Again, down the dirt road. On a Saturday it was crowded! Like holy cow! Arrived just before 9:00 am…read moreand was able to secure a spot in the lot. Thankfully I have a small car and can fit it into tight spaces. Discovery pass will not work here! Scan the QR code and pay $5.00 for a day pass. Or a northwest forest pass will work. The beginning is steep. With lots of stairs. You will begin to hate the stairs. Then just before you want to give up you've made it! A lovely well maintained trail. Parts of the trail go through clearings with views that give a view to just how high you are. And views of past gigantic rock slides. The weather at the lake today was cold. No snow on the trail but a bit on the mountains above. But it was cold! My hands started to hurt because it was so cold. After a brief picnic sitting on some logs with trout swimming below our feet we head back down. A back and forth hike just over 7.4 miles. Lovely!! Enjoy life. SYOY.

Annette lake is beautiful and so serene. I arrived May 17, Saturday at 9:30am and there was still…read moreplenty of spots in the lot. 8.8 miles, 2,150 ft of elevation gain and 4hrs out & back. There's a bathroom available but it smells very bad so I recommend going before the trailhead. 0.2 miles in theres the first viewpoint, a beautiful waterfall. There is still some snow at the top but you can make it without spikes or trekking poles. The lake is still partly frozen and the snow makes it even more serene. 10/10 would recommend this hike!!

This year I'll be hiking Mt Fuji. So, I've been stepping up my game with PNW hikes that are a…read morelittle more challenging. My Krav Maga friends suggested giving Bandera Mountain a try if I'm looking for a challenge. I liked the elevation change and lengthiness this hike promised. Additionally, it still seemed rather doable for our dogs, which was a huge plus. And how can you beat just 45ish miles from Seattle?! Suggestions: - You'll need a parking pass which you can buy and print online before you go - Check the WA Trails Association page for condition reports prior to going. We read the bugs were TERRIBLE, so we brought bug spray. So glad we did because the bugs were, in fact, very aggressive! - Get there EARLY! We snagged one of the last parking spaces at our 7:30AM arrival time! Arrival: Anticipate driving down a single lane, terrifying and long dirt road to get to parking. It's terrifying because there are numerous blind turns. The dirt is kicked up badly by other cars making general visibility an additional issue. Lastly, there is no barrier on the cliff side of the road. So that's scary. The actual trail is called the Ira Spring Trail. And it leads to/splits off to take you to three different locations: Bandera Mountain, Mason Lake, or Point Defiance. We opted for Bandera Mountain, which was beautiful and challenging. However, after seeing photos of Mason Lake, I'm a little salty we didn't take that route. Next time! Like many others have mentioned, the beginning part of this trail is very chill. The path is wide and has just a slight incline. As you move along the trail, incline gets steeper and steeper. Many areas are sandy and dry, which can be slippery. And as you get closer to the summit, the trail turned to giant rocks you actually climb to get up. Nothing too bad--our dogs both did great with these parts of the trails. You'll eventually get to the part of the Ira Spring Trail where you can either go to Mason Lake, or continue upwards to Bandera Mountain. We chose to continue upwards for a while until we reached what I consider the "false summit". It's right when the climb gets really steep and rocky, and is only about 100 ft in elevation short of the actual summit. At this point we decided to turn around based on two facts: 1) WTA info said the views at the false summit are better than the actual summit. And being only 100ft in elevation difference... meh. 2) Our dogs would not have been safe hiking the remainder of the trail. So we turned around at that point and headed back. However, please note this was the area with the horrid bug situation. I'm talking about in your nose, mouth, ears--bugs all up in your shiz. Lastly, our decent down the trail did NOT take us as long as I'm reading it took other Yelpers. It took us about 45mins to an hour to get back to parking. DOGS: Dogs are allowed on leash. Please leash your dogs. I saw at least three off leash. If you don't care about your dog's safety, that's your problem. But don't put other dogs at risk because you don't care. Also, I have a 25lb terrier (8yrs old) and a 17lb mutt (1 yr) that did really well on this long and strenuous hike! Both dogs made it all the way, except our 17lb baby gave up .5 from the finish and we carried her the rest of the way. Haha. Bring water and poop bags. However, there is no waste receptacles for poops. So you'll have to hike with poop bags up and back down the mountain.

