The Washington State Hiking Podcast

Best snowshoeing hikes near Seattle

• Jennie Thwing Flaming and Craig Romano • Episode 40

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Jennie Flaming:

Welcome to The Washington State hiking podcast. I'm your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming,

Craig Romano:

and I'm your co host, Craig Romano,

Jennie Flaming:

Craig and I are happy to have you here. We provide practical and timely, seasonal hiking advice for hikers, trail runners and potential hikers and trail runners of all skill and ability levels that is helpful, accurate, fun and inclusive. Hi everyone. Jennie here, so today we're gonna talk a little bit about snowshoeing. And most of the time on this podcast, we talk about snow free hiking, and there's a few reasons for that, but probably the most important one is that something I've learned over the years of writing and working with people around what they're looking for in hikes in Washington, most people want to hike without snow, even in the winter, and we can Do that as we talked about, or as we're going to talk about in our winter hiking guide and our Solstice hike guide, those episodes are coming up in the next couple of weeks, in December, but also back in our holiday hiking Guide, which was last week. So there are lots of snow free options. But I actually do really love snowshoeing, and I'm sure some of you do as well. So we're going to talk a little bit about Olympic National Park in next week's episode, and snow options there. And there's going to be an episode in early January about snowshoeing at Mount Rainier. So this one, I'm going to focus on snowshoe options that are close to Seattle. Now, if you're not in Seattle, you may already be aware of of snowshoeing options other parts in the state of the state. I'm just going to mention a couple that aren't near Seattle, but are really cool. One of those is Mount Spokane State Park near Spokane, and the other is puffer Butte in far southeast Washington. Those are both awesome snowshoe trips as well, but they are more than six hours away from Seattle. So for most of this episode, I'll be talking about snowshoe options within an hour of Seattle, plus one, that's a little further away, but is totally worth it actually, to that fall into that category. Okay, so let's start with close to Seattle first. Now I want to start by saying that there are some changes to what's available and the cost in around snow. Call me pass this winter, 2024 2025 that I have just learned about. And in fact, I'm re recording this podcast because of learning about some of these things within the last week. So winter stuff changes a lot. So if you're listening to this next winter, I'll provide an update if any of this significantly changes. But I also want to really encourage you to sign up for my email list. I always put it in the show notes. There is a free monthly newsletter about hiking in the greater Seattle area, and I also have a paid one that's every single week. So you can sign up for either of those, and those are going to always have more up to date information, because it's easy to edit those on the go. But yes, so the two big changes we're starting now with snow. Call me pass the two big changes are. Number one, Washington State Parks is opening a new snow park at Franklin falls. Now my goal is to go and check it out in December, but you're listening to this in early December, and I have not made it there yet, so I will definitely on my email list have updates about this. I believe that the new snow Park is at the actual Franklin falls Trailhead. So in the past, if you've been there in the winter, you you'd know that if you park at that snow Park area, it's like four miles up to the trail head, and then you're on the trail, and usually a lot of that is road walking without even snow, and that can make a really long day to get up there. So now it should be more like two or three miles round trip. But like I said I haven't been there to confirm exactly what it looks like on the ground. I just know what Washington State Parks has released on the Internet. So I'll put a link to in the show notes to the new Franklin falls snow Park, the way that I always like to do. Franklin falls before. Was to start at the ski area at the top and go down. And this winter, the summit at Sno call me ski area is going to charge $55 for parking for people who are not who aren't pass holders, to who aren't skiing. And I'm sure that's because there were lots of people like me that parked there for free and enjoyed a number of wonderful trails at Stone call me pass, and that isn't really going to be an option this winter. $55 to park is more than I want to spend so and there's quite a few restrictions on it as well. So I get it, but it's also frustrating. So I just want to say that's the other big change, is the parking situation. So one of my other favorite winter snowshoe hikes at Snow call me pass for a long time has been the PCT going north for a couple miles. I think that's not, unfortunately, going to be realistic to get to this winter. So we're going to gloss over that one, a couple other things about snow. Call me pass the Gold Creek snow Park, which