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Trail of Ten Falls
SILVER FALLS, WILLAMETTE NATIONAL FOREST, OR: Some journeys begin before the first step ever touches the trail. Mine started on a long drive toward Oregon with enough road for the weather to give me all four seasons and for my mind to wander. Somewhere on I-5 south, I caught myself grateful for something seemingly ordinary.…
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Melakwa Lake
ALPINE LAKES WILDERNESS, NORTH BEND, WA: I slipped out of the driveway before 4 AM while the world was still deciding whether to call it night. The summer solstice was close enough that darkness feels more like a formality than anything else, and somewhere on that long, quiet stretch of I-90 with the Cascades beginning…
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Dog Mountain
COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE, WA: The drive south felt quieter than usual, even during daylight, with traffic, and a familiar playlist filling the space in my car. Somewhere after Dupont, on that long stretch of I-5 south, Viktor Frankl joined my thoughts. I was filled with gratitude, and a few questions. My mind kept circling back…
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Dungeness Spit
DUNGENESS WILDLIFE AREA, SEQUIM, WA: The gate at the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge opened at 6 AM, but the day had already been unfolding long before that. I drove under the pre-dawn sky, windows down, letting in the chill on the last mile of my drive. Most of my hikes begin with a longer drive…
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Tunnel Falls
COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE, CASCADE LOCKS, OR: The road felt different than it usually does before a hike. Normally it’s just me, darkness, and the quiet hum of tires before sunrise, but this time the highway carried a migration of seekers escaping south into the weekend. I watched the early evening light hang over small puget…
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Mailbox Peak
MIDDLE-FORK SNOQUALMIE, NORTH BEND, WA: There’s something about leaving the house before the rest of the world has any business being awake that strips a day down to what it actually is. I was on the road by 3:15 this morning, Highway 18 completely to myself, my dashboard being the only light in the valley,…
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Mount Townsend
BUCKHORN WILDERNESS, OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK, WA: The morning air, a crisp thirty-eight degrees, hit me as I stepped out of my car at the trailhead, the world still in darkness that would remain for at least another hour. The sound of rushing water provided a soundtrack for today’s adventure, and I felt a familiar excitement,…
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Teneriffe Falls
MOUNT SI, NORTH BEND, WA: I’ve always found the hours before the world wakes up to be the most honest. This morning, as I drove toward North Bend under the dark fading night, I felt a familiar pull toward the gift of another journey: Teneriffe Falls. There’s a certain weight to the silence in the…
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Greenline to Wedekind
CAPITOL STATE FOREST, OLYMPIA, WA: I stepped into this day with a quiet anticipation that felt serene, the kind of morning where the air was crisp enough to wake you up before the sun even thinks about peeking over the horizon. Driving down I-5 toward Capitol State Forest, I traveled a familiar route, my mind…
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Kalama Falls
MERRILL LAKE WILDLIFE AREA, WA: Just before dawn broke over the horizon, a soft magic lingered in the air, hinting at the adventures to come. Today, I found myself drawn to Kalama Falls, eager to breathe in the cool morning air and listen to the soft echoes of a wilderness that experienced its share of…