Mountaineer Magazine

Prairie savannas dotted with Garry oak trees — the only native oak species in Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia — used to be common throughout the Puget trough, including the San Juan Islands. As human development and Douglas fir have encroached, this unique ecosystem has shrunk to less than five percent of its historic range in this area, and birds like the Western bluebird, that need open spaces, have disappeared along with it.  Read more…

In her first class with The Mountaineers, Maiza Lima was impressed to learn that all classes were taught by volunteers, and all trips were led by volunteers. “It’s hard to believe people give so much time to be there for you.” She was so amazed she said to herself, “Next year, I will volunteer.” Read more…

This installment of Our Secret Rainier is technically a scramble as it has a portion that is off-trail. But it is a very easy scramble and most experienced hikers would be very comfortable on this route (so long as they had good route finding skills). The route goes by a lovely hidden lake and goes to the top of the Palisades where there are great views of The Big One. Along the way, one finds the mysterious Skull of Marcus.  Read more…

Some people have a defining moment in the outdoors that changed their lives. I don’t. I can recount a vague memory of camping with my dad, and him pulling me out of the tent in my pajamas to hike under a full moon. I can tell you that you couldn’t keep me out of waterfalls as a kid, that climbing for the first time as a sixth-grader blew my socks off, and that learning how to crack climb in Indian Creek, Utah 20 years later was completely humbling and inspiring. What I know is that our public lands are integral to who I am, and because of that I believe it’s imperative that we protect these places and the experiences they provide, and that we work to provide opportunities for everyone to have nature-based experiences. Read more…

I’ve been a member of The Mountaineers since 2002, when I joined to meet other outdoor enthusiasts and learn about hikes in the area. Since then I’ve explored many of our local trails year-round.  Read more…

You put in some time to train during the winter and spring to get ready for this amazing season that we have each year: summer. But what happens when it finally arrives? Do you continue to train? Ideally, yes.  Read more…

With their luxurious dark brown coats, fishers were irresistible to trappers in the 1800’s and early 1900’s. Their pelts brought a good price. By the late 20th century, none of these large members of the weasel family could be found in Washington State. Trapping and loss of their forest habitat led to their disappearance. In 1998, although fishers still could be found in neighboring states and other regions, Washington declared fishers endangered. Read more…

June 6, 2013: As the plane swooped over brown hillsides and stucco homes with tile roofs, I realized how very far from Washington State I was. I stared east, where clouds and ridges loomed faint and low on the horizon. I remembered the last time I was here, eight years younger and vastly inexperienced. I had faced the same distance, but this time I knew the extent of the land that sprawled between me and Washington, which had become my home. I already felt the pull of the mountains I knew like friends, and the people I loved.  Read more…

Glen: We met the day after Thanksgiving on a Seattle Mountaineers hike to Green Lake on the northwest side of Mount Rainier. There were 10 hikers on the trip and I struck up a conversation with the Polish American blond woman with a charming accent and dynamic smile. Tatiana was the bright spot in the crowd of hard-core hikers. We discovered that we had common interests besides hiking – other outdoor activities, travel, cultural events, dancing, serving others, and our faith. We also had similar degrees in geosciences. At the end of the hike, we exchanged cards and shortly after, scheduled our first date at Starbucks in December, 2013. If we both had not gone on this hike organized by the Mountaineers, we likely would have never met. Read more…

Nearly 33-years ago, on a balmy spring Saturday in Whitefish, Montana, my mom was 41-weeks pregnant and mowing the lawn. As I would be in life, I was stubborn in birth and had made myself quite cozy in her belly for an extra week. The doctor told my mother that being active would hurry me along and the lawn needed attention, so she was mowing when the contractions finally started on Saturday afternoon. I was born 16-hours later at 5:26 am on Sunday, May 13. It was Mother’s Day. Read more…

I often head to the backcountry to escape the madness of civilization. In nature, I see order, purpose, and reason. In cities, I often see chaos, confusion, and conflict. There’s nothing like a walk in the woods to rejuvenate a tired, tormented and tried soul. There’s nothing too like an invigorating hike to help validate my existence and place in the world. And while I need the natural world for my sanity and sanctity; the natural world very much needs me and other like-minded folks to help keep it from being compromised, abused, and lost forever. Read more…

Flying back from San Francisco recently, our route took us directly over Mount Shasta. I looked down right onto the top of the brown peak, speckled with a few snowfields. I still remember when it was the snow covered obelisk, glistening, beckoning, forbidding against a blue horizon. The snowpack is dwindling, the glaciers disappearing. The old volcano is changing. Again.  Read more…

In a recent conversation with my mom, she told me she regretted not taking my sisters and me camping and hiking more when we were little. As a single mom, it just seemed impossible at the time. Read more…