is always really busy and crowded. You don't need this podcast to know about Gold Creek. You know, it's all over the place. It is supposed to be closing sometime in the next few months for 10 years. But so far, the Forest Service has not confirmed, and neither has Washington State Parks when that's going to happen exactly. So check on that before heading out there. The other place that I really love that's also really busy. It shares a parking, not even a parking area, just roadside parking with with Gold Creek pond is the Kendall peak lakes snowshoe. And I really love that one because it has, if you want to get a little more of a workout, it has more elevation gain. It has some great views. Going all the way up to Kendall peak lakes is like nine miles round trip. So that's a lot. That's more than I usually want to snowshoe, but you can go even just a couple miles up and turn around, and that also makes for a pretty great day. Another thing about Snoqualmie Pass is that where there are groomed cross country ski trails. So that is at the high act snow Park and at the Cabin Creek snow Park, also at Crystal Springs and the Nordic Center at Snoqualmie It is super important not to ever walk or snowshoe on a groomed cross country ski trail. So that includes the two tracks and the groomed area between the two sets of tracks where you see people skate skiing and people who, so I'm a cross country skier, so people like me who cross country ski pay extra, a lot, a lot more to be able to access the snow parks that have cross country ski grooming. And so when that gets messed up by people walking around, that really sucks. The other thing is, it's a pretty big safety hazard if people are on a trail and then all of a sudden there's a big gash in the trail from someone walking snowshoeing. So that's a really big deal. Please don't do that if you are snowshoeing near a groom scaria, just make sure to stay on the outside of the grooming So on the far right side, okay, so that was still call me pass. So if you're looking for some other options, which you may well be because some things have changed, I wanted to recommend a couple other places that are fairly close to still call me past that are also good. So one of them is over by nearly at the salmon le sac snow Park, which also has green trails. So stay away from those, or off to the side if you're snowshoeing. But you can also go up the Copper River there, or the Cooper River. Sorry, I always think it's Copper River, but that's in Alaska. The Cooper River is beautiful. It's not a super packed down trail. Often there aren't as many people there, which is wonderful, but it's not always super obvious where the trail is, so you need to pay attention for not getting lost, but also not forgetting too close to the edge and falling into the river, but it's beautiful. It's super mellow. It's often sunnier over there than it is in western Washington, closer to Seattle. So that is a place I would really recommend exploring. It's wonderful to explore on snowshoes. So. Also. So going back west from still call me pass a couple other options. These last two I'm going to mention, in the area do not always have snow at the beginning of the trail. So you'll want to read those WTA trip reports to see what's going on. The first one is the lake Annette snow Park, which is a popular summer trail. This is a new snow Park. This is the second or third winter it's been there. And often there's not, well, it depends on the year and the time of year, but there's often not snow in the parking area. Sometimes there is the road getting to the parking area from I 90 has terrible like car swallowing potholes so you can get around them, but you really have to be careful, um, so you may be walking on the ground for a little bit before you get to the Snow. I would not recommend going all the way to a net Lake, because there are some significant avalanche areas up there closer to the lake. So you need to be on top of the Northwest avalanche center forecast, and you need to be knowledgeable and have equipment for avalanches if you're going to go through there. I don't take any risks with avalanches. I don't go into places where that's really an option during the winter. But I do pay attention to the northwest avalanche center forecasts. They're really helpful for weather and snow safety, and it's a great organization, so I will put their info in the show notes. Alright, one other spot you also on that snow park, you can get up onto the cascades to Palouse Trail, which is a rail trail that crosses the entire state of Washington, and that is a mellow, wide, good place to snowshoe also. Okay, the last one in that area I want to just mention is rattlesnake mountain. Now you're probably familiar with rattlesnake ledge, which so I'm talking about the other side of rattlesnake mountain, the side that has the mountain bike park and is close to the snow. Call me casino same exit off of I 90. Now often, you know, there's not always snow there, so keep that in mind. But I have quite a few times gone to rattlesnake mountain to that other side to do a hike to either stands overlook or grand prospect, which are two places you get to on that side. And I've often