washington state hiking trails
Are you looking to find a hike in Washington State? There are so many options in our beautiful state! You can easily find hikes that fit your criteria and your skill level. The tools below will help you find just that. Plus, I have compiled a list of great hikes for different skill levels to get you started! Before you head out, also ensure that you are well prepared and familiar with hiking basics.
Moving to Washington from Ohio, I had never hiked trails with hundreds or thousands of feet of elevation gain. It was shocking to me what people in Washington consider “easy” hikes. A hike with 1000 feet of elevation gain can be quite challenging if you are new to hiking, and a 5-mile flat trail will feel much easier than a 5 mile trail with lots of elevation gain. That is why I have largely split the trail difficulties below by elevation gain. My best advice is to research hikes ahead of time and pick trails that match your abilities, and then work your way up.
•resources to find trails•
The website that I regularly use to find and research hikes is Washington Trails Association, wta.org. This free website allows you to search for hikes via a map, and using various filters. For example, you can look for hikes where you can see waterfalls, hikes where you don’t need a permit or pass or that only require a certain pass, trails that are dog friendly, or hikes within a certain mileage and/or elevation gain range. Once you find a hike that interests you, you can read more detail, such as driving directions and a summary about the trail. Also, you can read recent trip reports from other hikers, which can be extremely helpful. This can alert you to issues with road or trail conditions, how crowded the trail and parking generally tend to be, how long it has taken others to hike the same trail, tips from other hikers, and even wildlife that people have seen on the trail. If you sign up with an account, you can also save hikes to your “backpack” for later and you can check them off as you hike them.
Another very widely used option is AllTrails, which has an app and a website. This has similar information for hikes to what was shared above for WTA, but also includes hikes outside of Washington as well. There are free and paid versions.
•weather conditions•
Be sure to pay attention to how the weather may impact the accessibility of certain hikes. You can get an idea of this from reading trip reports and trail descriptions. For example, many roads in Mount Rainier National Park do close for the winter, so some of the trails shared below will not be accessible year-round. For other trails, you may find that the parking area is not accessible in the winter, and you would have to hike much further to reach the trailhead than you would in the summer. And if you are hiking at higher elevations, you need to take into account avalanche danger and check current conditions and then ensure that you have the proper equipment such as microspikes or crampons.
Below is a listing of well-known hikes in Washington bucketed by difficulty level. The difficulty level is my own opinion as a semi-reformed flatlander. 🙂
•very easy / beginner hikes•
<2 miles and <=500 feet elevation gain
- Gold Creek Pond – Snoqualmie Pass – 1.0 miles – 10 feet elevation gain
- Hall of Mosses – Olympic National Park – 0.8 miles – 100 feet elevation gain
- Grove of the Patriarchs – Mt Rainier National Park – 1.5 miles – 50 feet elevation gain
- Sol Duc Falls – Olympic National Park – 1.6 miles – 200 feet elevation gain
- Marymere Falls – Olympic National Park – 1.8 miles – 500 feet elevation gain
- Myrtle Falls – Mt Rainier National Park – 0.8 miles – 185 feet elevation gain
- Oxbow Loop – North Bend – 1.8 miles – 50 feet elevation gain
- Snoqualmie Falls Trail – Snoqualmie – 1.4 miles – 250 feet elevation gain
•easy hikes•
2-5 miles and <=1,000 feet elevation gain
- Twin Falls – North Bend – 2.6 miles – 500 feet elevation gain
- Silver Falls – Mt Rainier National Park – 3.0 miles – 600 feet elevation gain
- Franklin Falls – Snoqualmie Pass – 2.0 miles – 400 feet elevation gain
- Coal Creek Falls – Issaquah Alps – 2.5 miles – 420 feet elevation gain
- Heybrook Lookout – Stevens Pass – 2.6 miles – 850 feet elevation gain
- Whatcom Falls – Bellingham – 4.0 miles – 50 feet elevation gain
- Cherry Creek Falls – Stevens Pass – 5.0 miles – 450 feet elevation gain
- Hurricane Hill – Olympic National Park – 3.2 miles – 650 feet elevation gain
- Bridal Veil Falls – Stevens Pass – 4.0 miles – 1000 feet elevation gain
- Naches Peak Loop – Mt Rainier National Park – 3.2 miles – 600 feet elevation gain
- Beacon Rock – Columbia River Gorge – 2.0 miles – 600 feet elevation gain
•moderate hikes•
4+ miles and 1,000-2,000 feet elevation gain
- Poo Poo Point – Issaquah Alps – 7.2 miles – 1750 feet elevation gain
- Poo Poo Point – Chirico Trail – Issaquah Alps – 4.0 miles – 1760 feet elevation gain
- Little Si – North Bend – 3.7 miles – 1300 feet elevation gain
- Rattlesnake Ledge – North Bend – 4.0 miles – 1160 feet elevation gain
- Skyline Trail – Mt Rainier National Park – 5.5 miles – 1450 feet elevation gain
- Wallace Falls – Stevens Pass – 5.6 miles – 1300 feet elevation gain
- Lake 22 – Mountain Loop Highway – 5.4 miles – 1350 feet elevation gain
- Teneriffe Falls – North Bend – 5.6 miles – 1585 feet elevation gain
- Oyster Dome – Bellingham – 5.0 miles – 1050 feet elevation gain
- Fremont Lookout – Mt Rainier National Park – 5.6 miles – 1200 feet elevation gain
- Snow Lake – Snoqualmie Pass – 7.2 miles – 1800 feet elevation gain
- Tolmie Peak Lookout – Mt Rainier Area – 7.5 miles – 1100 feet elevation gain
- Heather Lake – Mountain Loop Highway – 4.6 miles – 1035 feet elevation gain
- Fremont Lookout – Mt Rainier National Park – 5.6 miles – 1200 feet elevation gain
•difficult hikes•
2,000+ feet elevation gain
- Mount Pilchuck – Mountain Loop Highway – 5.4 miles – 2300 feet elevation gain
- Heather – Maple Pass Loop – North Cascades – 7.2 miles – 2000 feet elevation gain
- Mount Si – North Bend – 8.0 miles – 3150 feet elevation gain
- Colchuck Lake – Enchantments / Leavenworth – 8.0 miles – 2280 feet elevation gain
- Mount Storm King – Olympic National Park – 4.0 miles – 2065 feet elevation gain
- Lake Serene – Stevens Pass – 8.2 miles – 2000 feet elevation gain
- Blanca Lake – Stevens Pass – 7.5 miles – 3300 feet elevation gain
- Gothic Basin – Mountain Loop Highway – 9.2 miles – 2840 feet elevation gain
- Hidden Lake Lookout – North Cascades – 8.0 miles – 3300 feet elevation gain
- Mount Ellinor – Olympic Peninsula – 6.2 miles – 3300 feet elevation gain
- Dog Mountain – Columbia River Gorge – 6.0 miles – 2800 feet elevation gain
•very difficult hikes•
4,000+ feet elevation gain
- Mailbox Peak – North Bend – 9.4 miles – 4000 feet elevation gain
- The Enchantments – Leavenworth – 18.0 miles one way – 4500 feet elevation gain
- Sourdough Mountain – North Cascades – 10.4 miles – 4870 elevation gain
- Sahale Arm – North Cascades – 12.0 miles – 4000 feet elevation gain
- Jade Lake – Alpine Lakes Wilderness – 21.0 miles – 4500 feet elevation gain
