Pacific Northwest Outdoor News and Updates

A consolidated look at current hiking conditions, climbing reports, bike routes + trails, and camping information from around the Pacific Northwest, with a focus on Seattle and the Puget Sound area. See the links on the left for detailed information on Seattle bike trails, mountain bike trails, regional hikes and bike rides. New info added all the time.

For information on biking in the Seattle area, see this page.

For information on Western Washington hiking, see this page.

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Westlake Protected Bike Lane opens

posted Sep 20, 2016, 7:06 PM by Luke Hizer [ updated Sep 20, 2016, 7:07 PM ]

The new Westlake bike lane opened on Sept 15th, providing a safe connection between South Lake Union and the Fremont Bridge. At the bridge, the 1.25 mile path connects to the Ship Canal Trail which continues along the water and under the Ballard Bridge into Interbay.

September Updates

posted Sep 6, 2016, 5:15 PM by Luke Hizer

Here's a summary of the latest outdoor news as the 2016 season begins to wind down:

Mt Baker has fresh snow above 6,500 ft
On the Penninsula, Olympic Hot Spring Rd has re-opened to hikers and bikers. The road is supposed to re-open to vehicles around mid-October, allowing access to the hot springs and the Whiskey Bend Trailhead.
In other Olympics-related news: more improvements are about to get underway on the Spruce Railroad Trail, this time the rehabilitation of McPhee Tunnel and another half-mile of trail improvements.
There's going to be half as much parking at Paradise starting today and running through Sept 23rd. It looks the work will be on weekdays only.
As of August 26th, all tunnels on the John Wayne Trail between Cle Elum and Cedar Falls were open. There's still plenty of time to ride the trail before the tunnel closes on November 1st. There's also a good east-to-west trip report out today.

Area Biking News

posted Aug 7, 2016, 7:12 PM by Luke Hizer

A few updates:

The John Wayne Trail will be closed at the Yakima Training Center starting August 22nd, although a detour is in place.
Part of the Sammamish River Trail - from Blyth Park to 102nd Ave NE - will be closed for habitat restoration starting in mid-August. Cyclists will be detoured onto E. Riverside Drive.
There's new gravel on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail, smoothing out the ride a bit.

Olympic Hot Springs Road to re-open in early October

posted Jul 26, 2016, 7:06 PM by Luke Hizer

Olympic National Park announced that repair work on Olympic Hot Springs Rd started July 25th and will run through early October. The road was washed out last November and has been closed to vehicles since then, blocking access to the hot springs, Whiskey Bend Trailhead and many of the popular Elwah-area hiking trails. The temporary trail around the washout, established for hikers, bikers and horses, will be closed during construction as well; no access of any kind will be permitted until the re-opening.

WTA's blog post has more details and a listing of all the affected trails.

The Peninsula Daily News also has additional background on the project.

Middle Fork Road closed until July 29th

posted Jul 20, 2016, 5:47 PM by Luke Hizer [ updated Jul 22, 2016, 8:05 PM ]

Update: more info from WTA

According to this tweet from the Forest Service, Middle Fork Road will be closed until July 29th, including the weekend. More details about the project and the closure are available here.

Anit-Aircraft Peak Trailhead renamed

posted Jul 4, 2016, 12:09 PM by Luke Hizer [ updated Jul 4, 2016, 2:34 PM ]

At Cougar Mountain, Anti-Aircraft Peak Trailhead and an associated trail have been renamed in honor of Harvey Manning - a longtime conservationist and open space advocate. King County Parks suggests trying the hike to Coal Creek Falls.

Road to Artist Point now open

posted Jun 25, 2016, 9:20 PM by Luke Hizer [ updated Jun 25, 2016, 9:23 PM ]

State Route 542 is now open beyond the Mt Baker Ski Area to Artist Point. There's still a lot of snow.

Latest outdoor news

posted Jun 16, 2016, 9:59 PM by Luke Hizer [ updated Jun 23, 2016, 9:33 PM ]

Almost high season!

In the North Cascades National Park, the Cascade River Road is now open to the trailhead.
Evergreen is starting on a new trail system in the Raging River State Forest that will connect to Tiger Mountain. Fifteen miles of trails scheduled to open in late summer of 2017. Something to look forward to.
A quarter-mile of the Green River Trail in Kent will be shut down for about another month. The closure can be avoided by detouring on surface streets.
There's a new bus service connecting North Bend to Rattlesnake Lake. The Cedar Falls Loop costs $1 and runs from May through September.
Down at Mt St Helens, Forest Rd 99 is open tomorrow, but you can only get to it via FR-25 from the north. The part south of 99 should open in a few weeks.
The Tokul Trestle is back open, which means you can now ride the entire Snoqualmie Valley Trail.
The City of Redmond has posted a video explaining the detours on the East Lake Sammamish trail due to work on the Redmond Central Connector. The detours are expected to last through October. Additional information here.

Road to Blanca Lake washed out 4 miles from trailhead

posted May 17, 2016, 7:27 PM by Luke Hizer

A washout has closed the road leading to Blanca Lake Trail, a popular hiking destination near Skykomish. If you want to get to the lake, plan on an extra 4-mile road hike from the washout to trailhead.

Bicycle Sunday

posted May 13, 2016, 9:26 PM by Luke Hizer

It's time for another Bicycle Sunday, ride car-free on Lake Washington Blvd (the portion just south of I-90 to Seward Park, about 3 miles) on May 16th from 10am-6pm. Next on is on Memorial Day weekend.

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