to climb some awesome stuff.

Now, of course here in Colorado, a "hiking tradition" of ours is to climb all of the 14ers. Is there anything similar to that in Washington? I know that in WA there's a 14er, a 12er, two 10ers, and then a handful of 9ers before dropping down into the 8,000' area. Do people set goals of climbing the ten highest in the state? 15 highest, etc?

Also, anybody know how popular mountain climbing is up in WA? Do the high mountains see the same kind of foot traffic as Colorado's 14ers and well-known 13ers?

Just wonderin'!

[TravelingMatt]

The Cascade volcanoes come to mind as a very popular list, which extends down to Oregon and California (Shasta).

There is some discussion around the Washington 100 highest. This list seems much tougher than Colorado's, as more of them are technical or snow climbs and require multi-day trips. Also, the Northwest still has a lot of firetowers standing, and some people try to do all those.

If you're content to get up around 7000-8000 feet and have no problem with 15-20 mile days, there's a lot to do. Some wilderness areas are very popular for overnight trips. Everyone complains about how hard it is to get Enchantments permits but you can also just visit them the "Colorado way" of starting early and dayhiking it. As in Colorado, you can find solitude in the Cascades if you deviate just slightly from the most common usage patterns.

Best guidebooks are still the Manning/Spring Mountaineers books, despite all their moralizing, and for more technical stuff the Beckey guides. Note Beckey has a reputation for underrating climbs.

[pklotzbach]

My wife and I spent about one week hiking in Washington this summer, and we found this website to be very helpful:

http://www.wta.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Definitely do the Enchantment Lakes loop while you're out there... absolutely spectacular scenery!

[cheeseburglar]

My dad has lived in Seattle since the 60's and I don't think he has managed to complete the 9ers.
http://www.listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/se ... 9&State=WA
What a slacker. But some of them are pretty remote and take 3 days and involve glaciers and technical rock.
I'd recommend going for the classic climbs first unless you are really into extremely long bushwhack approaches.
Climbing is very popular out there. So popular that some mountains and backcountry camping areas require permits that sell out.

[Matt Lemke]

The WA 100 is much harder than the CO 100. It's called the Bulger List in WA. Being a local Washingtonian I can recommend great climbs for you to do if you want.

A site that's EXTREAMLY helpful about WA is:

http://www.nwhikers.net

I'm a very active member myself

[Matt Lemke]

Just another note, backpacking in the Cascades and the Olys is much better than most places in CO. There are much less roads and none of then ever breach treeline whether you have an epic 4WD or not.

Plan on long forested approaches to most peaks. WA doesn't have the mining history that CO does and all the forest service roads are usually in great condition so a normal car can go to most trailheads. Off roading up there isn't very popular because there simply aren't 4WD roads to drive on. A truck or customized vehicle isn't really useful up there.

I can go on and on so let me know if you have any specific questions.

[Tony1]

Sweet! Thanks for the replies! Great to know that I don't need epic 4WD to get to places. There seems to be a huge lack of main roads in the Cascades so I was worried about that. I'll check out those sites for sure!