July 10, 2025 • 24 mins
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Jennie and Craig talk about their favorite summer hiking destinations in our neighbors - Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jennie Flaming (00:00):
Jennie, welcome to the Washington State hiking
(00:07):
podcast. I'm your host. JennieThwing Flaming,
Craig Romano (00:10):
and I'm your co host, Craig Romano, Craig
Jennie Flaming (00:12):
and I are happy to have you here. We provide
practical and timely, seasonalhiking advice for hikers, trail
runners and potential hikers andtrail runners of all skill and
ability levels that is helpful,accurate, fun and inclusive.
Hey, Craig, so this week we'retalking about summer vacations
(00:34):
that are outside of Washington,in our neighboring areas, and
some wonderful places to go fora summer vacation around hiking.
So we're going to talk a littlebit about Oregon and Idaho and
British Columbia. And
Craig Romano (00:49):
for the same reasons we were talking about
Washington, the summers aregreat here. I mean, it's a lot
of it's the same weatherpatterns. The summertime best
time to be in throughout thegreater Northwest.
Jennie Flaming (01:02):
It really is, totally agree. So let's start
with Oregon. Craig, telleverybody a few of your favorite
places for a summer vacationaround hiking down.
Craig Romano (01:13):
Yeah. So yeah. I mean, Oregon's a huge state, and
thing is, if you're looking forplaces to base out of, not as
you know, you get into some ofthese great hiking areas, not as
populated. So you can certainlycamp. Of course, people love
bend, bend. Bend is big. Bend isturning into a big city. But
there's, there's other places togo so, so some of the more
obscure places, perhaps obscureto people up here, maybe not to
(01:37):
Californians or to Portlanders,is that I like to stay again?
You know, people love Hood Riverfor the for the gorge. Yeah, and
Hood River is lovely, but it'sthe same thing. I kind of
compare, like in Leavenworth, Igo to Wenatchee instead of
level. Same thing, instead ofHood River, I stay in The
Dalles. It's a little bitfarther out, a little bit
warmer, a lot more hotels,cheaper, lots of good eating.
(02:02):
You're on on the east end of thegorge now, instead of in the
center of the gorge, but lots ofaccess to gorge trails that
aren't as popular. And you canalso, again, you can get into
Mount Hood at certain areas ofHood in the Badger Creek
wilderness. And you can also getinto Mount Adams, because you
run on the border. So you canuse it as a base, you know, on
the Washington side, to gettinginto some great places, Indian
(02:23):
heaven, wilderness areas likethat. So I really like the
Dallas. Oregon coast is great,but for the lot of the same
reasons, I stay away from theWashington coast. It can be
really, really busy and foggy.
But if you go farther south, theweather patterns change, and
you're much farther away fromfrom Portland. Bandon is
probably my favorite town on theOregon coast. It is absolutely
(02:44):
lovely. Love the area. It can beexpensive in the summertime, not
many hotels, but I tell you thatthe beach access, there's some
great places again, if you want,Coos Bay, a little grittier, a
little more history, but I'lltell you what's interesting
about Coos Bay. You know, a lotof people would just drive
through, it's a mill town, andnot exactly give the warm
(03:04):
fuzzies, but there's a lot ofhistory in that town, and Coos
Bay is really reinventingitself. I went to a conference
there a couple years ago, and Iwas blown away one by the food.
There are some amazingrestaurants coming out of this
area. So Coos Bay can be a greatplace to base out of to to check
out a lot of the coastal areasthat are going to be more
expensive to stay at lots ofcamping in the area. So to
(03:28):
definitely check that out. Andthen the other area I like,
again, pretty far forWashington. It's actually closer
to San Francisco. You get downinto
Unknown (03:40):
Medford, Ashland in that area, it's got more of a
California Climate too. It's,it's Ashland is very, very close
to California. But talk about,it's fascinating. Ashland is a
true, true mountain town. Ifyou're a trail runner, it's an
incredible place. It's got quitea scene there in the Siskiyou
mountains, you're actually closeto the Cascades too. It's got,
(04:00):
you're close to, a lot ofwilderness areas. It's a trail
town. The PCT comes rightthrough, through that area to
college town. There's greatrestaurants and, you know, shops
for for outdoor rec andeverything. So, yeah, definitely
check. Ashland is really, reallycool. I would go there more
towards the end of summer, andinteresting enough. I have a
conference coming up there inSeptember. So so I'm planning on
(04:23):
definitely spending some time tonice floor. And you also Medford
too. I should mention you canuse Medford as a base to to
create a Lake National Park.
Yes, if you want to stay on thehot side again, away from
Medford is pretty big. It's abig sized city. You've got
Klamath Falls, and in KlamathFalls, it's still sizable
enough. There's hotels andrestaurants. You've got the
Klamath base in there, which isan amazing place for bird
(04:44):
watching late summer, and you'reclose again to Northern
California. You can get downinto the lava beds Mount Shasta
in that area. So these are greatplaces to check out. I know it's
it's a hall from Washington,unless you live in Vancouver,
Washington, it's not that bad.
Seattle, so, So spend some timedown there. I think you'll be
pleasantly surprised to gettingaway from the the Cannon Beach
(05:07):
area, which is beautiful andeverything, but, but very, very
Jennie Flaming (05:09):
popular, yeah, you know, the one area. Those
are all fantastic suggestions. Ialso wanted to just add in that
northeastern corner of Oregonthat's like, yeah, just kind of
south of Walla. Walla andClarkston in Washington State.
