SKAMANIA COUNTY — It's a sun's-a-blazin', blue-sky, mid-summer afternoon and somewhere between Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams, Brian Mahon is playing coy. Straddling his mountain bike by the Squaw Butte Trail sign, he hides its difficulty rating from us. He's the only one who's ridden it before — thus the only one who knows what's in store — and for hikers and equestrians, we can see that it's been rated "more difficult."
"Move your hand, Mahon," orders one rider.
"Yea, come on," says another. "Let us see what we're getting into."
By Mike McQuaide | August 4, 2005
Short Trips
To stay at the Bull Hill Guest Ranch, perched on an isolated hilltop in Washington's Okanogan highlands, isn't exactly like re-living the Old West -- but it's pretty darn close.
Bull Hill has a 102 year legacy as a working cattle ranch, complete with a 20-acre private lake on 50,000 acres of prime grazing land, plus 1,000 head of cattle, a 2,400-foot private airstrip, and 55 horses. It's 15 to 20 miles from the Canadian border and a six- to seven-hour drive from Seattle, two hours from Spokane.
By Jeff Larsen | June 23, 2005
An achievement 22 years in the making deserves more hoopla than your standard ribbon-cutting.
So when Snohomish County on Saturday officially opens a 10.3-mile section of the Centennial Trail, celebrants instead will lift a faux railroad-crossing arm, symbolizing the trail's 116-year-old roots as a railroad grade.
"It definitely was worth the wait," said former state Rep. John Wynne, who was among a small group of Lake Stevens visionaries who conceived the rails-to-trails project in December 1982.
By Diane Brooks | March 30, 2005
In 1973, an ad for "island property" put such exotic notions into Olde John Croan's head that he boarded a ferry, made his way down Vashon Island, across the thin strip of land that leads to Maury Island and bought his new place that very day.
"The reason I like this island," says the 79-year-old Air Force and Boeing retiree Croan, who has been using the name "Olde" since 1955, "is because it is country. ... I've traveled throughout the world, and for me, the best place I've ever been is right here."
By Heather McKinnon | February 25, 2005
Location: Bellevue.
Length: Twenty-eight miles of trails (map on park bulletin board).
Level of difficulty: Flat-to-moderate dirt/gravel trails. Muddy after rains; watch for horse manure.
By Cathy McDonald | February 26, 2004
WHATCOM COUNTY To say that it's easy to get lost mountain-biking on Bellingham's Galbraith Mountain is like saying that Northwest winters are a mite cloudy. Or that Seattleites enjoy a spot of coffee now and again. Or that Microsoft retains a lawyer or two. It's understating the obvious.
And what's obvious is this: So many trails, fire and logging roads crisscross this hump of mixed forest and clearcut that you're never quite sure which direction you're riding.
By Mike McQuaide | January 16, 2003
Take a Walk
Location: Mercer Island.
Length: Several miles; gravel trails rim the three park sections, with dirt interior trails. A new, fine-gravel accessible trail encircles the northwest section.
Level of difficulty: Flat to moderately steep.
By Cathy McDonald | October 24, 2002
SKYKOMISH -- As we lounged on the shore of log-strewn Eagle Lake in the September sun after a morning of fishing, we spotted a faint path behind us following a talus slope up 5,936-foot Mount Townsend, a long, boulder-crowned ridge in the heart of the proposed "Wild Sky" wilderness.
By Greg Johnston | October 3, 2002
Take a Walk
Location: Pateros, Okanogan County.
Length: Two miles.
Level of difficulty: Gently sloped fire road around the perimeter of the camping areas, and a moderate-to-steep ridge trail (accessible from the parking lot just inside the group camp/third camping loop).
By Cathy McDonald | June 20, 2002
The Iron Horse Trail may be Washington's finest example of a multiple-use trail. Not only can you hike sections of it year-round, you can ride a horse, practice climbing skills on the rock walls along it, ride a bike, jog, or just stroll and enjoy the scenery.
By Karen Sykes | May 30, 2002
