June 19, 2025 • 21 mins
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Jennie and Craig discuss their favorite places for vacations focused on hiking in Washington State - including places that are off the beaten track.
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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, summertime.
Craig Romano (00:34):
It is summer. I absolutely love summer in the
northwest. It's pretty great.
Yes, it is the best time to be
Jennie Flaming (00:40):
here. So today we're talking about summer
hiking vacations in WashingtonState. So and then in the near
future, we're going to talkabout hiking vacations that are
immediately around us, Oregon,Idaho, British Columbia. But for
today, we're sticking at home.
Um, so the places that come tomind for me when I think of like
(01:06):
in Washington summer vacations,the first two things that come
to my mind are Lake Chelan andthe Washington coast, like super
and, of course, there's lots ofother great places, but what
comes to mind for you as far asthose destinations,
Craig Romano (01:25):
not those places?
No, definitely, definitely not.
Chelan is hot and crowded and itis, it is, and the coast is
foggy. It is. I love the coastduring the spring and fall, so I
don't go there in the summertimethough. Chelan the other end of
the lake is a place that comesto mind, but I usually don't go
(01:48):
there in the summer either. So Itend to think of in the
summertime places that are kindof they might not come. They
might not be what most peoplethink. As far as destination
towns, I like to stay away fromcrowds. I don't like the big
hype, but I need a little trailtown that's going to give me the
amenities that I need, which isusually a nice place or two to
(02:10):
stay, some decent restaurantsand, of course, access to great
trails.
Jennie Flaming (02:14):
What are those places for you? Please
Craig Romano (02:18):
pack wood Republic. But those are places
that definitely come, come to mymind or sounds. They are, they
are actually closer to morepopular ones. Matter of fact,
you were mentioning one of theones, like Chelan. Of course,
people love Leavenworth, whichis just an absolute Zoo. I don't
(02:39):
stay in Leavenworth either. Istay in Wenatchee. I prefer
Wenatchee, but I don't go therein the summertime, either it's
too hot, but it's definitely oneof the places I look it's one of
my favorite hiking destinationsas we get later into the season
or early in the season.
Absolutely love Wenatchee as abase. I completely
Jennie Flaming (02:55):
agree with you about that for first spring and
fall. And I think peoplelistening to this podcast
probably already know thatLeavenworth is a really, but
they still don't need to talkabout that one, right? Young
Bear said nobody
Craig Romano (03:08):
ever goes there anymore because it's too popular
or something to that. You know,I need to know my Yogi isms, you
know, yes, yes, yes, yes. Butyou know, if you can get through
Leavenworth, if you're comingfrom Seattle, definitely,
Wenatchee has, like I've said,many fine hotels sustain at a
lot, lot cheaper rates andreally good restaurants, and a
(03:29):
lot of very good, authenticrestaurants too, that aren't
necessarily catering totourists. They're catering to
the folks. Yeah,
Jennie Flaming (03:35):
yeah. Totally agree with that. Wenatchee is
awesome. I agree with you thatit's a bit hot for me in the
summer, along with Yakima, theTri Cities that I think are
super underrated hikingdestinations in Washington, but
not for summer. So we'll, heightof summer Exactly. Yes, we'll,
we'll, maybe that's something wecan talk about more in the fall.
Is some of those, those spots,um, you know one other place
(03:59):
that's super popular, of course,for summer vacations, is the San
Juan Islands. Yeah, of course.
You know, we have talked beforeabout some of the awesome hikes
up in the islands. And again,that's a place that is very busy
and popular and expensive andcrowded, yes. But if you are
going to the San Juan's thissummer. You know, definitely
(04:22):
check out Turtleback mountain onorcas or mount. And I put that
in quotes because it's more likea hill Finley sun on San Juan
Island. Or also, Lopez has somegreat hikes. So if you are out
there, there are some greathikes. And I agree with you
(04:43):
about Chelan. Chelan, in thesummer, is a water destination,
not a hiking one. Again, amazingfor spring and fall. I would
love to talk for a moment aboutstahengan Greg, because I think
even though, again, you. Gothere year round. I think that
people often forget aboutstahengan as an option. Do you
(05:06):
have if you were going to gothere in summer, which I know
you're not, what is yourfavorite hike to do there in
summer?
Craig Romano (05:16):
Oh, boy. And that's the thing, because there
are great hikes to do there inthe summertime, but they're
really, really difficult. Thething is, there's great hikes
you can do there year round, butthere's, there's also several
hard hikes you can only do inthe summertime, and McAllister
McGregor. McGregor peak is oneof them. It's probably the, the
hardest hike in there. There'salso purple pass, purple Creek,
(05:39):
which was affected by fire. Soyou know, you might not be but
here again, I just gotta backup. I've been to steak, and
several times, absolutely, I'venever been in the summertime.
I've been there in thewintertime. It's unbelievable.
