Best Holiday Hikes for 2025

Jennie shares some favorite hikes for holiday time - either to find great options for short, dark wet days or sharing the best of Washington with visitors as well as why it's worth it to get out and hike during the busy holiday season.

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Transcript

 Welcome to the Washington State Hiking Podcast. I'm your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming, 

and I'm your co-host Craig Romano.

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 Today. I am going to share some advice and great places for holiday hikes. Before I do that with the official beginning. Of the holiday season starting today. If you are someone who gives gifts to people, especially hikers, I want to encourage you to pick up some of Craig's guidebooks for the people in your life.

I know, you know, we've talked about this a lot, and if you're wondering from the perspective of someone who's not Craig, like why these books are so valuable. Um, I enjoy. Reading guidebooks as far part of my planning and like dreaming about the hikes I'm gonna do, and not only Craig's others as well.

We've had other guidebook authors on the podcast like Adam Sawyer and Matt West Rodowski, who both write about Oregon. Um. It's a tough time for guidebook authors right now, so that is a great thing to pick up either for yourself or someone else. And I've really been reflecting on ways that I can, um, select meaningful gifts for people that are not, that are kind of outside of this like.

Big corporate kind of overwhelming thing. And I think for those of us, like Craig and I, who are self-employed, small business owners, um, freelance writers and podcasters, I'm really looking for other people like that to support, um, with my holiday spending. So. And just wanted to thank you for listening to that.

Encourage you to not only support us, but also other small businesses, creators, people who are working locally in your community. Um, if you want to support me, um, the best way to do that financially is to, um. Subscribe to my weekly email newsletter where I give timely ideas and specific hikes for every week, and it's different content than what we cover in the podcast.

So, yeah, and of course you can always leave Craig and I a tip in the through the show notes, um, if you just wanna send us something to support the podcast. But thank you for taking a couple minutes to listen to that. And I just really wanna encourage you to look for those folks who you can support, um, during this holiday season in particular.

Okay, so that brings us to holiday, hiking, and last year around this time. We did, Craig and I did an episode together that was about holiday hikes. So if you wanna hear more of his advice about that, go back and ta listen to that episode. Um, it was the last episode in December, uh, 2024, or sorry, November, not December.

Anyway, so I'm gonna share some of my thoughts about holiday hiking with you today. So I think there's a couple, uh, there's probably three reasons why I think that talking about holiday hiking in particular is really valuable. So the first one is for us, right? During the holiday season. Some of us get more time off, some of us are.

Extra busy. So it really depends on what your job is and your family situation and what holidays you celebrate. But it's a time when our routines tend to be a bit disrupted, and if you are looking to work more hiking into your routine or to maintain your hiking routine through the holiday season. Uh, this is just, you know, if you can do it now on the darkest and wettest days of the year when things are extra disrupted and busy, then you can do it anytime.

So that's one reason why I think it's particularly valuable. Another one is just the value of getting outside, even when we have short. Dark wet days. Uh, it's really good for our mental and physical health in so many ways that we've talked about before. Everything from helping to regulate our blood pressure, to calm, anxiety, um, just to improve our overall fitness, but.

Even if we are not doing tough hikes, um, if we're doing like a mellow, just little time outside or a picnic or a stroll around the neighborhood, even that there is overwhelming evidence that that's incredibly valuable. So. I just, you know, and for people who struggle at this time of year, it's just super important.

So that's the second reason. And then the third one is that some people have lots of visiting friends and family, and this is a wonderful way to introduce them to Washington. Even though it's winter, make sure they have a good rain jacket and you bring lots of hot drinks and make some fun stops. And it's a great way to introduce people to Washington, whether it's their first visit or they've been here many times.

And if you don't have visitors, um, with your own family or friends that you're spending time with, getting outside and taking a day trip to one of the islands, like we talked about with Bainbridge. And we have some other islands coming up that we're gonna talk about. Whether it's that or a getaway, maybe to the San Juan Islands or the Columbia River Gorge or Washington Wine Country, or Olympic National Park or anywhere else, um, it's just a wonderful time to get out and explore.

When most places in Washington are in their low season, of course not ski areas, not Leavenworth, not Winthrop, um, but other places, this is a slower time of year and so that can be a really great way to explore. Alright, so what are, what is my kind of specific advice about holiday hiking now we've talked about, now that we've talked about why it's important.

