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Informationen zum Autor Douglas Lorain’s family moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1969, and he has been hitting the trails of his home region ever since. With the good fortune to grow up in an outdoor-oriented family, he has vivid memories of countless camping, hiking, bird-watching, and other trips in every corner of this spectacular area. He calculates that, over the years, he has logged well over 32,000 trail miles in this corner of the continent, and despite a history that includes being bitten by a rattlesnake, being shot at by a hunter, getting stuck in quicksand, being charged by grizzly bears (twice!), and donating countless gallons of blood to “invertebrate vampires,” he happily sees no end in sight. Lorain is a photographer and recipient of the National Outdoor Book Award. His books cover only the best trips from the thousands of hikes and backpacking trips he has taken throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and beyond. His photographs have been featured in numerous magazines, calendars, and books, and his other guidebook titles include “100 Classic Hikes in Oregon,” “Top Trails: Olympic National Park and Vicinity,” “One Best Hike: Mount Rainier's Wonderland Trail,” “Backpacking Oregon,” and “Backpacking Idaho.” After spending decades exploring the trails of the Pacific Northwest, he now lives in Hamilton, Montana, with his wife, Becky Lovejoy.Mark Wetherington began backpacking in 2007 while a student at the University of Kentucky and obsessively explored the trails and landforms of the Southeast before moving to Montana in 2014. Since arriving in Big Sky Country, he has spent as much time as possible exploring the wilderness areas and other public lands of Montana, Washington, and Idaho via boots, snowshoes, and cross-country skis. Seeking the next “best place to wake up”—from alpine lakes to abandoned fire lookouts—serves as his main inspiration for backpacking. Wetherington has worked in outdoor retail, as a freelance writer, and as a visitor services information assistant for the U.S. Forest Service in Kentucky's Red River Gorge. He has been lucky enough to find a career working in public libraries and lives in Hamilton, Montana. Klappentext Backpacking Washington presents 26 carefully crafted backpacking trips to some of the most magnificent landscapes in the state, providing vital information and detailed trail maps. Leseprobe The large and exceptionally rugged Alpine Lakes Wilderness fills a wide swath of land in the central Washington Cascades and serves as a transition zone between the gentler terrain to the south and the icy crags of the North Cascades to the north. This is a land of heavily forested canyons, ice-sculpted peaks, and enough lakes to make even residents of Minnesota, with its famous “10,000 lakes,” envious. The Pacific Crest Trail cuts a swath through the rugged heart of this wilderness, along the way visiting many of the best beauty spots and offering side trips to many more. Close proximity to Seattle and easy access to both the north and south trailheads (you can even do it with public transportation) make this an exceptionally convenient extended backpacking trip in addition to being an exceptionally beautiful one. The trail isn’t easy, with thousands of switchbacks along the way that constantly take you up and over ridges and down into deep valleys, but it’s well worth every drop (or gallon) of sweat. *** Glacier Peak Wilderness contains some of the most spectacular scenery in the northern Cascades. The Ptarmigan Traverse, described as one of the most beautiful routes in North American mountaineering, crosses the high country of the wilderness with Downey Creek being its southern terminus. While fairly well-known among mountaineers, the delightful scenery of Cub and Itswoot Lakes and the adjacent high country has not been an overly popular backpacking destination. That likely has to do with the section of trail along Bachelor Creek ...