Craig Romano (05:30):
Enterprise is a nice little town near wallawa
lake. Joseph,
Jennie Flaming (05:33):
yes, yeah, yes, and Joseph too. I want to refer
everybody back to our March 5episode with Matt and Adam that
was all about Oregon, and theytalked about this area in some
detail. It is hot, but some ofit is at elevation, so it isn't
quite as hot as it could be, andas some other parts of eastern
(05:57):
Oregon are. And there's, again,lots of places to go that are
not busy at all, and that youcould probably pull together
kind of a last minute trip,especially if you were camping,
because there are just so manyoptions. So I just wanted to,
really
Craig Romano (06:13):
want to get off the the grid if last minute
you've got places south of ofthe wall was like the strawberry
mountain wilderness, John Day,little town of John again, these
are really off, off the beatenpath. Cool the Steens scenes.
Mountain is amazing. It gets, itgets hot in the valley, but you
get up and tie Steens is 8700feet, I think, or ninth. It's up
(06:36):
there. It's one of the highestmountains. It's incredible. So
these are, yeah, if you'rereally looking to get away from
it, all these are so you getburns would be the most sizable
town there, if you're lookingfor a place to stay, Yep, yeah,
really, really, great.
Jennie Flaming (06:49):
Love it. Okay, let's move over to our eastern
neighbor, Idaho. And I, myhusband, Jay, is from Montana,
and so most of the time I'vebeen in Idaho has been driving
between Washington and Montana,and I'm probably not alone in
that, but I have not spent a lotof time in Idaho, and I am aware
(07:12):
that I'm missing out. So I'dlove to hear from you Craig for
hiking getaways in Idaho. Whatdo you recommend?
Craig Romano (07:20):
Yeah, you know, Idaho is big, and being on the
west side of state, I don't getthere as much as I as I should,
because I love the state. It's abeautiful state. And in Idaho is
really interesting. It'sactually three different states.
The northern part is very much.
The pan is Washington. It'sPacific Northwest. The Southeast
is Boise, Idaho. I'm sorry, theSouthwest is Boise, and the
Southeast is Utah, culturallyand just geographically. So it's
three different states. It'sreally weird how I mean, so
(07:42):
you're going to get a differentflavor in all those areas. So if
you're familiar with the withthe Northwest, you know you want
that. You know rainforests andmountains are going to be
because you have interiorrainforest the whole panhandle.
You can stay at Sandpoint, whichis a beautiful, absolutely
beautiful town. It's getting alittle pricey now it's it's kind
of one another one of thoseplaces like Winthrop in in
(08:04):
Leavenworth. People are going tocheck out the old mining towns
of Wallace and Kellogg in thatarea. You know, 40 years ago, it
was absolutely depressed. Nobodywould we just drive through. But
the towns have reinventedthemselves. There's Ski Area
towns now. A lot of the, a lotof the the homes have been
restored to you could rent ifyou're if you're just cycling
(08:25):
the trail, the quarter lanes isan 80 Mile bike trail, paved
bike trail that goes rightacross the Panhandle. Great.
There's a big state parks in thearea you can camp in, and then
you get like the Bitterrootdivide, which is the Montana,
Idaho, I've hiked in there. Andcrowds are something you can
only, you know, dream of. Itjust doesn't exist there. So
this is a really, really neatarea. It's close to Spokane, so
(08:47):
you will get people coming infrom there. And again, if you
you want to stay in the city,you want to stay in Spokane or
colane, which is a wonderfultown, those are close enough
that you can certainly do hikingtrips from moving first. Yeah,
go ahead.
Jennie Flaming (09:01):
Well, in our June, on our June, 5 episode
that was about hikes in Spokanewith Emily mandagi, she
recommended some great hikesaround standpoint. So go back
and listen to that episode andcheck that out, because she had
some great suggestions.
Craig Romano (09:18):
Yeah, it really is a beautiful town, and it's not.
And there's, there's, there'spaved Rail Trail in that area.
It's a big state park. There'slots of easier stuff in the
valley. And then you can get uphigher into the mountains,
sending out, going north ofSandpoint to Bonners ferry. And
up that area, there's on theKootenai River, kind of dips
down, and there's a niceNational Wildlife there's great
access to the Idaho, Selkirkmountains in there. So priest,
(09:40):
Lake area, really, really cool.
Again. I think if you'relistening from Spokane, you're
well aware of this area, but,but Seattleites might not be so
now, going farther into Idaho iswhen Idaho becomes more Idaho
and less Northwest. So downMcCall, which is kind of in the
middle of the state, going downthat's become a really, really
powerful. Popular base here withskiing. It's also kind of one of
(10:00):
the entrances to the Frank,Frank Church River, no return
wilderness, which is a hugeroadless areas, one of the, one
of the largest roadless areas inNorth America. It's different to
whitewater rafting. Idaho issupreme in that. And then
farthest out again, a Boise.
Even though Boise is, you know,it's a big city, it's grown a
lot. I absolutely love Boise. Iwas just there last year for a
(10:23):
marathon, either frequently,it's a quick flight if you don't
want to drive there. It's abeautiful city. Wonderful food,
great. It's trail town. It's gotan incredible Green Belt trail.
And right outside the cityitself, it's a huge network of
trails. So again, it's one ofthe places you can just take a
bus or an Uber up and reallyspend time. And then any along,
(10:45):
anywhere along this the SnakeRiver Valley, again, you get in
some neat places. Probably thesupreme place in Idaho to hike,
and I've not been there nearlyas much I need to go back, is
the Sawtooth Mountains. Sostaying in Stanley, in that
area, you're up really high. TheSawtooths are classic, beautiful
Idaho Rockies. This is north ofSun Valley. Sun Valley, of
(11:06):
course, very popular, verypricey, but, you know, it's
gorgeous and a lot of history.
If you earn Ernest Hemingway fanor But Stanley is you're on Red
Rock. Was it? Think aboutredfish. I gotta look this up.