I think the first thing is it's important to just get real about the fact that we have short days at this time of year. We may have other obligations in the morning or in the evening or in the afternoon. Um, we have short days and then we might only have part of a day to get outside. Also the weather is really unpredictable.

Uh, late November and um, December are the months of the year where we have the most storms, the most precipitation, the most wind, the most power outages. Not, not that those things can't happen in January and February, also, they certainly do, but this is a time we tend to have the most flooding. So regardless of how things are.

Today, um, throughout the winter, but especially in the next six weeks, it's really important to check things like. Washington Trails Association, trip reports, um, things like the DOT app that will tell you what's going on with passes and roads, um, and the weather just to, to really stay on top of the conditions on that particular day.

This is probably the time of year more than any. Other than that, having a couple backup plans is really important for all kinds of reasons. Okay, so with that in mind, what are some great places to get outside during the holidays? The first one, um, is. Anywhere that's close to home. Right. I mentioned, um, I think it was last week, that I have a broken shoulder right now.

So until I, at least mid-December, I won't be driving, I won't be able to use my hiking poles, and so I have discovered several new walks in my neighborhood. Um, and you know, even just a park that has a picnic shelter where you can go and have a snack or a meal or a cup of coffee is a wonderful thing to do or go for a walk in that park.

Um, so. Just figure that out for whatever town or county you live in. I live in Snohomish County and they have a great Parks website. Um, so wherever you are, just take, really take advantage of that. So that's one. Another one is beach and island hike. So I'll give you some specific examples, but, um, and many of these we've talked about before, but going to an island like Bainbridge.

Like vash on, which we're gonna talk about in a couple weeks, um, like Whidby Island, those are make great day trips depending on whether, where you are exactly. Um, they may be more or less reasonable day trips. Um, but they're. They're perfect. They feel like a real getaway and lots of small local businesses in all of these places that are gonna have special holiday events, and that is just a really fun thing to take part in.

For example, since Craig and I uh, recorded our episode about Bainbridge, I learned that at the Blo Reserve. Which is a, a place where you pay for admission. It's not super expensive. It's a gardens they have in late December, solstice hikes, um, or solstice walks, they call them. Some of them are silent, some of them are kid friendly.

They have different options where um, right at sunset they give you a lantern and you go on a guided walk around the property. I really want to do that this year. I think that is such a fun idea. And of course if you wanted to do more hiking, you could do. One of the many other hikes on Bainbridge that we talked about a couple weeks ago.

So if you missed that episode, definitely go back and listen to it. Okay. Um, if you don't wanna deal with a ferry and all of that, you know, there are some wonderful, um, beach and, uh, hikes that are not on islands. So, for example, Meadowdale Beach Park, which is in Linwood awesome hike. Um, Padilla Bay, which is up by Mount Vernon.

These are both, um, places that are in neighborhoods. Um. Well, and Padilla Bay is completely flat. Um, it's cool bird viewing area, so that's another one. Um, Seattle's Waterfront Parks, like especially Elai Beach, um, golden Gardens, great places to go this time of year. Um, also further down south. Um, the Billy Frank Jr.

National Wildlife Refuge is a wonderful pl wonderful place to take visitors. Um, it's in Lacey, so between Tacoma and Olympia, and of course really any beach hike that's convenient for you will be good. One of the reasons I really like. Beach and waterfront hikes is that they typically have less trees. So even in a pretty gnarly storm, they're pretty safe, um, usually to hike.

Um, so yeah, so beach and island hikes are definitely the top of my personal list for holiday hiking. If you wanna get a little further away, you know, if you're going up into the mountains, you're, you're probably going to be encountering snow, but maybe not, right? So you're gonna just have to look at, um, at what your options are, what the snow level is like.

Washington Trails Association trip reports are absolutely perfect for that. But you can often still do some fun mountain hikes even during the holiday season. Opus Lake, which is like between North Bend and Snow Call me Pass, is one that is sometimes still snow free at the end of the year. Not always, but sometimes Another one is the Franklin Falls trail and.

Again, there might be snow, there might not be snow. You might need a snow park pass to park there. You might not. It literally can change day to day, but that's also a great visitor hike because it's relatively short, relatively flat. Um, if there is snow and ice, just be so, so careful at the end of the trail.

