Posts — HikingRoutes.blog

• The Reality Check: Your Trail Is Closed Because Infrastructure Is Failing—Not Because of Snow — Infrastructure is failing in the Cascades. Highway 20 culverts are compromised. Bridges are removed. Water crossings are impassable. This isn't a snow problem—it's a system problem. Here's what you need to know before you commit to a trail.
• The Reality Check: Mud Season Is Here Early—and You're Probably Destroying Trails — With early thaw from low snowpack, mud season has arrived weeks ahead of schedule. Most hikers are destroying trails by walking around the mud—the exact wrong move. Here's the counterintuitive LNT rule you need to follow.
• The Reality Check: The USFS Just Lost 260 Workers—and Your "Favorite Trail" Is Now a Liability — 260 USFS workers just lost their jobs in WA and OR. Franklin Falls and Denny Creek are already closed. Here's what this logistical collapse means for your 2026 hiking season—and why your favorite trail might be a safety hazard now.
• The Reality Check: Your Spring Water Plan Is Probably Wrong—and Dehydration Doesn't Care About Your Filter — Snowpack at 130% of average means one thing: spring water sources are about to become dangerously unpredictable. Here's the data on melt timing, hazardous fords, and why your filter might fail when you need it most.
• The Reality Check: The Low Snowpack Lie—and Why It'll Put You on a SAR Report — Washington's abysmally low snowpack is creating a false sense of early-season accessibility. Here's why "dry trails" at 4,000 feet don't tell the whole story—and why your AllTrails feed is about to become a safety hazard.
• The Reality Check: Trail Difficulty Ratings Are Completely Meaningless Without This Data — Trail difficulty ratings are subjective nonsense that kills hikers. Here's the data you actually need: vertical gain per mile, grade distribution, and surface conditions. Do the math before you hit the trail.