It's been a while since I'vebeen there a big lake in big
lake in the middle. There greatplace to base. Out of lots of
camping. There's lodges andeverything. And then there's
(11:27):
some spectacular hiking in thein the sawtooth as well as in
the white cloud, the BoulderWhite Cloud mountains, which are
even higher on the east side ofthat valley. So and then again,
you can keep going farther,which I've not explored, towards
Utah and Yellowstone, that area,I've got to get out there.
There's some great hikes in thatarea, salmon, some of those
(11:47):
places I've not been to yet. Sothe country is just too damn
big. I can't keep up with it.
Yeah,
Jennie Flaming (11:55):
I know. I know.
All right, so let's make thiseven more challenging by going
to an even bigger and maybe evenmore beautiful area, which is
our northern neighbor, BritishColumbia in Canada. And despite
the current tensions between ourgovernments right now and our
government's quite bad behavioras a neighbor, there is still a
(12:16):
long history of of both of ourcountries, but also between
Washington State and BritishColumbia. We have a long history
of kinship, shared economy,shared values. And so I just
really want to encourage you, ifyou are nervous about going to
(12:37):
Canada. Don't be like, it'sreally important for us to go
spend our dollars and supportour neighbor. And also, there is
some amazing and beautifulhiking there. And we've had, you
know, in the last couple months,a couple of other episodes about
BC. So this time, Craig and Iare going to take us a little
(12:59):
further away from the border tosome of our favorite
destinations for hiking inBritish Columbia. So, Craig, why
don't you go first?
Craig Romano (13:10):
Yeah, and actually, what you said, Jennie,
is correct. And just to anyone,if you're wondering,
historically and culturally, ofthe all the border states, you
know, I grew up in New Hampshireand New Hampshire borders
Quebec, very, very culturallydifferent. British Columbia and
Washington are probably the mostclosely related of any of the of
the state provinces on theborder. We do, really do have a
(13:30):
shared culture and a sharedvalue, and I would love to keep
that intact. I love BritishColumbia. I love the people in
British Columbia. I live veryclose to the border. I've spent
a lot of time up there, soplease don't be afraid to go up
there and show the people thatyou support them. So yeah, I've
talked a lot about Vancouver,really close and but when I want
(13:51):
to go a little bit farther in,here's two of my favorite places
I like to go to. One isVancouver Island. Even though
it's not geographically veryfar, it takes a long time to get
there. So again, a lot of peoplehave been to a lot of Americans
who have been to VancouverIsland, perhaps they've only
been to Victoria, which is awonderful city, and it's a great
place to hike. But go farther upthe island, there are great
(14:11):
places. And right in the centerof the island is the city of
Courtney. A little Courtney, thecommax Valley, great place to
base out of. You can do somegreat coastal hikes. You can get
to other islands, Denman Hornbyin that area, and then you can
get to the forbidden plateauarea on Strathcona Provincial
Park, which is the largest parkon Vancouver Island. It's over
half a million acres um. If yougo up to Campbell River, which
(14:35):
is another great place you canbase, you can get into the
interior of Strathcona. Andagain, more remote hikes in that
area. Vancouver Island isspectacular. Love that. And then
my other favorite place, again,for so many reasons, it's really
not that hard to get to when ittakes me an hour to get across
the border and then to get I canget to Revelstoke in about six
(14:55):
hours, because most of the wayis actually divided highway.
It's really good road to get. Inthere, Revelstoke is it's
interesting. It's in thetransition zone. It's in the
Columbia mountains, the manashimountains. It's not quite the
Rockies. It's definitely not theCascades. I mean, it's whether I
it's one of the wettest interiorranges of British Columbia. I
will mention, though I've beengoing there for many, many
(15:17):
years, and like most of thearea, climate change is
definitely occurring, and it'snot nearly as wet the last
couple of times. First time Iremember hiking there, it rained
every single day. I was there inJuly. In the last couple of
times I've been there, it's beensunny almost every day that I
was there. I love staying rebelStokes in old railroad town
around the Trans Canada Highway.
It's been changed. It's startingto change. I'm afraid. I don't
want to become a Whistler or tobecome a Leavenworth. It's not
(15:41):
there yet. I hope it doesn'tquite get there. A lot of the
good change though, goodrestaurants, good hotels, you're
close to camping. MountRevelstoke National Park is
right outside the park rightside of the city, so that's
really and then Glacier NationalPark, not to be confused with
the Park in Montana. It's one ofmy all time favorite places in
British Columbia. Absolutelylove hiking there. Most of the
hikes are day hikes there, butthey're hard, serious elevation,
(16:05):
grizzly bear country. That givesme a thrill as much as climbing
up in the area. Yeah, just thearea stunning. Like, yeah, I
can't, I can't rave about itenough. Just one of my favorite
areas, the glaciers areincredible in there. And again,
sadly, I'm watching the therecession of those glaciers as
well. Too. Lot of history, too.
(16:27):
Matter of fact, when the therailroad was put through, there
a lot of work with horseshoetunnels and everything. But the
other kind of interesting factis that was the last piece of
the Trans Canada Highway when itwas finally connected in the
1960s This is amazing. That'show rugged that terrain is, yes.
Jennie Flaming (16:46):
And think about how far that is from the east
coast of Canada. It tells yousomething about what it was like
for for them to build thehighway over so many mountain
ranges out west.
Craig Romano (16:57):
Yeah. And that one in particular, how rugged the
snow sheds in there, andeverything you drive itself.
Matter of fact, the very firsttime I ever explored that area
was on my second trans NorthAmerica bike trip, trip. So I'm
on a bicycle 1981 going acrossCanada. So I biked across that
first time. I've been to rebels.
