Hiking in Washington State
With hundreds of trails to choose from Washington state is a hiking paradise. There are beach hikes, desert hikes and excellent mountain hiking trails to please all. On the east side of the state over the Cascade Mountain range the weather is drier and hot in the summer. The western portion of Washington is much wetter and it rains often. The best months for hiking in Washington state is July, August and September.
With three National parks offering plenty of camping and hiking, you can quickly fly into Seattle and rent a car. To the south is Mount Rainier National Park and to the west is the Olympics National Park. Close to the Canadian border you will find North Cascades National Park.
Mount Rainier is close to Seattle and has great campgrounds and plenty of day hiking opportunities. For the more experienced, there are weeks worth of backpacking trips.
The Olympic National Park is located near the ocean and has mountains, forest and beach trails to explore. There are good campgrounds and backpacking trails for your enjoyment.
Farther north, the North Cascades National Park has campgrounds, trails and some lakes for boating. The scenery alone is worth the drive over highway 20.
If you are looking to enjoy the outdoors, the National Parks alone will keep you busy. You can find out more about Washington Outdoors Recreation online. The Washington Hiking Advisor has hundreds of detailed trail reports to help you find out trail details.
Now combine these with the thousands of miles of National Forest land and State parks to explore and you can find ample vacation ideas for years to come. When the weather is great, there is no better place to have fun in the great outdoors. Check this site out for hiking gear ideas.
