Tag: PNW

Raptor Ridge Hike

June 21st, 2019- 6 mile hike

Oops… I was just going through my drafts of posts and stumbled upon this unfinished hike write up. It is now September 9th, and I am finally going to update this and get it posted ASAP!

This hike was almost two and a half months ago, but I still remember most of it and I have the pictures to prove it!

This hike is in the Chuckanuts in Bellingham, WA. The first mile and a half (or so) of this hike was the same as the Pine and Cedar Lakes Hike we did last summer in 2018. The incline within this first mile was crazy and got the blood pumping and leg muscles burning. Both Alex and I were panting and sweating as we climbed this first part of the trial.

  • Here’s the map and trail Alex and I climbed to Raptor Ridge. It also points out the connecting trails around.
I apologize for the quality, but I thought this would be interesting to include. It talks a little bit about the first part of the hike and the 1,300 feet gain within the first 1.6 miles.
It’s hard to capture in a photo just how steep the first part of the hike was, but here is a snapshot of me trying to encapsulated it. I was amazed when I looked back at what we had just climbed!

After the first part of the hike, as this photo above is illustrating, the rest was enjoyable as we made our way to the top of the look out. Below is a photo of the small rock stairs we had to climb up as we got closer to the outlook:

  • Here are the stairs leading towards the top of the look out

Here are a few photos of the top. Here Alex and I stopped for a quick snack. As we sat there, we saw a few bald eagles soaring about the tree- hence the name of the hike “Raptor Ridge”. I wasn’t able to get good photos of them, as they were too far away, but it was really cool to watch them soar above the trees.

This photo is unedited, showing how dark and gloomy it looked at the top. I was amazed by all the green though!

This hike was a lot fun once we got past the steep incline in the beginning. The outlook was beautiful and seeing the eagles was a treat. As I sit here and reminisce about this hike, it makes me wish we got more hiking in this summer. Alex and I both started new jobs and trying to coordinate what we are going to do on the weekends seems very challenging this summer. Hopefully next spring and summer we are able to get to do some new hikes!

Alex and I before starting out hike!

Mt. Pilchuck Hike

Over the summer, my boyfriend and I got into hiking and went to a few cool spots. One of these spots was Mt. Pilchuck. The hike is about 5.4 miles long and right off the North Cascades Mountain Loop Highway (which is a beautiful drive and I would totally recommend it!) At the top of the mountain, there is a fire lookout where you can see for miles. It was a little cloudy when we went, but the view was amazing! Check out some of the photos below that were taken on the way and at the top of the lookout:

  • This was taken about a mile and half away from the lookout point, I couldn’t believe how open and beautiful this part of the hike was
  • This taken on the climb up to the lookout tower. To get up to the top, you had to scale rocks like the ones at the bottom of this photo and then climb up a ladder to get into the tower. 
  • This is a photo taken inside the lookout, it was amazing how much you could see, even though it was overcast out
  • This was taken on the way down from the tower, probably about a mile or so from the top of the mountain 

Getting up to the lookout was hard, there were a lot of people on the trails, so many bugs, and it was really warm out by 10 am when we had finally climbed all the way up to the lookout. The view was so worth it though! There were many parts of the trail that were really well marked, but there were also a few parts where you had to make your own trail through the boulders and wind your way back to the marked trail. The pictures below show some of what the trail was like at different parts of the hike: 

  • Taken at the beginning of the hike, this is what the forest around us looked like
  • Here’s a little creek you had to cross over at the start of the hike, about half a mile in 
  • Parts of the trail that were well marked and easy to get across 
  • Here are the parts of the trail where you are climbing up boulders and making your own trail until meeting back up on the well marked part of the trail. This part was much easier going up than it was coming down. 

Overall, this hike was a lot of fun and well worth the trek up. I would highly recommend this spot and hope to do it again sometime! Having to climb up and over the boulders was a lot of fun and was a great workout for the day. I remember after finishing this hike being so excited to take a shower to wash away all the bug spray and sweat. One of my favorite parts of hiking in the Pacific Northwest is being surrounded by all the trees and this hike definitely delivered that.