I mean, I've seen the changes inRevelstoke. Revelstoke was a
sleepy little railroad town backin 1981 and now it's definitely
(17:19):
a destination resort area,
Jennie Flaming (17:23):
yeah. Okay, so I've got two for British
Columbia. Like you, I'm a bigfan, and so it is not hard to
come up with a long list, butlike you, I managed to cut it
down to small number. Okay, sothe first one would be Kootenai
National Park, which is almostin Alberta. It's very easy to
(17:47):
dip a toe into Alberta whileyou're there, if you want to. So
this is the area, kind of northof Sandpoint, Idaho. And you
know, the Canadian Rockies,Banff and Jasper get a
tremendous amount of love, andthey should. They're incredible.
But I'm going to tell you thatKootenai National Park is just
(18:09):
as incredible and significantlyeasier to navigate, less
crowded, either easier to findcamping and a place to stay. So
when I go there, I like to stayin radium hot springs. And
there's a couple options. Oneis, there's a campground at
radium hot springs that's aParks Canada campground, and
(18:31):
that's pretty cool, because youcan walk over to the hot
springs. It's not right there,it's like a mile and a half, but
on a trail, or you can drive. Sothat's awesome. That's one of my
favorite campgrounds that I'veever camped at. And then the
other option is just a couplemiles from there, the town of
radium has quite a few hotels,and there are vacation rentals
(18:56):
in the valley, kind of allthrough the Columbia Valley
there. So I love that area.
There are so many wonderfulhikes.
Craig Romano (19:05):
Flow lake in the rock wall, right? It is one of
the most spectacular
Jennie Flaming (19:08):
hikes. Yes, America, yes. And I also really
love it's really short. ButMarble Canyon is another one of
the coolest places that I'veever been. It's so awesome. So
anyway, there are just manywonderful places to explore
around. There lots of hotsprings on the way there and on
(19:29):
the way back, lots of greatstuff. And then my other one,
just to kind of pull thistogether, is Whistler. Whistler
is a fantastic summerdestination, incredible hikes. I
My favorite one, which it's alittle complicated, but bear
(19:51):
with me, is to take take thegondola up to the top of
Whistler. I. Yeah. And thenthere's a chair lift then that
you take from there up to that'sthe highest kind of chair lift
part in Whistler. And then, andthat part's, I won't lie, it's,
(20:15):
it's not good for people whoaren't keen on heights, because
you're just on a chair. I don'tlike chair lifts ever, and I
really don't like them in thesummer, when you're just looking
down even further. Ah, but it'sokay when you're writing up. I
wouldn't want to go down on it.
But anyway, um, so you get upthere, and then that's where the
(20:35):
cloud raker, like metal skybridge, is. And then you can do
the either the half dough or notHalf Dome. What am I saying?
That's the half note trail, orthe high note Trail, which is
just a longer version of thehalf note trail. And and just to
save you, a mistake that I made,like by the time you've ridden
(21:00):
all these gondolas and chairlifts and whatever, and the fact
that this is above the tree lineand there's no shade, don't
underestimate this hike, likethe longer version of it, is
tough to do in a day hike withall of these transportation
connections, anyway, and thenyou can, you can hike down to
where you rode the chair lift upthe first part, and then you can
(21:23):
take the peak to peak across toblack home. And that whole thing
is pretty cool. But I love thathike. The views are. That's
maybe the best view hike I'veever done. I don't know Mount St
Helens is a very is very much upthere, but it's pretty cool. And
there's lots of other hikes inWhistler that don't involve
chair lifts, but that's myfavorite.
Craig Romano (21:47):
Have you hiked panorama ridge in garibaldi? No,
I haven't. The views areamazing. You're so again, you
can use Whistler as your base.
You can hike. And Garibaldi Lakeis a day hike to get in there,
but there's, there's greatcamping if you want to base out
of there again. Make sure youget your reservations. And if
you're strong hiker, a trailrunner, you can, you can
certainly do panoram Ridge in aday. It's above Garibaldi lake.
(22:08):
So you've got this amazing viewof the lake, and it's got this
aquamarine color. And thengaribaldi, which is just this
incredible volcano with hugeglacial systems, that's probably
one of the best views I've seenan area, so definitely, next
time you're up there, check out.
It's a classic hike. It'sincredible, awesome. It's not
technical, not like the BlackTusk, which is technical. You
(22:28):
can just hike up on that ridge.
It's all Alpine. I think you'llreally like
Jennie Flaming (22:32):
it, yeah, oh, I'm sure I would. The other
thing too I would mention aboutWhistler is Whistler is getting
more popular in the summer. It'svery popular with mountain
bikers. There's a whole systemfor mountain biking that you
don't have to be part of as ahiker, by the way. Um, but one
thing I will mention is that itis easier to find a place to
(22:54):
stay in Whistler in the summer,because the capacity is really
there for for ski season. Soit's still not, you know, like a
budget destination, exactly. Butyou can also stay in, like a
vacation rental outside ofWhistler but if you did want to
stay in Whistler village, summeris a good time to do it.
Craig Romano (23:16):
And if you don't want to stay in Whistler
village, you can stay inSquamish too. Now, which, yep,
which another used to be. Iremember the first time I was
there 40 years ago, it was ascrappy mill town like and all
that's gone now it's becoming abig mountain bike town. There's
hotels to stay there. There'srestaurants. Is there? It's only
a half hour away from Whistler.
It's gonna be a little cheaperclose to Vancouver. So you have,
(23:37):
you have alternatives there too,and also gives you some great
access into Garibaldi Park asGaribaldi park as well. Yes,
Jennie Flaming (23:43):
absolutely.
Okay, well, there's some morefantastic summer getaways for
you, so get right on bookingthese. If you still want to do a
neighbor visit for hiking thissummer, see you next time.