The winter and in the fall isthe best. But if you are
planning on going to steak andright now this year, forget
about it, because everything'staken so start planning for next
year. You need, you need to forsummer. You mean, yeah, I
(06:00):
remember booking for Septemberin February. Yeah, there's only
a limited amount of places tostay there for camping and
cabins, and so you really needto make those reservations, but,
but, yeah, you can hikeeverything in the summer there.
It does get hot in the valleythere, but, but it's unlike
Chelan on the other on the otherside, it's forested in there. So
it's going to cool down a littlebit a little bit more, you know,
(06:24):
and then you can actually,there's, there's you can go up
the valley, up higher in thevalley, and along the river, and
it's lots of cool spots. So ifit is hot, you can cool down the
river. Certainly cool down thelake. Lots of great hikes that
you can do there. But, but thehardcore stuff is, is definitely
summer, because you're not goingto be able to get up up McGregor
(06:46):
and purple pass and same thinggoing over to Goody and a lot of
those good a lot of those areas,yeah, you can't do those in the
wintertime or the spring,
Jennie Flaming (06:56):
right, right?
You know, one other thing Iwanted to mention, just to
defend the Washington coast fora moment, no, I love the
Washington No, I know it is, butsometimes that is a huge
benefit, right? Like I havedefinitely, and I know you like
hot weather more than I do. I'm
Craig Romano (07:17):
heading to Florida next week, and we were doing the
city, yeah,
Jennie Flaming (07:20):
but there are definitely days if it has been
really hot in Seattle and youdon't have air conditioning, and
you're like over it, you caneven just take a day trip out to
the coast. And I have been thereseveral times in the middle of
summer, like end of July, whenit was like 90 in Seattle, or
nine, even hotter than that, andit like remains 90 until you're
(07:45):
like a mile from the coast, andthen it's like 50, yeah, or 60
when you get there, and foggy.
So if you don't want that, don'tgo to the Washington coast in
the middle of summer. But if youdo, if you're looking for a
place that's pretty reliablycool. Um, not always, but almost
always. Like, definitely,
Craig Romano (08:07):
it's rare that that for it to be warm there,
you basically have to have nowind or or the prevailing winds
for it from the other side,because it's it's cool because
of those constantly cool waters.
Um, but no, it's funny. Youmentioned that. I haven't. I
remember years in the past goingthere in June on some really hot
day, and just it is. It's an airconditioner out there. It really
(08:27):
is. And you will get days that'snot foggy. Sometimes. The
trouble is, and this is wherepeople on those really hot days,
when you've got water that's 50degrees and it's really hot,
it's going to create fog. Andthat's why I love about the fall
and spring, because the air inthe water are pretty equal in
temperature, and then you getsome, matter of fact, September,
(08:48):
later summer, I've had some ofmy best hikes on the Washington
coast. That's a wonderful timeto be there. It's still pretty
warm, and you get rid of thatfog. Great time of year to be
there.
Jennie Flaming (08:59):
I totally agree.
Okay, well, let's talk aboutthese three places that you
recommended Craig for, like,summer vacations in Washington
to focus on hikes. So let'sstart with Cle Elum. I mean,
some of those hikes are a littlebusy, but not as much as, like,
the snow call me pass ones,right?
Craig Romano (09:19):
You get a little and it is hotter. And I do like,
Yeah, I do like heat, but itcools down at night. But if you
don't, I mean, clayland, you'vegot some nice places to stay
there. You've got some nicerestaurants, and you've got
access to San luisac up thatarea. You've got access to the
tea away. All great, greatsummer hikes. You know, of
course, you can always camp upin these valleys too. But if you
(09:41):
want to stay in a town and havethe amenities, and was only an
hour and a half from Seattletoo, I mean, it's a really quick
getaway. So if you just want togo up there for one night,
really, you know, I like thetown. The it's a historic town.
I like that. Jennie, you know,I'm going to throw this to it's
one of the few towns inWashington that has an Italian
hair. Heritage, and a lot ofthere was a lot of Italian
(10:02):
immigrants that came out thereto work in the mines. So with
that said, there's some goodItalian restaurants in that
area. So, so that's nice too.
Yeah, you can eat well,
Jennie Flaming (10:12):
yes, yes. What's your favorite hike for, like,
summer in the Cleveland area?
Well,
Craig Romano (10:18):
anything that's in the Tiananmen. The tianan was
great, you know, to get upthere. You know, I'm, of course,
like Lake ingles. None of those.
I like those in the fall. Yeah.
Navajo is a great hike. Theflowers are really nice up
there, yeah. Esmeralda basin isanother one. Great flower. We
can do some nice loops up there,in that area, too. Same thing
going up to up sam lasak. Itgives you access to some really
(10:42):
good hikes that again, early inthe summertime, they're going to
be difficult to get to gettinginto like deep lake and
Cathedral Rock and places likethat, tuck and Robin lakes all
the the trouble with usingCleome as a base to go that far
is that road is horrendous. Andso if you're only going up at
once, that's great, but ifyou're planning on going back
and forth, you're probably gonnawant to camp up there somewhere.
