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First Trip to the Gospel Hump

Post author:Occidental
Post published:2025-10-12
Post category:2025 Idaho
Post comments:3 Comments

The Gospel Hump Wilderness is fairly local to us, and it actually wasn’t on fire this year when we were able to go, so we packed up for an overnight, laced on the hiking boots and headed that way.

We’ve actually been in the neighborhood of the Gospel Hump several times, including last fall, but this was are first time to make it a primary destination for a trip. There is a ‘cherry stem’ road that takes you up high and right into the middle of the wilderness area, and that seemed like a good jumping off point for a couple of day hikes and exploring the access into the area.

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A Loop of Washington’s National Parks | Mt. Rainier National Park

Post author:Occidental
Post published:2025-08-29
Post category:2025 Video Washington
Post comments:0 Comments

After picking up our tuna in Westport we spent the rest of the day moving east while avoiding Washington’s biggest cities. Making the loop from North Cascade to Olympic and then on to Rainer had the added bonus of creating a route that avoided the traffic and chaos of Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia. By late afternoon we were close enough to Mt. Rainier that we could get into the park and try and beat the big crowds we knew we’d find at Paradise. The next morning we arrived at Paradise fairly early, and just barely in time. The parking lot was filling with the hoardes.

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A Loop of Washington’s National Parks | Olympic National Park

Post author:Occidental
Post published:2025-08-29
Post category:2025 Washington
Post comments:1 Comment

Fresh off our overnight backpack out to the Olympic Coast we still had plenty of time in the day. The forecast was for clear-ish skies atop Hurricane Ridge so we left the low elevations of the coastal region and headed to the other end of the extremes found at Olympic National Park, the mountains. It was in the low 50’s when we arrived atop Hurricane Ridge, and just clear enough to offer a few glimpses of the impressive Olympic mountains between passing low cloud banks.

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