Excellent. If you're enjoyingthe podcast, we would love to
have you leave us a rating orreview wherever you're listening
(24:06):
that will really help otherpeople find us. And don't
forget, there's a link toCraig's books and my email list
in the show notes you
Jennie, welcome to the Washington State hiking
(00:07):
podcast. I'm your host. JennieThwing Flaming,
Craig Romano (00:10):
and I'm your co host, Craig Romano, Craig
Jennie Flaming (00:12):
and I are happy to have you here. We provide
practical and timely, seasonalhiking advice for hikers, trail
runners and potential hikers andtrail runners of all skill and
ability levels that is helpful,accurate, fun and inclusive.
Hey, Craig, so this week we'retalking about summer vacations
(00:34):
that are outside of Washington,in our neighboring areas, and
some wonderful places to go fora summer vacation around hiking.
So we're going to talk a littlebit about Oregon and Idaho and
British Columbia. And
Craig Romano (00:49):
for the same reasons we were talking about
Washington, the summers aregreat here. I mean, it's a lot
of it's the same weatherpatterns. The summertime best
time to be in throughout thegreater Northwest.
Jennie Flaming (01:02):
It really is, totally agree. So let's start
with Oregon. Craig, telleverybody a few of your favorite
places for a summer vacationaround hiking down.
Craig Romano (01:13):
Yeah. So yeah. I mean, Oregon's a huge state, and
thing is, if you're looking forplaces to base out of, not as
you know, you get into some ofthese great hiking areas, not as
populated. So you can certainlycamp. Of course, people love
bend, bend. Bend is big. Bend isturning into a big city. But
there's, there's other places togo so, so some of the more
obscure places, perhaps obscureto people up here, maybe not to
(01:37):
Californians or to Portlanders,is that I like to stay again?
You know, people love Hood Riverfor the for the gorge. Yeah, and
Hood River is lovely, but it'sthe same thing. I kind of
compare, like in Leavenworth, Igo to Wenatchee instead of
level. Same thing, instead ofHood River, I stay in The
Dalles. It's a little bitfarther out, a little bit
warmer, a lot more hotels,cheaper, lots of good eating.
(02:02):
You're on on the east end of thegorge now, instead of in the
center of the gorge, but lots ofaccess to gorge trails that
aren't as popular. And you canalso, again, you can get into
Mount Hood at certain areas ofHood in the Badger Creek
wilderness. And you can also getinto Mount Adams, because you
run on the border. So you canuse it as a base, you know, on
the Washington side, to gettinginto some great places, Indian
(02:23):
heaven, wilderness areas likethat. So I really like the
Dallas. Oregon coast is great,but for the lot of the same
reasons, I stay away from theWashington coast. It can be
really, really busy and foggy.
But if you go farther south, theweather patterns change, and
you're much farther away fromfrom Portland. Bandon is
probably my favorite town on theOregon coast. It is absolutely
(02:44):
lovely. Love the area. It can beexpensive in the summertime, not
many hotels, but I tell you thatthe beach access, there's some
great places again, if you want,Coos Bay, a little grittier, a
little more history, but I'lltell you what's interesting
about Coos Bay. You know, a lotof people would just drive
through, it's a mill town, andnot exactly give the warm
(03:04):
fuzzies, but there's a lot ofhistory in that town, and Coos
Bay is really reinventingitself. I went to a conference
there a couple years ago, and Iwas blown away one by the food.
There are some amazingrestaurants coming out of this
area. So Coos Bay can be a greatplace to base out of to to check
out a lot of the coastal areasthat are going to be more
expensive to stay at lots ofcamping in the area. So to
(03:28):
definitely check that out. Andthen the other area I like,
again, pretty far forWashington. It's actually closer
to San Francisco. You get downinto
Unknown (03:40):
Medford, Ashland in that area, it's got more of a
California Climate too. It's,it's Ashland is very, very close
to California. But talk about,it's fascinating. Ashland is a
true, true mountain town. Ifyou're a trail runner, it's an
incredible place. It's got quitea scene there in the Siskiyou
mountains, you're actually closeto the Cascades too. It's got,
(04:00):
you're close to, a lot ofwilderness areas. It's a trail
town. The PCT comes rightthrough, through that area to
college town. There's greatrestaurants and, you know, shops
for for outdoor rec andeverything. So, yeah, definitely
check. Ashland is really, reallycool. I would go there more
towards the end of summer, andinteresting enough. I have a
conference coming up there inSeptember. So so I'm planning on
(04:23):
definitely spending some time tonice floor. And you also Medford
too. I should mention you canuse Medford as a base to to
create a Lake National Park.
Yes, if you want to stay on thehot side again, away from
Medford is pretty big. It's abig sized city. You've got
Klamath Falls, and in KlamathFalls, it's still sizable
enough. There's hotels andrestaurants. You've got the
Klamath base in there, which isan amazing place for bird
(04:44):
watching late summer, and you'reclose again to Northern
California. You can get downinto the lava beds Mount Shasta
in that area. So these are greatplaces to check out. I know it's
it's a hall from Washington,unless you live in Vancouver,
Washington, it's not that bad.
Seattle, so, So spend some timedown there. I think you'll be
pleasantly surprised to gettingaway from the the Cannon Beach
(05:07):
area, which is beautiful andeverything, but, but very, very
Jennie Flaming (05:09):
popular, yeah, you know, the one area. Those
are all fantastic suggestions. Ialso wanted to just add in that
northeastern corner of Oregonthat's like, yeah, just kind of
south of Walla. Walla andClarkston in Washington State.