ATTN: I didn't go all the way to Bandera's summit! I only did Mason Lake, which is on Bandera Mt…read more Mason Lake is .4 miles inferior in distance and takes you to an opposite part of the mountain at a junction. I'm reading some reviews here that say Mason Lake is "very popular" but we showed up at almost 10 a.m. and the parking lot wasn't even close to half full! When we came out at the end of our hike, I did notice that it was completely packed. So maybe go in the morning and beat the rush! We hardly encountered anybody on the way up, just the way down. The hike to Mason Lake on the Ira Spring Trail is GORGEOUS. So pretty, especially during fall when all the colors are changing. Even in the thicket of all the trees, you can't help but notice how pretty all the sunshine is beaming in on all the trees. Along the way, you get so many views of surrounding peaks and you even get a good amount of views of Mt. Rainier! The higher you go, the more visible it is (obviously) and pictures don't do it justice. It's amazing in person. The first half of the hike is fairly easy, with a wide trail and not too much incline. You come to a junction about 1.5 miles in, and it's unmarked, but you can tell that you need to go UP. This is where your workout starts. It's a hefty climb to the second junction, which you come to at about 2.9 miles. Here is where you can decide to go right to Bandera Summit, or Mason Lake. We took the path to Mason Lake, and expected it to be pretty close to the junction. Noooope. You scale up some rocks, up some more rocks, and then you're welcomed by the forest again. Here, you go DOWN a trail for about 10 minutes... Don't worry though, it's not too steep of a climb later. The lake itself is very pretty and very clear! There's a lot of places to sit and relax - the ideal spot is on all the lake logs piled up high enough that there are plenty of dry spots, but some girls already had claimed that location. We sat on some flat rocks adjacent to the logs, and got just as great of a view and a perfect resting place for my dog. Overall, I would say the hike on the way to the lake was a lot prettier than the lake itself. The mountain views just blew me away. I would definitely come back and do the hike to Bandera Summit, and I'm sure that'll be in the very near future for me! Note: you do have to have a day pass to hike here, you can get it online at the Washington Trail Association website for $5! And know that it takes about 1.5 hours to get up (with breaks) and about 45 minutes to get down.

If you're planing to go camping, this is a beautiful lake to go to and there's a campground close…read moreby. First word that came to mind when I initially saw it was "pristine". It's a picture perfect lake. If you go early in the morning, the water is calm and it's so quiet. It's perfect fishing weather and trout is super easy to catch here. It's a two pole limit per person. There's quite a bit of activity in the afternoon during the summer of kayaking, tubing, rowing, etc. but the lake is large where it does not get crowded. No motorized boats allowed. The water is clear and a beautiful blue color. Be careful since it can get deep quick. The view is like no other with other mountains and trees surrounding it. Cooper Lake is small on the map, so not that many people go to it from what I have read. Cle Elm river and Kachess lake are nearby which is visited more.

Wonderful mountain terrain with family friendly paths. The hike down to the river is simply…read moreamazing. After a little walk there is a large picnic are with multiple pavilions overlook the river. The pavilions to my knowledge can be reserved for special functions. The visitor center was closed at the time we visited. Next time we go hopefully the renovation will be finished. My family had a wonderful drive. It was well worth the drive up. We will be going again.

This review is for a hike in WA Mountain State Forest. Meeting friends for a hike on south tiger…read moremountain loop in the tiger mountains. Still orientating myself with logistics here in WA. This hike was approximately 7 miles and beautiful! The forest here is absolutely gorgeous. Green trees and so many ferns. Super wet and foggy but not raining. Our trail destination was the south tiger mountain loop. I followed (and trusted, lol), my more experienced hiker friends with following signage. This, so many photos of signs. The trail had one muddy spot but the rest was easy to follow. Signage mentioned that horses share the trail but we didn't see any. The peak was very foggy so we didn't see anything. No restrooms anywhere that I could see. Parking, I followed AllTrails direction who h led me to park on the road. Beautiful forest! Can't wait to explore more. Happy Yelping.

On our workation to Seattle, my partner's friend recommended Tiger Mountain as the most epic place…read moreto hike on the Saturday morning we had together. For this brief excursion, we parked at High Point Trailhead and did the West Tiger Trail #3 and Around the Lake Trail. I'm in absolute awe of this forest, especially knowing there's so much more to explore. I love looking at everyone else's photos of Tiger Mountain because there's some cool tree formations I want to check out. I'm obsessed with foot bridges, greenery, and lakes. It's notoriously intense, though. Other things I've read in reviews include only bringing active dogs and watching out for mountain bikers. Would totally come back to Washington just to explore more of Tiger Mountain. Beautiful chunk of nature.

Strange atmosphere. The parking lot fits about 7 cars, and the crowd the night I went was odd. The…read moreowners and dogs were off. There were kids riding bikes, not something I'd expect or want at a dog park. There was elk poop everywhere, lots of thorns, and the area doesn't look maintained. It's a large field, but definitely not well-kept.

This place is massive!!! Lots of space to explore. On a hot day it's a little rough, it's not…read morereally shaded. The entrance area is really the best place for shade. The parking lot is tiny! There were some large piles of poop that didn't look like they were from dogs.

