Your Guide to Beginner Backpacking in Washington State | Overnight Trips, Gear, and More
Often Barefoot — Weekly updates, roundups, and reflections coming to you from the Emerald City of Seattle, WA. In collaboration with REI.
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Welcome back.
Howdy and welcome to another Barefoot Weekly newsletter! I hope your week is going well so far and that the sun is shining where you are.
We’re easing our way into the last half of summer and I can’t help but acknowledge how nostalgic this time of year feels — from evening swims, eating popsicles and watching a cozy TV show, or staying up late to catch colorful sunsets. Late summer arguably is my favorite time of year and I hope to stay as present as possible in this fleeting season of radiance.
I’m incredibly excited to talk about today’s topic of being a beginner backpacker in the Pacific Northwest in collaboration with REI, as Michael and I took an overnight backpacking trip last weekend and I wanted to share about that experience because it left us feeling restored and eager for future recreation outdoors together. We heavily leaned on REI’s many resources for best backpacking practices that can be found online, but even just browsing their Trailmade Collection helped immensely to make sure we had the gear we needed to ensure a safe and fun time in the great outdoors.
Below in Section 03, I’ll be sharing:
A compiled list of beginner-friendly backpacking locations — recommended by this community
What gear we brought with us from REI (with links)
How we mindfully recreated and followed Leave-No-Trace (LNT) principles
Tips for how you can feel confident as a beginner backpacker
A special thank you to REI for sponsoring today’s newsletter and for continuing to educate and inspire safe and respectful outdoor recreation for all experience levels!
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Updates + events + more
Before we jump into today’s topic, I want to take a moment and bring up some exciting events on the calendar!
I host a community walk club that is based in Seattle and we meet about twice per month for social walks around the city. While I travel occasionally to host walks in other cities around the country, we have weekly virtual walk events where you can join from anywhere in the world. Our club is hosted on Strava and joining is completely free — we’d love to see you there :)
Virtual Walk Wednesdays — Walk from anywhere at anytime on Wednesday and share about your walk + the theme for the week. All paths connect somehow, so even though we might not live in the same place, we’re all together when we go for a stroll.
** Community walk with REI — Mark your calendars for Saturday, August 16th, at 9:30am for an urban hike in collaboration with REI. Sign up for free here and get ready to make new friends, see new parts of the city, and enjoy some s’mores at REI’s flagship store in South Lake Union. There will be REI goodie bags handed out to the first 25 attendees who arrive, so plan to arrive early to get yours!
Join our community walk club here!
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The barefoot weekly - week 7/30/25
A Beginner Backpacker’s Guide to an Overnight Trip in the Pacific Northwest
Intro
I grew up in San Diego and the extent of my “outdoorsyness” was going to the beach and the occasional hike up Cowles Mountain… Which is surrounded by an urban sprawl, so I’m not sure how outdoorsy that even is.
When I moved to Seattle in 2023, I would describe myself as feeling intimidated. I heard people talking about their 6,000’ mountain summit over the weekend, their 30-mile “casual” trail run, or their bike-packing trip (I had to Google that one) to the San Juan Islands.
Breaking into that space seemed very overwhelming and unrealistic for me until I remembered: I can start small and the only person judging me is myself.
I can start small and the only person judging me is myself.
Over the years, I’ve grown a fascination with backpacking - especially after my second Camino de Santiago - but I let my lack of confidence (and fear of bears) overrule any sense of action when it came to it. I would talk with friends and they’d recommend great multi-day trails, but even that seemed like too much. I wanted to start from square one at the easiest place possible with the most straight-forward-low-barrier-of-entry gear.
Beginner Friendly Trails in Washington
Thankfully, I have a lovely online community who graciously flooded my DM’s with their recommendations for where a “baby-beginner-backpacker” should go in Washington and here are the top 10 of those replies for you to save for your next backpacking trip along with their distance from Downtown Seattle:
Barclay Lake - 59 miles (This is where we went and I highly recommend it!)
Lena Lake - 177 miles or 80 with ferry
Goat Lake - 78 miles
Baker Lake - 106 miles
Shi Shi Beach - 159 miles
Cape Alava Loop / Ozette Triangle - 157 miles
Second Beach - 149 miles
Chain Lakes Loop - 92 miles
Gothic Basin - 74 miles
Lake Ingalls - 114 miles
Trailhead Conditions
Alright, so we’ve covered trails! One note before we move on is make sure to do enough research before embarking on your trip to know what the conditions are for getting to the trailhead. Apple Maps and Google Maps were giving us conflicting information when we were navigating to Barclay Lake and it wasn’t until we arrived there that we realized we had to drive up a 3-mile long gravel road… Just something to keep in mind!