Craig Romano (05:30):
Enterprise is a nice little town near wallawa
lake. Joseph,
Jennie Flaming (05:33):
yes, yeah, yes, and Joseph too. I want to refer
everybody back to our March 5episode with Matt and Adam that
was all about Oregon, and theytalked about this area in some
detail. It is hot, but some ofit is at elevation, so it isn't
quite as hot as it could be, andas some other parts of eastern
(05:57):
Oregon are. And there's, again,lots of places to go that are
not busy at all, and that youcould probably pull together
kind of a last minute trip,especially if you were camping,
because there are just so manyoptions. So I just wanted to,
really
Craig Romano (06:13):
want to get off the the grid if last minute
you've got places south of ofthe wall was like the strawberry
mountain wilderness, John Day,little town of John again, these
are really off, off the beatenpath. Cool the Steens scenes.
Mountain is amazing. It gets, itgets hot in the valley, but you
get up and tie Steens is 8700feet, I think, or ninth. It's up
(06:36):
there. It's one of the highestmountains. It's incredible. So
these are, yeah, if you'rereally looking to get away from
it, all these are so you getburns would be the most sizable
town there, if you're lookingfor a place to stay, Yep, yeah,
really, really, great.
Jennie Flaming (06:49):
Love it. Okay, let's move over to our eastern
neighbor, Idaho. And I, myhusband, Jay, is from Montana,
and so most of the time I'vebeen in Idaho has been driving
between Washington and Montana,and I'm probably not alone in
that, but I have not spent a lotof time in Idaho, and I am aware
(07:12):
that I'm missing out. So I'dlove to hear from you Craig for
hiking getaways in Idaho. Whatdo you recommend?
Craig Romano (07:20):
Yeah, you know, Idaho is big, and being on the
west side of state, I don't getthere as much as I as I should,
because I love the state. It's abeautiful state. And in Idaho is
really interesting. It'sactually three different states.
The northern part is very much.
The pan is Washington. It'sPacific Northwest. The Southeast
is Boise, Idaho. I'm sorry, theSouthwest is Boise, and the
Southeast is Utah, culturallyand just geographically. So it's
three different states. It'sreally weird how I mean, so
(07:42):
you're going to get a differentflavor in all those areas. So if
you're familiar with the withthe Northwest, you know you want
that. You know rainforests andmountains are going to be
because you have interiorrainforest the whole panhandle.
You can stay at Sandpoint, whichis a beautiful, absolutely
beautiful town. It's getting alittle pricey now it's it's kind
of one another one of thoseplaces like Winthrop in in
(08:04):
Leavenworth. People are going tocheck out the old mining towns
of Wallace and Kellogg in thatarea. You know, 40 years ago, it
was absolutely depressed. Nobodywould we just drive through. But
the towns have reinventedthemselves. There's Ski Area
towns now. A lot of the, a lotof the the homes have been
restored to you could rent ifyou're if you're just cycling
(08:25):
the trail, the quarter lanes isan 80 Mile bike trail, paved
bike trail that goes rightacross the Panhandle. Great.
There's a big state parks in thearea you can camp in, and then
you get like the Bitterrootdivide, which is the Montana,
Idaho, I've hiked in there. Andcrowds are something you can
only, you know, dream of. Itjust doesn't exist there. So
this is a really, really neatarea. It's close to Spokane, so
(08:47):
you will get people coming infrom there. And again, if you
you want to stay in the city,you want to stay in Spokane or
colane, which is a wonderfultown, those are close enough
that you can certainly do hikingtrips from moving first. Yeah,
go ahead.
Jennie Flaming (09:01):
Well, in our June, on our June, 5 episode
that was about hikes in Spokanewith Emily mandagi, she
recommended some great hikesaround standpoint. So go back
and listen to that episode andcheck that out, because she had
some great suggestions.
Craig Romano (09:18):
Yeah, it really is a beautiful town, and it's not.
And there's, there's, there'spaved Rail Trail in that area.
It's a big state park. There'slots of easier stuff in the
valley. And then you can get uphigher into the mountains,
sending out, going north ofSandpoint to Bonners ferry. And
up that area, there's on theKootenai River, kind of dips
down, and there's a niceNational Wildlife there's great
access to the Idaho, Selkirkmountains in there. So priest,
(09:40):
Lake area, really, really cool.
Again. I think if you'relistening from Spokane, you're
well aware of this area, but,but Seattleites might not be so
now, going farther into Idaho iswhen Idaho becomes more Idaho
and less Northwest. So downMcCall, which is kind of in the
middle of the state, going downthat's become a really, really
powerful. Popular base here withskiing. It's also kind of one of
(10:00):
the entrances to the Frank,Frank Church River, no return
wilderness, which is a hugeroadless areas, one of the, one
of the largest roadless areas inNorth America. It's different to
whitewater rafting. Idaho issupreme in that. And then
farthest out again, a Boise.
Even though Boise is, you know,it's a big city, it's grown a
lot. I absolutely love Boise. Iwas just there last year for a
(10:23):
marathon, either frequently,it's a quick flight if you don't
want to drive there. It's abeautiful city. Wonderful food,
great. It's trail town. It's gotan incredible Green Belt trail.
And right outside the cityitself, it's a huge network of
trails. So again, it's one ofthe places you can just take a
bus or an Uber up and reallyspend time. And then any along,
(10:45):
anywhere along this the SnakeRiver Valley, again, you get in
some neat places. Probably thesupreme place in Idaho to hike,
and I've not been there nearlyas much I need to go back, is
the Sawtooth Mountains. Sostaying in Stanley, in that
area, you're up really high. TheSawtooths are classic, beautiful
Idaho Rockies. This is north ofSun Valley. Sun Valley, of
(11:06):
course, very popular, verypricey, but, you know, it's
gorgeous and a lot of history.
If you earn Ernest Hemingway fanor But Stanley is you're on Red
Rock. Was it? Think aboutredfish. I gotta look this up.