(11:04):
Because, yeah, that road isawful. Yeah, it really is. The
same with sack itself. It'sgood. It's all paved. But beyond
that, yes,
Jennie Flaming (11:11):
when you get on that, yeah, I know, yeah, I know
exactly what you
Craig Romano (11:15):
mean. But you know, you can get up to Thorpe
mountain, and some of those aregreat, uh, shorter hikes that
you can get into. So, yeah, it'sa nice space, yeah,
Jennie Flaming (11:23):
um, one that I really love, that I discovered
in the last few years is Eastonridge. Have you done Eastern
ridge? Yeah, yeah. It's, youknow, I did that hike a couple
years ago on Sunday of MemorialDay weekend. It was sunny,
everything was super busy, andthere was one other car parked
(11:47):
there, and I saw two people allday on that trail. The one thing
that I will say about I lovedthat hike. So if you're looking
to get away from crowds, it's agreat option. I mean, in mid
summer, it's going to be very,very hot, yeah, um, but it is.
It is only, you know, like halfthe hike is in the forest. So it
(12:09):
isn't quite as bad as one whereyou're like, completely exposed
all day, but it still was prettyhot and beautiful wildflowers,
amazing views. The one otherthing I will say is that, you
know, not a very heavilytraveled trail. I believe I
counted 54 blowdowns, yeah,yeah. So that got a little old,
(12:33):
but it
Craig Romano (12:34):
was for solitude, too,
Jennie Flaming (12:37):
exactly. And then one other thing I will tell
you, if, if you're folkslistening, if you're going to
hike it, there is one sectionfor about half a mile that is
extremely steep, right? You getto that and you're going to be
like, Are you kidding me? Thisis, like, the steepest hike I've
ever done in Washington, butit's that section is short,
(12:58):
right? The whole hike isn't likethat most of it. And when you
get up on the ridge, there'salmost no elevation gain or loss
for like a couple miles. So ifyou can get through that, and if
you look at the map, you can seethat, you can see that that
steep part is really short, butit is pretty brutal, and it has
a lot of rocks and roots just inthat one section. But it's a
(13:19):
great hike. Yeah. Okay. Well,what about what about Packwood?
Backwards? You know, actually,will you just say where pack
wood is? I bet there are somepeople listening who don't know
Craig Romano (13:33):
it's on highway 12. That's the White Pass Road
right on the college River,south side of Mount Rainier.
Matter of fact, here's the greatthing about pack wood. Pack was
pretty small, but there'sactually, there's actually a
couple of decent hotels. Andthere are no, you know, you're
not going to any of the big nameones, but there's, there's a
couple of hotels that I thatthat are definitely good family,
clean, really nice to stay at.
And then there's some rougheraccommodations too, if you care
(13:55):
for and some camping. And here'sthe great thing about Packwood,
is that you are minutes to MountRainier National Park your your
minutes to the goat rocks in thenorth part of the goat rock
doing this, and you're not thatfar from St Helens either. I've
actually used pack wood as abase for the northern part of
Mount St Helens. So you've gotthis access to three great areas
if you don't feel like roughingit. So again, if you're planning
(14:18):
on staying here, I would makethose reservations early because
there are only a few places tostay there. There's some cabins.
So you can probably check outsome Airbnbs and things like
that as well. And you also,you're really close to to White
Pass, again, getting up higher.
So you can, you have access intothe the William O Douglas
(14:39):
wilderness, the South Side.
Basically, you have access froma lot of areas with from like a
half hour to one hour drive.
Yeah, great place to base out
Jennie Flaming (14:48):
of, yeah. And a lot of those areas not Mount
Rainier National Park, but theothers are not super busy, even
in mid summer, exactly. And man.
That section of the PCT thatgoes north from white pass
around those lakes, that is areally beautiful area,
Craig Romano (15:08):
gorgeous. And the other I've done that in the
wintertime too, because it'sactually really safe, yeah, to
do in the winter because you'renot an avalanche country and you
have a plowed road, you go rightoff of white pass, and you can
go up to of course, those lakesare going to look like frozen
meadows in the winter, but it's,you know, in its springtime. So
you're gonna be sober. The fallis wonderful up there as well.
You get lots of color. That is,you know, I live up in Skagit,
(15:33):
so far away, but when I was inSeattle, many, many years ago, I
was definitely spending moretime in Packwood. I definitely
like, Yeah, I like that area asa base, yeah,
Jennie Flaming (15:41):
yeah, for sure.