Came on a weekday in the summer in 2023, arrived at 9:00 am and the parking lot was about 2/3 full…read more It is a small parking lot, and by the time we left in the afternoon, a few cars were parked along the forest road leading up to the parking lot. The forest road leading up to the trailhead was pretty well maintained -- a few small potholes, but very avoidable. Just drive slowly around the turns, I thought there was decent space for 2 cars to pass slowly as needed. The trail was in perfect condition. We enjoyed that it was a relatively wide path, not TOO many rocks/roots (for our older dog to navigate), was shaded pretty much the whole way, and was not too steep (by WA standards). We only identified 1 spot at each lake with decent day use access to the lake, and these lake access areas were small. We didn't have an issue with that as the trail was not crowded, but I imagine it could be an issue on busy summer weekends.

If you're looking for an easy - moderate hike with beautiful lake views, highly recommend Talapus…read moreand Olallie Lakes! This one had been on my list for a while, so I'm glad I finally got to do it. As some other reviewers have said, be prepared for a crappy road to the trailhead and also a small parking lot. I feel like that's standard for a lot of Washington hikes, though. Come early and you won't have a problem is my motto! This hike is definitely doable for people who are just starting out hiking - I'd even say older kids (like 3/4 and up?) could tackle this one without too much of a problem. And of course, our dogs loved it too. About halfway into the hike you see one of the lakes which is a nice moment for a respite if needed. If not, power on to the next! Up at the top, if you go early, expect to run into some campers... There are signs that clearly say there isn't any day camping, but that's definitely relative and based on perception. There were campers in EVERY spot that had a good view of the lake, making it really hard to find a good spot to catch a full view of the lake. All in all, a good hike that will take up about half your day. We arrived at about 8 am and we were out by 11.

Mount Si is an 8 mile hike roundtrip in North Bend about 45 minutes east of Seattle. It is the big…read moresibling to the smaller Little Si trail which is closeby. I missed the entrance the first time I drove by it and turned around to get to the parking lot. I arrived at 7:45am on a Friday morning and there was a good amount of parking available. It's a bigger parking lot than I expected but the potholes in the lot were a pain to drive through. The first part of the hike was mostly incline and I was dripping sweat pretty much right away. It continued like that other than the occasional flat land for like 30 seconds before it was back to incline again. There were more switchbacks near the top and was rocky to get to the very top. It was mostly cloudy on the way up and the tall trees helped shade away some of the sun as it peaked out. At the summit there were beautiful clear views of Mt. Rainier above the clouds which was just amazing to see. The contrast of the clouds and the clear skies above them were breathtaking. I fought the urge to stop and take a break multiple times on the way up and got to the top in just under 2 hours. Going down was hard on the knees with the steep decline and I got down in about 1.5 hours. It was a tough and challenging hike but I'm happy I overcame it. I recommend bringing lots of water because it can be pretty tough with all the incline. Also, there weren't too many bugs at the top but if you're bothered by them I suggest bringing some bug spray.

Wow! Hard to believe it's almost been a year since I moved to the PNW, this was one of my first…read morehikes, and after the craziness of moving, charging jobs, and a few weeks without hiking, this one kicked my ass! What a year of hiking in the Cascades, and a physically and mentally challenging job can help, this time was much more enjoyable, plus knowing the terrain and area helps. It's still a kick ass hike, but much more enjoyable. The views from the peak are amazing!! Even on a cloudy getting ready to rain day, you can see Seattle, on. Clearer days Mt Rainier is viewable. Lots of fun wildlife and plant life still gearing towards fall, seeing a few trees colored up. This is a popular hike, so expect to see people, luckily parking lots is large, although full of potholes. Thank God for a 4 wheel drive, so No worries. This hike, especially as you get towards the peak, has many cross cross or zig zags on the trail, which helps, because it's steep, especially the last half mile. I didn't wear the proper shoes to rock climb, so doing the final ascent to the top of the peak will wait till next time. It still amazes me how green the foliage gets after it starts raining.. like instantly turning a more vibrant green, if that's possible? Plenty of views with out going to the top peak. And as always, since it's all uphill going to the summit, it's all downhill coming down. I would also recommend hiking poles, the help on the steep inclines and were helpful going down as the rain made some of the surfaces slick. Definitely love the sound of the rain in some of the silent moments, which brings me to one of the downsides of hiking near the I-90 corridor, still hear quite a bit of traffic noise even 6 miles away, part of the echo through the pass, but still some quiet moments. This is a challenging and fun hike, enjoy the moments, I've met lots of people who were determined to make it to the top.. and did!! Goals!! Happy hiking! SYOY , God Bless and Cheers!