Finding Fall Hikes

How to use WTA's search features to find the best fall hikes.

There are more ways than ever to find a hike on WTA's website to suit your desires. This time of year, it's always nice to go where there is some great fall color. Below we list some tips to find just the right fall hike for you.

: Fall color abounds along the Naches Peak Loop near Mt. Rainier National Park. Photo by Alan Bauer.

Trip Report Search

WTA's Trip Report search gives you more ways than ever before to sort through the more than 29,000 Trip Reports that have been posted to this site over the years. Here's how to find a great fall hike:

Sort by Date: All of the Trip Reports are listed in chronological order. Now you have two new date sorting options. You can choose a date range - say October 1-15, 2009 to see where people hiked last year, or a more open-ended sort by month (this is an "Advanced" option). This is a great way to home in on hikes traditionally good during the fall.
Sort by Keyword: This fun search option allows you to search through every Trip Report for mention of your selected word. Try "larches," "vine maple," or "fall color" for some great hikes.
Sort by Region: Use this search option alone or together with Date or Keyword to focus your search to a particular area.
Trail Highlights: You may notice the option to sort by wildflowers, berries and fall foliage. These will give you all of the Trip Reports flagged with these option after September 10, 2008.

Hiking Guide & Seasonal Suggestions

: Ingalls Way in the Teanaway offers nice fall color in September and October. Photo by Don Geyer.

WTA's Hiking Guide presents guidebook entries for nearly 1000 hikes. You can search it much like you do Trip Reports. Try the Keyword function, as mentioned above, or search by region.

WTA has been posting a Hike of the Week since November 2007 and we are continually adding new hiking features to the website.

Check out the most recent few Hikes of the Week for suggestions about where to go now.
Fall Color Hikes details nine great fall foliage hikes around the state; and
Fall Safety Tips provides details on how to pack for cooler and changeable conditions.

Washington Trails Magazine

Past September and October articles from Washington Trails Magazine detail some great fall hiking. Here are a few to sample:

Hiking Golden Horn in the North Cascades (Sept. 2008)
Hiking Mount St. Helens in Autumn (Oct. 2006)
Stairway to Heaven: Hiking Indian Heaven (Oct. 2006)

After You've Been Hiking

After a great hike, please return to WTA's website and share your experience and/or your knowledge.

Trip Reports - Thousands of hikers check Trip Reports not only for ideas, but also for seasonal and trail conditions. Help them out by Posting a Trip Report.

Hiking Guide - People like you can contribute to WTA's Hiking Guide. Choose one of the many hikes we don't have a write up from a Mountaineers Books guidebook author, and update the information for other hikers.

You can contribute to this Hiking Guide in one or all of these ways:

Write a guidebook-style description of your hike.
Type up the driving directions.
Add in the trailhead's GPS coordinates for the map.
Include trail statistics, such as distance and elevation gain.
Suggest other hiking resources, such as maps, guidebooks, ranger stations; and add the dominant features and users for the hike.
Rate the hike.