Okay, so the last one we'regoing to talk about is Republic,
right? Republic is awesome. I'msure most people in Washington
have never heard of Republic, sotell everybody. Well, I'll tell
everybody where it is, then youcould talk about. Okay, so
Republic is like North EastWashington. So it's like between
(16:05):
Wenatchee and Spokane, but NorthYep, right. So it's along
Highway 20. So that is a supercool Washington Road Trip. Is to
go, like, across the NorthCascades, but like, take Highway
20 all the way across the state,across it's fantastic. And
Craig Romano (16:27):
there's drives in the state
Jennie Flaming (16:28):
so many other than Winthrop and twist and
Mazama. There's just there.
These are places there are notvery many visitors, and not that
many hikers. And I, you know,just to to, like, reiterate that
point, I had a job, um, early inmy career, where we traveled all
over Washington, state andRepublic was kind of the only
(16:53):
area of Washington I didn't goto in that job, if that tells
you anything. So I had to visit,visit later on my own, but it
was awesome. So, Craig, can youtalk a little bit about some of
your favorite hikes there?
Craig Romano (17:08):
Yeah, so you mentioned, because you're
talking about Winthrop and all,that's a great thing, you know,
I take, I live in Skagit, so Itake Highway 20, all the way
across here, but driving throughthe Methow, it's wonderful. It's
crowded all this. You know, it'slike you can have it, you know,
keep going with your FauciWestern Front. I keep going
because it's another, another100 miles plus beyond, behind
(17:30):
the Met how? And here's thething, if you're not familiar
with Northeastern Washington, itdoesn't look like Moses Lake. It
doesn't look like Vantage it'sforested. It actually looks a
lot like the Appalachians,except, except the trails are
different. You have the kettleriver range up there, the
Okanagan Highlands. They're,they're Washington's oldest
mountains, so but then partslook like Montana. You've got
(17:52):
this range country, goldenhills, the lower part Republic
has a population of just over1000 it is. It's the county seat
of ferry County, which has aboutseven and a half 1000. People.
That's that's a city block inSeattle. It's the entire county.
So it's got this wonderfulhistoric vibe. It's an old gold
gold mining town. There'sactually still active mines
(18:15):
there. There's a couple ofhotels in town, like three
hotels in town, one of them, Ican highly recommend, the
northern end hotel, some greatlittle restaurants, a little
roof up there. There's a,there's a co op. It's kind of in
the people that live there.
It's, it's a nice eclectic mixof black helicopter types and
hippies. So you've got theentire, you know, Gambit there.
But no, I mean, the people workhard there. It's very, very
(18:38):
friendly. Absolutely love theplace. Discovered it many, many
years ago. I actually my wifeand I got married there. We love
the area. So Curlew Lake StatePark, which is just outside of
Republic, is one of my favoriteplaces to base. If I want to
camp, get this gorgeous StatePark. You get this beautiful
lake and go swimming inpaddling, and then you've got a
(18:59):
half hour to an hour of allkinds of great hikes. Bring your
bicycle. You've got the 30 mileferry county Rail Trail, which
is our room, which is in greatshape. I just ran the whole
thing last year. Reallywonderful shape. So you can
basically bicycling, paddling,hiking. It's paradise, and it's
not crowded. You're about twoand a half hours, two hours from
(19:22):
Spokane, so you get more peoplecoming up from that area.
Actually surprising. I meet alot of British Columbians from
Nelson in that area, come downto the area too. But again, you
won't be dealing with crowds.
But because there's limitedcamping in hotels, definitely
make your reservations early. Itdoes get hot there. It can get
hot there, but it there, but italso can get cold. Last night
(19:44):
was there last August, it wasactually cold. And it also can
rain in the summertime. Thepatterns are not the same as the
Cascades. Clouds will pick upagain over there. So it could be
rainy there in the summertime aswell. But if you've never been
there, it's one of my absolutefavorite places. In the state
Jennie Flaming (20:01):
it is, I agree, at awesome summer getaway. Love
it, yeah, and Curlew Lake isgreat for camping. I mean, the
sky is so dark, it's amazing,
Craig Romano (20:13):
yeah, and it's Yeah, imagine that's where my
wife and I actually got married,at the State Park. It was the
very first place I took hercamping back in, oh God, 1996
when we met at the UW so again,and we get married, we celebrate
our anniversary at our campsite.
And it's kind of interesting.
There was a ponderosa pine thatwas planted there. And watching
that tree grow over the yearsalso reminds me of how much
(20:36):
older I'm getting to. It's like,Oh my God. You know old guy. I
don't know who's gonna hit oldgrowth first, the pioneer me,
but yeah,
Jennie Flaming (20:47):
I love it. Well, those are some awesome new
summer getaway ideas for thoseof you listening who are looking
for something different. Allright, we'll see you next
Craig Romano (20:57):
week, right? I'll see you out in Republic this
summer. Yes, if
Jennie Flaming (21:01):
you're enjoying the podcast, we would love to
have you leave us a rating orreview wherever you're listening
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, if you'd liketo connect with us and support
us, and you can always leave usa tip 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, summertime.