Our Experience at Barclay Lake
One of this reasons that this trail called to us was because of its low round-trip distance of 4.4 miles and minimal elevation gain of around 500 feet. It was the perfect shallow-end to jump into to test our gear, be relatively close to Seattle, and since it’s a popular trail, there were plenty of other people and families around — making it feel very safe. In complete honesty, this would be a trail that I would feel quite comfortable backpacking solo at as a woman.
This would be a trail that I would feel quite comfortable backpacking solo at as a woman.
We arrived at the Trailhead at around 5pm and easily found parking. There also is a restroom at the beginning of the Trailhead - just for your notes! We hiked the 2.2 miles in and we were welcomed with beautiful trees, lilies of the valley, and (what I think) were wild blueberries. Of course, always practice caution when foraging in nature if that is something that you are interested in or have knowledge of.
We attempted to find a campsite that was about 200 feet distance from the shore, to respect the local wildlife, but it proved more difficult than anticipated since there were a considerable number of campers already there for the night. We managed to find a tucked-away designated campsite that was under 200 feet from the water, but it was more important to us to not dig up or harm the surroundings (and potential wildlife habitats) rather than ensure we were over those 200 feet. Make your best judgement there!
When we finished setting up our home for the night, we made some dinner and watched the sun set behind Baring Mountain — which was absolutely breathtaking with the clouds swirling around its peak. After cleaning up, we tucked ourselves in and grabbed our Kindles before falling asleep to the sound of nearby croaking frogs.
To my surprise, I woke up at 8am and the air felt wonderful. We made some oatmeal for breakfast, took some last-minute photos and decided to pack it out around 10am to attempt to beat the westbound traffic on Highway 2… Which we were sort of successful at?? I’m convinced there is always traffic on Highway 2 and there’s not much you can do about it at this point.
Overall, backpacking at Barclay Lake was truly lovely and I would highly recommend it whether this is your first backpacking trip or your tenth!
The Gear We Brought
Below are some of the items (linked) that we brought with us as well as some others to consider for your next backpacking trip to make the experience as easy and comfortable as possible!
Backpacks
Michael — This is the closet backpack comparison: REI Co-op Trailmade 60 Pack - Men's
Sara — The backpack model I have (REI Co-op Traverse 32L) isn’t sold anymore, but I would lean towards this pack for our next backpacking adventure: REI Co-op Traverse 60L. This other backpack is also a great option: REI Co-op Trailmade 60 Pack - Women's
Sleep Systems — We have sleeping bags and mats from a backpacking trip on Catalina Island in California that we used, but I would guide anyone to REI’s Trailmade Collection for great sleep system options! I definitely will be browsing before my next outing since I learned that what is suitable for Catalina Island is not great for the cooler Washington temps.
Bear Cannister — BearVault BV 475 Trek
Water filter — Lifestraw Peak Squeeze Water Filter System - 33.8 fl. oz.
Cooking system
I have a spork I use for the outdoors, but I wish it was longer — especially for cooking dehydrated meals when you have to stir them. This Snow Peak Titanium Spork - Long is on my wish list for my next adventure!
Lighter or matches
Trowel - Vargo Titanium Dig Dig Tool
Portable charger - BioLite Charge 20 PD Power Bank
Swimsuit and a compact, lightweight towel (I brought this on the Camino with me!)
Extra socks or beanies to stay warm at night (I personally love anything and everything Darn Tough)
A “pack it out” bag for trash
A Note on Mindful Recreation and Leave No Trace (LNT)
Mindful recreation can be interpreted in many ways, but I like to think of it as not only leaving a place better than you found it, but also treating it and those around it - people, animals, and plants - with the same respect and love that is shown to your own friends, family, pets, and houseplants.
I think mindful recreation also extends to how you take up space while at camp, especially if there are others recreating nearby. You can practice this by:
Picking up any trash, whether it’s your own or not
Keeping any music volume low enough so that it’s audible just to your campsite
Observing “quiet hours” to allow others to rest late at night — they might have a very long trek day ahead and need all the energy they can get
Being a steward of the land by setting up camp in spaces that allow for it without breaking any live branches or uplifting brush/rocks that could be a habitat — bonus points for being 200 feet away from water sources to avoid disturbing the wildlife that depend on these resources
Of course, it would be irresponsible of me to publish this newsletter without including Leave No Trace (LNT) principles — adding the acronym here since it’s commonly referred to as that. Essentially, LNT principles are ways to further practice mindful recreation, but have more to do with respecting the environment. I encourage you to look them over before heading out on your first or next trip!
That concludes our newsletter for today - thanks so much for your support here and for all the great feedback. It means the world to me to have such a wonderful community, both on and offline <3
See you soon and come say hi on Instagram and Youtube!
From my soles to yours,
Sara xx