Steve Swenson, a current Mountaineers Director at Large, has been climbing for more than 45 years. He has made ascents of K2 and Everest, both without supplemental oxygen. In 2012, he and his partners made the first ascent of Saser Kangri II (7518 meters), then the second-highest unclimbed mountain in the world, a feat for which they were awarded the prestigious Piolet d’Or. Steve and his wife, Ann, divide their time between Seattle and Canmore, Alberta. Read more…

In June 2015, we launched our first ever adventure-based peer-to-peer fundraising campaign called Our Parks | Your Adventure (OPYA). The premise was simple: choose a National Park(s), pick a personal challenge, and complete it to raise money for The Mountaineers youth programs.  Read more…

We're very excited to be hosting IMG mountain guide and adventure writer Charlotte Austin again for an evening writing workshop. Whether you're an experienced author, part-time blogger, or curious novice, this class will give you a glimpse into the wide world of travel writing.  Read more…

During Junior Mountaineers Summer Camp in 2014, nine-year-old Sydney Swenson confidently announced to then Youth Programs Manager Caitlin O’Brien that she was planning to climb The Tooth in celebration of her tenth birthday. In January 2015, Sydney’s dad Matt Swenson sent an email to some of his friends in The Mountaineers climbing community asking if anyone was interested in joining him and Sydney on the celebratory Tooth climb. Read more…

Funny songs and unlimited jokes. That’s what Andre brings to the mountains according to his friends — along with his gregarious nature and enthusiasm for people. He moved from New Orleans to Seattle with his mom and sister after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, staying for college and beyond.  Read more…

The first person says, “I am going to the summit if it kills me!”

The second says, “I’m good right here.” Read more…

You’re done with the “hard part” of the trip. It’s all downhill now. On a trail. You’re tired. So is the rest of the team. Suddenly someone lets out a surprising loud “ouch!” He heard a pop. And now, your car seems so far away. Read more…

There's something about digging in the dirt. I always know my kid's had an especially good day when he’s in outfit number three or there's dirt in his ears. As adults, or even young adults, our dirt ‘play’ changes significantly. I hike and climb and get dirty that way for sure, but there's something about getting dirt under-the-nails through good, old-fashioned dirt digging and rock moving. I started participating in trail-work events as a way to give back to the places I played. And kept doing it in part because it because it was so satisfying to see what impact a group of volunteers could make in a day’s work, and in part because it continues to be… simply fun. Read more…

Traveling along the North Cascade Scenic Highway (State Highway 20) between Marblemount and Mazama, one can’t help but be awed by the views of jagged peaks towering on every side. It is just as awe-inspiring to realize that the North Cascades began to be formed only about 90 million years ago, a blink of an eye in geologic time, through many collisions of fragments of the Earth’s lithosphere, called plates. The region has additionally been fine-tuned by ice-sheet and valley glaciers over the past two plus million years.  Read more…

Even after 34 years, the process of plant recolonization is still going on at Mount St. Helens. To go from moonscape to
forested landscape is a long process, and scientist John Bishop finds it “wondrous.” John, an ecologist and professor at Washington State University’s School of Biological Sciences, Vancouver, has been conducting research at the national monument for 25 years, starting as a grad student. He says his initial focus was evolutionary genetics. What better place to study than a landscape that was almost biblical: it was ripe for any kind of evolution. Read more…

This installment of Our Secret Rainier guides you to a monument and some amazing basalt columns in the national park. With extra effort, one can continue on to two scrambles in a remote part of the park.  Read more…

There’s nothing like that rush of exhilaration you feel upon cresting a high ridge bursting with wildflowers and surrounded by snow-capped craggy peaks. You stand upon your heavenly perch and gaze out with utter astonishment on how breathtakingly beautiful the natural world is; from the glistening glaciers before you to the fluttering butterflies among a carpet of brilliant blossoms below you. With senses completely overloaded, who among us hasn’t felt the urge to twirl amid the lupines and pull a Julie Andrews?  Read more…

Meet Helen Engle, a 64-year Mountaineers member and lifelong conservationist. She has devoted her life to protecting the places she loves, and is truly and inspiration to our community of explorers. Read more…

I first dreamed of writing books when I was twelve years old, stuck on my family’s sailboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Writing was an antidote to boredom, but as I grew up, it became a true passion. When I followed in my father’s footsteps to the summit of Mount Everest, the story was too good not to write about. Read more…

Atkins. Paleo. Zone. Low-carb. Low-fat. Gluten-free. There are as many eating plans out there as there are individuals, and just as much confusing information about which is best for the active outdoors enthusiast. The following habits recommended by Precision Nutrition require no calorie counting or food weighing, yet provide you with a healthy, functioning body that will get you where you want to go. Read more…

Life is full of people you don’t know for long, but who have a profound impact on your life and work. I met a guy like that a little more than a year ago. It was at the REI flagship in Seattle, for an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. Read more…

One of the stories from The Wild Edge that resonates strongly with me is from Baja California, of gray whales approaching boats and trusting people to touch their bodies and stroke their newborn calves. People who experience these intimate encounters with whales describe them as among the most stirring moments of their lives--a connection of heart and spirit. Read more…