Recommend to me your favorite looney hikes

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Thought of a couple more out and back options, include some fairly boring stretches of trail but the payoffs are worth it. From the road end along the horrible Chiwawa River Rd. ascend to Buck Creek Pass (about 9 mi. one way), then leave the main trail to go down thru the camp area, sniff out a trail ascending and wrapping around the back side of Liberty Cap, then get to enjoy one of my favorite ridge walks anywhere. Stupendous views of Glacier Peak, Entiats, Dakobed Range, Fortress, Chiwawa and more, plus the gorgeous Triad Lake (looks like it was transported from the Enchantments and dumped near Glacier Pk.). Not sure on the mileage if you continue all the way to Triad or High Pass. It's not official trail but there is a well established route.

In the Alpine Lakes Wilderness go up the EF Foss River, cross the bridge and then ascend to Necklace Valley. Fairly tough climb between the river crossing and the valley. Once at Jade Lake it's a fairly gentle ascent to the head of the valley. Then it gets steep again for the real payoff. Either to the left to LaBohn Lakes or to the right to the Tank Lakes. Both are gorgeous, both are paid for w/ sweat. Not sure on mileage, both are off trail once you start climbing above Necklace Valley. It's 16 mi. roundtrip to Jade Lake, the rest of Necklace Valley isn't probably more than another mile or so. To get to the higher lakes is more about elevation gain than distance.

Another gem that enter North Cascades NP that is a butt kicker is Sourdough Mountain Lookout. Just to the lookout and back is about 12 mi. and 5,000 ft. of gain, but the real prize is to go the opposite direction from the lookout along Stetattle Ridge. Off trail, rolling up and down, some pretty little tarns, and increasingly close up views of the southern Pickett Range. Also views across Hwy 20 to some North Cascade giants. Just go as far as you feel like and then return the way you came with the knee jarring descent back down to Diablo Lake.

[kepPNW]

A fair bit of it would be off trail, but I think I've seen TRs on this site for a loop around Broken Top that looked quite intriguing. I've done a few pieces of it here and there but have not attempted the circumnavigation.

Great loop! Might've seen this trip report? We took three days, so we could take our time, savor it all, and make some side trips from camp.

[RobinB]

In no real particular order:

• That loop around Broken Top: really just beautiful the whole way. Like Karl, we did it as a two night backpack (tr), but I could easily see doing it in a day.
• Also in the Three Sisters, you can do a sort of loop up to the top of South Sister from Moraine Lake, down to Green Lakes, and back on an easy connector (tr). It's a touch short to qualify as looney, but there's enough elevation gain to maybe make it sneak in.
• A million trips in the Gorge: between Trail 400 and the east-west high route, you can very easily make a loop of any size you want. If you'd like suggestions, I'm more than happy to give some (Eagle-Tanner, Eagle-Herman, Nick Eaton-Benson, a million more...), but maybe best to just look at a map and go.
• In the Wallowas: up one fork of the Wallowa River, down another (tr).

[NoLuck]

In no real particular order:

• That loop around Broken Top: really just beautiful the whole way. Like Karl, we did it as a two night backpack (tr), but I could easily see doing it in a day.
• Also in the Three Sisters, you can do a sort of loop up to the top of South Sister from Moraine Lake, down to Green Lakes, and back on an easy connector (tr). It's a touch short to qualify as looney, but there's enough elevation gain to maybe make it sneak in.
• A million trips in the Gorge: between Trail 400 and the east-west high route, you can very easily make a loop of any size you want. If you'd like suggestions, I'm more than happy to give some (Eagle-Tanner, Eagle-Herman, Nick Eaton-Benson, a million more...), but maybe best to just look at a map and go.
• In the Wallowas: up one fork of the Wallowa River, down another (tr).

I did that South sister/green lakes loop last summer, it was great, not too hard.

I have read the Broken Top loop TR quite a few times- it's pretty high on my to do list. I'm very comfortable with off trail navigation in open terrain like that. Broken top might be my favorite Oregon mountain.

There's so many great options in the gorge to do big miles in the spring. Nick Eaton/Benson going on the list for sure.

The Wallowas are the only part of Oregon I've never spent time in. I keep planning trips up there and they keep being derailed by one thing or another. I've gotta make it happen.

[NoLuck]

Thought of a couple more out

This is such a wealth of knowledge, thank you for taking the time to write it out and share it. I have spent very little time in WA state, and there's so much to see and do up there that I'm a little overwhelmed.

[NoLuck]

Here's the short list of ideas I have cooking for this year right now:

Im looking at going out the Devil's Garden on Mt Adams late in the summer, my only hesitation being the glacial river crossings in the last section.

Last fall I hiked a 32 mile section of the OCT- basically from Seaside to the Neahkanie south trailhead. I'd like to do some more sections of the OCT this year, for some reason I'm really interested in the dunes area. I can't decide if hiking the dunes would be beautiful and interesting, or if hiking in sand would be punishing and terrible. (The answer of course is probably BOTH).

I think there are some cool possibilities in Badger Creek Wilderness, but I haven't nailed down any routes yet.

I'm planning to do a short backpacking trip up to Jefferson Park this summer, and I'll be looking at designing a big day starting from up there. I've never camped there, but the bugs are so miserable I can't imagine wanting to relax at the campsite for long.

I've never been to Goat Rocks (so many options there!) and I've never been to the Dark Divide (which I hear mixed reviews about).

The list just goes on and on!

[retired jerry]

that's an excellent list

I'm sure I've done a dozen trips to the Goat Rocks, many options, my current objective is to do a trip that includes going from Cispus Pass over to Surprise Lake, I think that might be straightforward but I've only scoped out both ends

[drm]

Once the snow melts and the trails are cleared there are many options just between the Columbia and Whatum Lake. There are at least four routes between the river and that lake and so there are many more possible loops. I would say that they range from low 20s to mid 30s in miles and all have between 4000 and 5000 EG.

You also didn't say that they have to be loops. It is wide open if you're up for out-and-backs. The Lewis River makes for a good early season trip. It's fairly flat in itself, but it connects to Quartz Creek which has lots of upas and downs. A long out and back can cover a decent percentage of Indian Heaven as well, and can include various lollipop loops.

Further afield there are many options in the Wallowa Mtns and I'm not even going to try and list them.