Um. You can walk down to the waterfall, but when it is icy, it is extremely dangerous. So, and when there's snow, there's an avalanche ch there. So you just have to be extremely careful there in the winter. But it's a wonderful place to go. It's a beautiful waterfall. It's right under the freeway, but it's still really awesome.

Um, so that's a favorite one during holiday time for me. Um, a couple others I was gonna recommend are a couple of favorite hikes in Washington wine country. And again, you know, sometimes during the holidays, driving over the passes to eastern Washington is really complicated. And really snowy and really miserable, and sometimes it's totally fine.

So again, you're gonna have to figure out the day you go, if that makes sense. If you already live in eastern Washington, again, you know, you all can get ice storms and fog. But if you are having one of those beautiful winter days, I'm gonna share. Two of my favorites from Eastern Washington, but there are so many others.

Um, one of them is Couch Canyon near Yakima, and you can just hike through the canyon. Beautiful Basalt, Kanar, basalt down there. Um, that's one of my favorite hikes almost any time of year except maybe midsummer when it's really hot. Um, there's lots of great places to eat in Yakima. You can visit a winery, you can even hike to a winery from the canyon.

So that's one spot. And another one is Candy Mountain, near the Tri-Cities. Um. Badger Mountain too. I know that's too, but both of those, again, you have to see if it's icy, but if it's not icy, really great place to get outside, get some sun, great views, lots of wineries nearby. Um, really some fun outings. So the last thing I wanted to talk about with holiday holidays is snow.

And in the near future we'll have an episode about snowshoeing, hiking on snow, that kind of thing. But for today, I think. What I wanna say is, if you're looking for snow, um, just make sure that you're prepared for snow. Um, I sometimes bring snow shoes. I sometimes bring, um, micro spikes, which are like tire chains that you strap onto your feet, always bring poles, um, if there's gonna be snow.

Um, but some good places to find snow this time of year. Again, um, as I'm recording this right before the Thanksgiving holiday, um, there is not a ton of snow at the past level, but again, that could change in the next two days between now and when you hear this or the next five days, I guess. Um, so yeah, just really watch out for that, but especially when we get closer to winter holidays, Christmas, new Year's.

Um. If the ski areas are open, um, you don't wanna hike in a ski area, that's not a good idea. But, um, if you're not a skier, but you wanna play in the ow the tubing parks are really fun. Like the one at Scalie Pass, um, Hayak has one where you bring your own sled so they can get a little crazy, but they're really fun.

So that's a fun way to get out in the snow with friends and family. And if you're looking for more of a hike. Um, with snow, um, gold Creek Pond, which is closed in the summer. It's at Salme Pass for like 10 years for restoration. They do keep saying it's gonna be open in the winter and it's not quite the snow park season yet, which, um, starts kind of any day or for sure by December 1st, kinda depending on the snow.

That's a really great, great place to just get out in the snow, especially if it's for the first time. Um, like I said, we have had other episodes about snowshoeing and snow, and snow hiking. We're going to have more, so that's a little bit of a teaser. I know I have learned from many years of writing about hiking in Washington that lots of people, most people are interested in snow free hiking, and so that's what we focus on all year.

But some people do enjoy getting out in the snow. I'm one of those people, so we will touch on that from time to time. Well, thank you for listening to this. I'd love to hear if you have a favorite holiday hike. Oh, one other thing I wanted to mention. For quite a few years, I have had a tradition with some friends of doing an e, a hike at on Whidby Island at.

EBS landing on January 1st. Um, the first day hike tradition, which we talked about last year. We might do an episode about that again. So that's another good holiday one and would be, island is a great place to visit that we'll talk more about in the near future. So happy holidays everyone. Thank you for listening.

Craig and I are getting to start getting ready to start our third year in early 2026 with the podcast, and we are so grateful to you for listening. We would not be here. This would not exist without you. So thank you so much for being here and happy holidays. See you next week.

If you are enjoying the Washington State Hiking Podcast, Craig and I would love to have you leave us a rating and a review that helps other people find us. And if you wanna support us financially, you can leave us a tip through the show notes. No account, no commitment, nothing like that. Thank you so much for listening and see you next week.