Craig Romano (00:34):
It is summer. I absolutely love summer in the
northwest. It's pretty great.
Yes, it is the best time to be
Jennie Flaming (00:40):
here. So today we're talking about summer
hiking vacations in WashingtonState. So and then in the near
future, we're going to talkabout hiking vacations that are
immediately around us, Oregon,Idaho, British Columbia. But for
today, we're sticking at home.
Um, so the places that come tomind for me when I think of like
(01:06):
in Washington summer vacations,the first two things that come
to my mind are Lake Chelan andthe Washington coast, like super
and, of course, there's lots ofother great places, but what
comes to mind for you as far asthose destinations,
Craig Romano (01:25):
not those places?
No, definitely, definitely not.
Chelan is hot and crowded and itis, it is, and the coast is
foggy. It is. I love the coastduring the spring and fall, so I
don't go there in the summertimethough. Chelan the other end of
the lake is a place that comesto mind, but I usually don't go
(01:48):
there in the summer either. So Itend to think of in the
summertime places that are kindof they might not come. They
might not be what most peoplethink. As far as destination
towns, I like to stay away fromcrowds. I don't like the big
hype, but I need a little trailtown that's going to give me the
amenities that I need, which isusually a nice place or two to
(02:10):
stay, some decent restaurantsand, of course, access to great
trails.
Jennie Flaming (02:14):
What are those places for you? Please
Craig Romano (02:18):
pack wood Republic. But those are places
that definitely come, come to mymind or sounds. They are, they
are actually closer to morepopular ones. Matter of fact,
you were mentioning one of theones, like Chelan. Of course,
people love Leavenworth, whichis just an absolute Zoo. I don't
(02:39):
stay in Leavenworth either. Istay in Wenatchee. I prefer
Wenatchee, but I don't go therein the summertime, either it's
too hot, but it's definitely oneof the places I look it's one of
my favorite hiking destinationsas we get later into the season
or early in the season.
Absolutely love Wenatchee as abase. I completely
Jennie Flaming (02:55):
agree with you about that for first spring and
fall. And I think peoplelistening to this podcast
probably already know thatLeavenworth is a really, but
they still don't need to talkabout that one, right? Young
Bear said nobody
Craig Romano (03:08):
ever goes there anymore because it's too popular
or something to that. You know,I need to know my Yogi isms, you
know, yes, yes, yes, yes. Butyou know, if you can get through
Leavenworth, if you're comingfrom Seattle, definitely,
Wenatchee has, like I've said,many fine hotels sustain at a
lot, lot cheaper rates andreally good restaurants, and a
(03:29):
lot of very good, authenticrestaurants too, that aren't
necessarily catering totourists. They're catering to
the folks. Yeah,
Jennie Flaming (03:35):
yeah. Totally agree with that. Wenatchee is
awesome. I agree with you thatit's a bit hot for me in the
summer, along with Yakima, theTri Cities that I think are
super underrated hikingdestinations in Washington, but
not for summer. So we'll, heightof summer Exactly. Yes, we'll,
we'll, maybe that's something wecan talk about more in the fall.
Is some of those, those spots,um, you know one other place
(03:59):
that's super popular, of course,for summer vacations, is the San
Juan Islands. Yeah, of course.
You know, we have talked beforeabout some of the awesome hikes
up in the islands. And again,that's a place that is very busy
and popular and expensive andcrowded, yes. But if you are
going to the San Juan's thissummer. You know, definitely
(04:22):
check out Turtleback mountain onorcas or mount. And I put that
in quotes because it's more likea hill Finley sun on San Juan
Island. Or also, Lopez has somegreat hikes. So if you are out
there, there are some greathikes. And I agree with you
(04:43):
about Chelan. Chelan, in thesummer, is a water destination,
not a hiking one. Again, amazingfor spring and fall. I would
love to talk for a moment aboutstahengan Greg, because I think
even though, again, you. Gothere year round. I think that
people often forget aboutstahengan as an option. Do you
(05:06):
have if you were going to gothere in summer, which I know
you're not, what is yourfavorite hike to do there in
summer?
Craig Romano (05:16):
Oh, boy. And that's the thing, because there
are great hikes to do there inthe summertime, but they're
really, really difficult. Thething is, there's great hikes
you can do there year round, butthere's, there's also several
hard hikes you can only do inthe summertime, and McAllister
McGregor. McGregor peak is oneof them. It's probably the, the
hardest hike in there. There'salso purple pass, purple Creek,
(05:39):
which was affected by fire. Soyou know, you might not be but
here again, I just gotta backup. I've been to steak, and
several times, absolutely, I'venever been in the summertime.
I've been there in thewintertime. It's unbelievable.
