I've hiked the first 2.5 miles of the Park Butte trail three times now: once for a chill overnighter on Railroad Grade, once on the way to a Mount Baker summit attempt. This time, the lookout was finally the destination, and it did not disappoint.

Silver Peak and Tinkham Peak looked intimidating on paper — steep talus, exposed scrambling, a route that isn't always obvious. Turns out, with the right beta, both summits (plus the traverse between them) are more manageable than they look. Here's the full loop from Mirror Lake, beta, tips and all.

Snow Lake is one of the most popular hikes near Seattle, but most people never see it from the water. Here's how we strapped packrafts to our backs, hiked in after work on a Friday, and ended up camping on a secluded island with a full moon overhead.