It's been a while since I'vebeen there a big lake in big
lake in the middle. There greatplace to base. Out of lots of
camping. There's lodges andeverything. And then there's
(11:27):
some spectacular hiking in thein the sawtooth as well as in
the white cloud, the BoulderWhite Cloud mountains, which are
even higher on the east side ofthat valley. So and then again,
you can keep going farther,which I've not explored, towards
Utah and Yellowstone, that area,I've got to get out there.
There's some great hikes in thatarea, salmon, some of those
(11:47):
places I've not been to yet. Sothe country is just too damn
big. I can't keep up with it.
Yeah,
Jennie Flaming (11:55):
I know. I know.
All right, so let's make thiseven more challenging by going
to an even bigger and maybe evenmore beautiful area, which is
our northern neighbor, BritishColumbia in Canada. And despite
the current tensions between ourgovernments right now and our
government's quite bad behavioras a neighbor, there is still a
(12:16):
long history of of both of ourcountries, but also between
Washington State and BritishColumbia. We have a long history
of kinship, shared economy,shared values. And so I just
really want to encourage you, ifyou are nervous about going to
(12:37):
Canada. Don't be like, it'sreally important for us to go
spend our dollars and supportour neighbor. And also, there is
some amazing and beautifulhiking there. And we've had, you
know, in the last couple months,a couple of other episodes about
BC. So this time, Craig and Iare going to take us a little
(12:59):
further away from the border tosome of our favorite
destinations for hiking inBritish Columbia. So, Craig, why
don't you go first?
Craig Romano (13:10):
Yeah, and actually, what you said, Jennie,
is correct. And just to anyone,if you're wondering,
historically and culturally, ofthe all the border states, you
know, I grew up in New Hampshireand New Hampshire borders
Quebec, very, very culturallydifferent. British Columbia and
Washington are probably the mostclosely related of any of the of
the state provinces on theborder. We do, really do have a
(13:30):
shared culture and a sharedvalue, and I would love to keep
that intact. I love BritishColumbia. I love the people in
British Columbia. I live veryclose to the border. I've spent
a lot of time up there, soplease don't be afraid to go up
there and show the people thatyou support them. So yeah, I've
talked a lot about Vancouver,really close and but when I want
(13:51):
to go a little bit farther in,here's two of my favorite places
I like to go to. One isVancouver Island. Even though
it's not geographically veryfar, it takes a long time to get
there. So again, a lot of peoplehave been to a lot of Americans
who have been to VancouverIsland, perhaps they've only
been to Victoria, which is awonderful city, and it's a great
place to hike. But go farther upthe island, there are great
(14:11):
places. And right in the centerof the island is the city of
Courtney. A little Courtney, thecommax Valley, great place to
base out of. You can do somegreat coastal hikes. You can get
to other islands, Denman Hornbyin that area, and then you can
get to the forbidden plateauarea on Strathcona Provincial
Park, which is the largest parkon Vancouver Island. It's over
half a million acres um. If yougo up to Campbell River, which
(14:35):
is another great place you canbase, you can get into the
interior of Strathcona. Andagain, more remote hikes in that
area. Vancouver Island isspectacular. Love that. And then
my other favorite place, again,for so many reasons, it's really
not that hard to get to when ittakes me an hour to get across
the border and then to get I canget to Revelstoke in about six
(14:55):
hours, because most of the wayis actually divided highway.
It's really good road to get. Inthere, Revelstoke is it's
interesting. It's in thetransition zone. It's in the
Columbia mountains, the manashimountains. It's not quite the
Rockies. It's definitely not theCascades. I mean, it's whether I
it's one of the wettest interiorranges of British Columbia. I
will mention, though I've beengoing there for many, many
(15:17):
years, and like most of thearea, climate change is
definitely occurring, and it'snot nearly as wet the last
couple of times. First time Iremember hiking there, it rained
every single day. I was there inJuly. In the last couple of
times I've been there, it's beensunny almost every day that I
was there. I love staying rebelStokes in old railroad town
around the Trans Canada Highway.
It's been changed. It's startingto change. I'm afraid. I don't
want to become a Whistler or tobecome a Leavenworth. It's not
(15:41):
there yet. I hope it doesn'tquite get there. A lot of the
good change though, goodrestaurants, good hotels, you're
close to camping. MountRevelstoke National Park is
right outside the park rightside of the city, so that's
really and then Glacier NationalPark, not to be confused with
the Park in Montana. It's one ofmy all time favorite places in
British Columbia. Absolutelylove hiking there. Most of the
hikes are day hikes there, butthey're hard, serious elevation,
(16:05):
grizzly bear country. That givesme a thrill as much as climbing
up in the area. Yeah, just thearea stunning. Like, yeah, I
can't, I can't rave about itenough. Just one of my favorite
areas, the glaciers areincredible in there. And again,
sadly, I'm watching the therecession of those glaciers as
well. Too. Lot of history, too.
(16:27):
Matter of fact, when the therailroad was put through, there
a lot of work with horseshoetunnels and everything. But the
other kind of interesting factis that was the last piece of
the Trans Canada Highway when itwas finally connected in the
1960s This is amazing. That'show rugged that terrain is, yes.
Jennie Flaming (16:46):
And think about how far that is from the east
coast of Canada. It tells yousomething about what it was like
for for them to build thehighway over so many mountain
ranges out west.
Craig Romano (16:57):
Yeah. And that one in particular, how rugged the
snow sheds in there, andeverything you drive itself.
Matter of fact, the very firsttime I ever explored that area
was on my second trans NorthAmerica bike trip, trip. So I'm
on a bicycle 1981 going acrossCanada. So I biked across that
first time. I've been to rebels.