The winter and in the fall isthe best. But if you are
planning on going to steak andright now this year, forget
about it, because everything'staken so start planning for next
year. You need, you need to forsummer. You mean, yeah, I
(06:00):
remember booking for Septemberin February. Yeah, there's only
a limited amount of places tostay there for camping and
cabins, and so you really needto make those reservations, but,
but, yeah, you can hikeeverything in the summer there.
It does get hot in the valleythere, but, but it's unlike
Chelan on the other on the otherside, it's forested in there. So
it's going to cool down a littlebit a little bit more, you know,
(06:24):
and then you can actually,there's, there's you can go up
the valley, up higher in thevalley, and along the river, and
it's lots of cool spots. So ifit is hot, you can cool down the
river. Certainly cool down thelake. Lots of great hikes that
you can do there. But, but thehardcore stuff is, is definitely
summer, because you're not goingto be able to get up up McGregor
(06:46):
and purple pass and same thinggoing over to Goody and a lot of
those good a lot of those areas,yeah, you can't do those in the
wintertime or the spring,
Jennie Flaming (06:56):
right, right?
You know, one other thing Iwanted to mention, just to
defend the Washington coast fora moment, no, I love the
Washington No, I know it is, butsometimes that is a huge
benefit, right? Like I havedefinitely, and I know you like
hot weather more than I do. I'm
Craig Romano (07:17):
heading to Florida next week, and we were doing the
city, yeah,
Jennie Flaming (07:20):
but there are definitely days if it has been
really hot in Seattle and youdon't have air conditioning, and
you're like over it, you caneven just take a day trip out to
the coast. And I have been thereseveral times in the middle of
summer, like end of July, whenit was like 90 in Seattle, or
nine, even hotter than that, andit like remains 90 until you're
(07:45):
like a mile from the coast, andthen it's like 50, yeah, or 60
when you get there, and foggy.
So if you don't want that, don'tgo to the Washington coast in
the middle of summer. But if youdo, if you're looking for a
place that's pretty reliablycool. Um, not always, but almost
always. Like, definitely,
Craig Romano (08:07):
it's rare that that for it to be warm there,
you basically have to have nowind or or the prevailing winds
for it from the other side,because it's it's cool because
of those constantly cool waters.
Um, but no, it's funny. Youmentioned that. I haven't. I
remember years in the past goingthere in June on some really hot
day, and just it is. It's an airconditioner out there. It really
(08:27):
is. And you will get days that'snot foggy. Sometimes. The
trouble is, and this is wherepeople on those really hot days,
when you've got water that's 50degrees and it's really hot,
it's going to create fog. Andthat's why I love about the fall
and spring, because the air inthe water are pretty equal in
temperature, and then you getsome, matter of fact, September,
(08:48):
later summer, I've had some ofmy best hikes on the Washington
coast. That's a wonderful timeto be there. It's still pretty
warm, and you get rid of thatfog. Great time of year to be
there.
Jennie Flaming (08:59):
I totally agree.
Okay, well, let's talk aboutthese three places that you
recommended Craig for, like,summer vacations in Washington
to focus on hikes. So let'sstart with Cle Elum. I mean,
some of those hikes are a littlebusy, but not as much as, like,
the snow call me pass ones,right?
Craig Romano (09:19):
You get a little and it is hotter. And I do like,
Yeah, I do like heat, but itcools down at night. But if you
don't, I mean, clayland, you'vegot some nice places to stay
there. You've got some nicerestaurants, and you've got
access to San luisac up thatarea. You've got access to the
tea away. All great, greatsummer hikes. You know, of
course, you can always camp upin these valleys too. But if you
(09:41):
want to stay in a town and havethe amenities, and was only an
hour and a half from Seattletoo, I mean, it's a really quick
getaway. So if you just want togo up there for one night,
really, you know, I like thetown. The it's a historic town.
I like that. Jennie, you know,I'm going to throw this to it's
one of the few towns inWashington that has an Italian
hair. Heritage, and a lot ofthere was a lot of Italian
(10:02):
immigrants that came out thereto work in the mines. So with
that said, there's some goodItalian restaurants in that
area. So, so that's nice too.
Yeah, you can eat well,
Jennie Flaming (10:12):
yes, yes. What's your favorite hike for, like,
summer in the Cleveland area?
Well,
Craig Romano (10:18):
anything that's in the Tiananmen. The tianan was
great, you know, to get upthere. You know, I'm, of course,
like Lake ingles. None of those.
I like those in the fall. Yeah.
Navajo is a great hike. Theflowers are really nice up
there, yeah. Esmeralda basin isanother one. Great flower. We
can do some nice loops up there,in that area, too. Same thing
going up to up sam lasak. Itgives you access to some really
(10:42):
good hikes that again, early inthe summertime, they're going to
be difficult to get to gettinginto like deep lake and
Cathedral Rock and places likethat, tuck and Robin lakes all
the the trouble with usingCleome as a base to go that far
is that road is horrendous. Andso if you're only going up at
once, that's great, but ifyou're planning on going back
and forth, you're probably gonnawant to camp up there somewhere.
