Savvy Exploring

Want to get away from it all and stay somewhere really unique? Looking for somewhere special on a tight budget? Want to go camping but nervous about a bear nuzzling your toes in the middle of the night? Like the idea of camping, but like a few extra creature comforts? Just looking for something different? There is something here for you! Washington has luxury hotels with stunning views, backcountry retreats, and plentiful backpacking, but we also have some pretty interesting places that don’t fit most of the normal categories:

This area is far from a secret but it is well worth the hype and we still found some quiet places. For this backpacking trip you can just show up, fill out a permit, and off you go (assuming you can find a parking spot) but there are plenty of options for breaking up or extending your trip. A few memorable moments of this trip for us was a flyover, our friend’s tent going for a swim, drinking ice cold beer that we didn’t have to carry, walking on a bed of tinsey pinecones, the balance beam log, and fending off chipmunks!

The Goat Rocks Wilderness sits between three volcanoes and in the summer it is a paradise for flower lovers. You won’t have to worry about being alone on this trail, but there is enough space to find a little solitude if desired. The map below shows our route and includes photos of many of the campsites and water sources. This article is still in process so please stop back or subscribe to our newsletter or Facebook page to make sure you don’t miss anything.

Last year we made a giant loop of some of Canada’s best National Parks and got a brief taste of each. We loved it so much that we did it again this year, for the same week, with a slightly different itinerary. This time we went further north, spending the majority of our time in Jasper National Park, with plenty of stops on the way there and back.

This trek combined mountainous agrarian culture and the occasional rumble of volcanic eruptions, with safari style camping and great meals. The Guatemalan Highlands is a place where you can find women dressed in vibrant traditional clothing, churches blasting music on weeknights, and people cultivating impossibly steep terrain, while lava shoots skyward in the background.

I am not a Pacific Northwest or Washington native, but I moved here for the mountains and have done a fair bit of exploring with well over 100 hikes ranging form easy to a couple of Washington’s volcanoes. These are my picks for the best!

This backpacking adventure had phenomenal mountain views and stunning lakes, laced with delicious berries. At night we had the beautiful milky way shining brightly overhead, along with some other strange lights. We found solitude on High Pass and friendly comradery everywhere else. The fall colors were particularly spectacular. If you have been wanting to try backpacking, but are scared of sleeping outside with the animals, I think the number of people here should alleviate your worries some and this is a nice easy place to give it a try.

The Enchantments is a wildly popular hiking area and camping permits are difficult to get for most zones. The Eightmile Caroline Zone seems to be a bit of the ugly duckling. As the least loved area it is the easiest to get permits for and the best if you are looking to avoid the crowds. Just because it is the least loved doesn’t mean it isn’t stunning. The Eightmile Caroline Zone offers views of a glacier, jagged mountain peaks, clear alpine lakes, vibrant meadows, and a couple optional mountain scrambles if you wish to challenge yourself.

First off, this is absolutely not the way to see these parks! That said, this was an amazing trip and an incredible way to spend a week. We live within driving distance (although quite a long drive) so we decided to make a big loop to get a taste of each. People come from all over the world to visit Banff and a good number visit Jasper, but very few give them all a shot. Now we can’t wait to go back! This was our one week tasting journey.

This one day itinerary has a great mix of activities and sights. The Icefield Parkway has infinite options and enough variety to suit most nature lovers. From hardcore climbing and mountaineering to stunning roadside lookouts and gentle turquoise lake paddling, it has it all! Everything on this itinerary is also dog friendly too!