I mean, I've seen the changes inRevelstoke. Revelstoke was a
sleepy little railroad town backin 1981 and now it's definitely
(17:19):
a destination resort area,
Jennie Flaming (17:23):
yeah. Okay, so I've got two for British
Columbia. Like you, I'm a bigfan, and so it is not hard to
come up with a long list, butlike you, I managed to cut it
down to small number. Okay, sothe first one would be Kootenai
National Park, which is almostin Alberta. It's very easy to
(17:47):
dip a toe into Alberta whileyou're there, if you want to. So
this is the area, kind of northof Sandpoint, Idaho. And you
know, the Canadian Rockies,Banff and Jasper get a
tremendous amount of love, andthey should. They're incredible.
But I'm going to tell you thatKootenai National Park is just
(18:09):
as incredible and significantlyeasier to navigate, less
crowded, either easier to findcamping and a place to stay. So
when I go there, I like to stayin radium hot springs. And
there's a couple options. Oneis, there's a campground at
radium hot springs that's aParks Canada campground, and
(18:31):
that's pretty cool, because youcan walk over to the hot
springs. It's not right there,it's like a mile and a half, but
on a trail, or you can drive. Sothat's awesome. That's one of my
favorite campgrounds that I'veever camped at. And then the
other option is just a couplemiles from there, the town of
radium has quite a few hotels,and there are vacation rentals
(18:56):
in the valley, kind of allthrough the Columbia Valley
there. So I love that area.
There are so many wonderfulhikes.
Craig Romano (19:05):
Flow lake in the rock wall, right? It is one of
the most spectacular
Jennie Flaming (19:08):
hikes. Yes, America, yes. And I also really
love it's really short. ButMarble Canyon is another one of
the coolest places that I'veever been. It's so awesome. So
anyway, there are just manywonderful places to explore
around. There lots of hotsprings on the way there and on
(19:29):
the way back, lots of greatstuff. And then my other one,
just to kind of pull thistogether, is Whistler. Whistler
is a fantastic summerdestination, incredible hikes. I
My favorite one, which it's alittle complicated, but bear
(19:51):
with me, is to take take thegondola up to the top of
Whistler. I. Yeah. And thenthere's a chair lift then that
you take from there up to that'sthe highest kind of chair lift
part in Whistler. And then, andthat part's, I won't lie, it's,
(20:15):
it's not good for people whoaren't keen on heights, because
you're just on a chair. I don'tlike chair lifts ever, and I
really don't like them in thesummer, when you're just looking
down even further. Ah, but it'sokay when you're writing up. I
wouldn't want to go down on it.
But anyway, um, so you get upthere, and then that's where the
(20:35):
cloud raker, like metal skybridge, is. And then you can do
the either the half dough or notHalf Dome. What am I saying?
That's the half note trail, orthe high note Trail, which is
just a longer version of thehalf note trail. And and just to
save you, a mistake that I made,like by the time you've ridden
(21:00):
all these gondolas and chairlifts and whatever, and the fact
that this is above the tree lineand there's no shade, don't
underestimate this hike, likethe longer version of it, is
tough to do in a day hike withall of these transportation
connections, anyway, and thenyou can, you can hike down to
where you rode the chair lift upthe first part, and then you can
(21:23):
take the peak to peak across toblack home. And that whole thing
is pretty cool. But I love thathike. The views are. That's
maybe the best view hike I'veever done. I don't know Mount St
Helens is a very is very much upthere, but it's pretty cool. And
there's lots of other hikes inWhistler that don't involve
chair lifts, but that's myfavorite.
Craig Romano (21:47):
Have you hiked panorama ridge in garibaldi? No,
I haven't. The views areamazing. You're so again, you
can use Whistler as your base.
You can hike. And Garibaldi Lakeis a day hike to get in there,
but there's, there's greatcamping if you want to base out
of there again. Make sure youget your reservations. And if
you're strong hiker, a trailrunner, you can, you can
certainly do panoram Ridge in aday. It's above Garibaldi lake.
(22:08):
So you've got this amazing viewof the lake, and it's got this
aquamarine color. And thengaribaldi, which is just this
incredible volcano with hugeglacial systems, that's probably
one of the best views I've seenan area, so definitely, next
time you're up there, check out.
It's a classic hike. It'sincredible, awesome. It's not
technical, not like the BlackTusk, which is technical. You
(22:28):
can just hike up on that ridge.
It's all Alpine. I think you'llreally like
Jennie Flaming (22:32):
it, yeah, oh, I'm sure I would. The other
thing too I would mention aboutWhistler is Whistler is getting
more popular in the summer. It'svery popular with mountain
bikers. There's a whole systemfor mountain biking that you
don't have to be part of as ahiker, by the way. Um, but one
thing I will mention is that itis easier to find a place to
(22:54):
stay in Whistler in the summer,because the capacity is really
there for for ski season. Soit's still not, you know, like a
budget destination, exactly. Butyou can also stay in, like a
vacation rental outside ofWhistler but if you did want to
stay in Whistler village, summeris a good time to do it.
Craig Romano (23:16):
And if you don't want to stay in Whistler
village, you can stay inSquamish too. Now, which, yep,
which another used to be. Iremember the first time I was
there 40 years ago, it was ascrappy mill town like and all
that's gone now it's becoming abig mountain bike town. There's
hotels to stay there. There'srestaurants. Is there? It's only
a half hour away from Whistler.
It's gonna be a little cheaperclose to Vancouver. So you have,
(23:37):
you have alternatives there too,and also gives you some great
access into Garibaldi Park asGaribaldi park as well. Yes,
Jennie Flaming (23:43):
absolutely.
Okay, well, there's some morefantastic summer getaways for
you, so get right on bookingthese. If you still want to do a
neighbor visit for hiking thissummer, see you next time.
Excellent. If you're enjoyingthe podcast, we would love to
have you leave us a rating orreview wherever you're listening
(24:06):
that will really help otherpeople find us. And don't
forget, there's a link toCraig's books and my email list
in the show notes you
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