(11:04):
Because, yeah, that road isawful. Yeah, it really is. The
same with sack itself. It'sgood. It's all paved. But beyond
that, yes,
Jennie Flaming (11:11):
when you get on that, yeah, I know, yeah, I know
exactly what you
Craig Romano (11:15):
mean. But you know, you can get up to Thorpe
mountain, and some of those aregreat, uh, shorter hikes that
you can get into. So, yeah, it'sa nice space, yeah,
Jennie Flaming (11:23):
um, one that I really love, that I discovered
in the last few years is Eastonridge. Have you done Eastern
ridge? Yeah, yeah. It's, youknow, I did that hike a couple
years ago on Sunday of MemorialDay weekend. It was sunny,
everything was super busy, andthere was one other car parked
(11:47):
there, and I saw two people allday on that trail. The one thing
that I will say about I lovedthat hike. So if you're looking
to get away from crowds, it's agreat option. I mean, in mid
summer, it's going to be very,very hot, yeah, um, but it is.
It is only, you know, like halfthe hike is in the forest. So it
(12:09):
isn't quite as bad as one whereyou're like, completely exposed
all day, but it still was prettyhot and beautiful wildflowers,
amazing views. The one otherthing I will say is that, you
know, not a very heavilytraveled trail. I believe I
counted 54 blowdowns, yeah,yeah. So that got a little old,
(12:33):
but it
Craig Romano (12:34):
was for solitude, too,
Jennie Flaming (12:37):
exactly. And then one other thing I will tell
you, if, if you're folkslistening, if you're going to
hike it, there is one sectionfor about half a mile that is
extremely steep, right? You getto that and you're going to be
like, Are you kidding me? Thisis, like, the steepest hike I've
ever done in Washington, butit's that section is short,
(12:58):
right? The whole hike isn't likethat most of it. And when you
get up on the ridge, there'salmost no elevation gain or loss
for like a couple miles. So ifyou can get through that, and if
you look at the map, you can seethat, you can see that that
steep part is really short, butit is pretty brutal, and it has
a lot of rocks and roots just inthat one section. But it's a
(13:19):
great hike. Yeah. Okay. Well,what about what about Packwood?
Backwards? You know, actually,will you just say where pack
wood is? I bet there are somepeople listening who don't know
Craig Romano (13:33):
it's on highway 12. That's the White Pass Road
right on the college River,south side of Mount Rainier.
Matter of fact, here's the greatthing about pack wood. Pack was
pretty small, but there'sactually, there's actually a
couple of decent hotels. Andthere are no, you know, you're
not going to any of the big nameones, but there's, there's a
couple of hotels that I thatthat are definitely good family,
clean, really nice to stay at.
And then there's some rougheraccommodations too, if you care
(13:55):
for and some camping. And here'sthe great thing about Packwood,
is that you are minutes to MountRainier National Park your your
minutes to the goat rocks in thenorth part of the goat rock
doing this, and you're not thatfar from St Helens either. I've
actually used pack wood as abase for the northern part of
Mount St Helens. So you've gotthis access to three great areas
if you don't feel like roughingit. So again, if you're planning
(14:18):
on staying here, I would makethose reservations early because
there are only a few places tostay there. There's some cabins.
So you can probably check outsome Airbnbs and things like
that as well. And you also,you're really close to to White
Pass, again, getting up higher.
So you can, you have access intothe the William O Douglas
(14:39):
wilderness, the South Side.
Basically, you have access froma lot of areas with from like a
half hour to one hour drive.
Yeah, great place to base out
Jennie Flaming (14:48):
of, yeah. And a lot of those areas not Mount
Rainier National Park, but theothers are not super busy, even
in mid summer, exactly. And man.
That section of the PCT thatgoes north from white pass
around those lakes, that is areally beautiful area,
Craig Romano (15:08):
gorgeous. And the other I've done that in the
wintertime too, because it'sactually really safe, yeah, to
do in the winter because you'renot an avalanche country and you
have a plowed road, you go rightoff of white pass, and you can
go up to of course, those lakesare going to look like frozen
meadows in the winter, but it's,you know, in its springtime. So
you're gonna be sober. The fallis wonderful up there as well.
You get lots of color. That is,you know, I live up in Skagit,
(15:33):
so far away, but when I was inSeattle, many, many years ago, I
was definitely spending moretime in Packwood. I definitely
like, Yeah, I like that area asa base, yeah,
Jennie Flaming (15:41):
yeah, for sure.