run into quite a bit of snow, so again, you'll want to check conditions. But that is either a great winter hike without snow, or it can be pretty fun for snowshoeing, and you can actually go all the way across to rattlesnake ledge and down, which I've done, which is like 10 miles, but it's very unlikely you're going to have snow on the rattlesnake ledge side when you get through there. So anyway, just another one to check out. All right, we're going to take a short break, and when we come back, I'm going to talk about a couple other spots that are a little further away from Seattle. Hi everyone. Jennie here. I hope you're enjoying this episode so far. Since it is the holiday season, if you're listening to these episodes in real time, I wanted to let you know that this is a great time to support the podcast. If you're looking for gifts for folks or things for inspiration for yourself in the new year, check out Craig's books. They are all linked in the show notes, all of his amazing hiking guides to Washington. And I also have my weekly newsletter with weekly hiking, hiking inspiration, real time, current weather, current conditions, all of that, as well as my Seattle seasonal hiking Guide, which is digital, and my hike guide planner. So check all of those out. Those are all in the show notes, along with our tip jar, and this is a great time to support the podcast as we head in to 2025 so thanks for listening, and happy holidays, and we're back all right. So I wanted to mention before wrapping up this episode, a couple of other places in western Washington that can be pretty great for snowshoeing. So one of them is Skyline lake at Stevens Pass, and as far as I know, you can still park there at the ski area if you get there pretty early, I would definitely. Me check on that, because it wouldn't surprise me if that changed, but I don't know that it has, but especially on a sunny day. Man, it is a steep, a steep snowshoe up to Skyline lake, but it's not super far, and when you get up there, you're in the trees and the forest, and the lake provides a pretty big open area, and it is just beautiful on a clear day. So I really love that one. The other one I wanted to mention is artist point, which is a place that many people would say is the best snowshoeing anywhere in Washington State. It's at the Mount Baker ski area, basically near Bellingham. So it's further away from Seattle, but close, close ish to those of you in Bellingham and Everett. And you go, you go up there and go to the Mount Baker, scaria. When you get up there, the signage can be a little confusing, and sometimes changes depending on the snow level, and if the plow covered up all the signs or things like that. But basically you're going to go to Heather Meadows, and then you can hike up to this beautiful viewpoint that will definitely be on the snow, because that's at like 5000 feet of elevation and is near a ski area. So I want to just mention how important it is to not snowshoe in a ski area. So similar to Nordic skiing, it is an enormous safety hazard for people to be walking snowshoeing in a ski area. In that case, the hazard is mostly for you. As the snowshoer, people are going to be going fast and not expecting you, so don't snowshoe on ski runs. That is not safe. You don't want to do that. And to get to artist point, you're going to be going around the ski run, not through it all, right? Oh, one more thing I want to just mention about both artist point and Skyline Lake is you're going to be dealing with ski traffic on a two lane road. There's also ski traffic on still call me pass, but there are a lot more lanes, so just prepare for that. It might take a little extra time, especially if you're coming down or going up at the same time as lots of skiers. Okay, before we wrap this up, I just want to emphasize the importance of safety in winter. That's something that Craig and I have talked about in the previous couple of episodes. But just make sure that you are checking those Washington trails trip reports that you're checking the weather, that you're checking with Washington D O T to see what the road conditions are like. And finally, the Northwest avalanche Center, and I'm going to put all of those resources in the show notes, so that you can find them easily. So I think that's all for now. Have fun out in the snow. Thank you for joining us for this episode of The Washington State hiking podcast. Hey,

Craig Romano:

do you have questions for Jennie and I to answer in future episodes? If so, the link right below the tip jar lets you leave a voice memo for us. We'd love to hear from you.

Jennie Flaming:

And if you are enjoying this ad free podcast, please help support it by contributing to our tip jar. You don't need an account, and there's no commitment. It's the first link in the show notes. We also have links in the show notes to our work, both Craig's books, my website, if you would like to support us further

Craig Romano:

and again, thanks again for joining us and we look forward.

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Jennie Thwing Flaming

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Craig Romano

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