Okay, so the last one we'regoing to talk about is Republic,
right? Republic is awesome. I'msure most people in Washington
have never heard of Republic, sotell everybody. Well, I'll tell
everybody where it is, then youcould talk about. Okay, so
Republic is like North EastWashington. So it's like between
(16:05):
Wenatchee and Spokane, but NorthYep, right. So it's along
Highway 20. So that is a supercool Washington Road Trip. Is to
go, like, across the NorthCascades, but like, take Highway
20 all the way across the state,across it's fantastic. And
Craig Romano (16:27):
there's drives in the state
Jennie Flaming (16:28):
so many other than Winthrop and twist and
Mazama. There's just there.
These are places there are notvery many visitors, and not that
many hikers. And I, you know,just to to, like, reiterate that
point, I had a job, um, early inmy career, where we traveled all
over Washington, state andRepublic was kind of the only
(16:53):
area of Washington I didn't goto in that job, if that tells
you anything. So I had to visit,visit later on my own, but it
was awesome. So, Craig, can youtalk a little bit about some of
your favorite hikes there?
Craig Romano (17:08):
Yeah, so you mentioned, because you're
talking about Winthrop and all,that's a great thing, you know,
I take, I live in Skagit, so Itake Highway 20, all the way
across here, but driving throughthe Methow, it's wonderful. It's
crowded all this. You know, it'slike you can have it, you know,
keep going with your FauciWestern Front. I keep going
because it's another, another100 miles plus beyond, behind
(17:30):
the Met how? And here's thething, if you're not familiar
with Northeastern Washington, itdoesn't look like Moses Lake. It
doesn't look like Vantage it'sforested. It actually looks a
lot like the Appalachians,except, except the trails are
different. You have the kettleriver range up there, the
Okanagan Highlands. They're,they're Washington's oldest
mountains, so but then partslook like Montana. You've got
(17:52):
this range country, goldenhills, the lower part Republic
has a population of just over1000 it is. It's the county seat
of ferry County, which has aboutseven and a half 1000. People.
That's that's a city block inSeattle. It's the entire county.
So it's got this wonderfulhistoric vibe. It's an old gold
gold mining town. There'sactually still active mines
(18:15):
there. There's a couple ofhotels in town, like three
hotels in town, one of them, Ican highly recommend, the
northern end hotel, some greatlittle restaurants, a little
roof up there. There's a,there's a co op. It's kind of in
the people that live there.
It's, it's a nice eclectic mixof black helicopter types and
hippies. So you've got theentire, you know, Gambit there.
But no, I mean, the people workhard there. It's very, very
(18:38):
friendly. Absolutely love theplace. Discovered it many, many
years ago. I actually my wifeand I got married there. We love
the area. So Curlew Lake StatePark, which is just outside of
Republic, is one of my favoriteplaces to base. If I want to
camp, get this gorgeous StatePark. You get this beautiful
lake and go swimming inpaddling, and then you've got a
(18:59):
half hour to an hour of allkinds of great hikes. Bring your
bicycle. You've got the 30 mileferry county Rail Trail, which
is our room, which is in greatshape. I just ran the whole
thing last year. Reallywonderful shape. So you can
basically bicycling, paddling,hiking. It's paradise, and it's
not crowded. You're about twoand a half hours, two hours from
(19:22):
Spokane, so you get more peoplecoming up from that area.
Actually surprising. I meet alot of British Columbians from
Nelson in that area, come downto the area too. But again, you
won't be dealing with crowds.
But because there's limitedcamping in hotels, definitely
make your reservations early. Itdoes get hot there. It can get
hot there, but it there, but italso can get cold. Last night
(19:44):
was there last August, it wasactually cold. And it also can
rain in the summertime. Thepatterns are not the same as the
Cascades. Clouds will pick upagain over there. So it could be
rainy there in the summertime aswell. But if you've never been
there, it's one of my absolutefavorite places. In the state
Jennie Flaming (20:01):
it is, I agree, at awesome summer getaway. Love
it, yeah, and Curlew Lake isgreat for camping. I mean, the
sky is so dark, it's amazing,
Craig Romano (20:13):
yeah, and it's Yeah, imagine that's where my
wife and I actually got married,at the State Park. It was the
very first place I took hercamping back in, oh God, 1996
when we met at the UW so again,and we get married, we celebrate
our anniversary at our campsite.
And it's kind of interesting.
There was a ponderosa pine thatwas planted there. And watching
that tree grow over the yearsalso reminds me of how much
(20:36):
older I'm getting to. It's like,Oh my God. You know old guy. I
don't know who's gonna hit oldgrowth first, the pioneer me,
but yeah,
Jennie Flaming (20:47):
I love it. Well, those are some awesome new
summer getaway ideas for thoseof you listening who are looking
for something different. Allright, we'll see you next
Craig Romano (20:57):
week, right? I'll see you out in Republic this
summer. Yes, if
Jennie Flaming (21:01):
you're enjoying the podcast, we would love to
have you leave us a rating orreview wherever you're listening
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, if you'd liketo connect with us and support
us, and you can always leave usa tip in the show notes you.
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