My family is from Astoria, all Finns. I thought the Finnish president coming to WA is really amazing.

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And I assume the 6 miles is with snowshoes on and round trip? Snowshoes burns quite a bit of calories even though it doesn’t feel like it in the beginning 😅 Edit: Nvm, I think I found the link https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/hurricane-hill-snowshoe Thanks!

You’re also gonna need snow shoes, you can do the first 1.5 miles which is just walking on the unplowed road to get to the trail head but snow shoes are a must for the actual trail

Great info. Thank you!

The hike was honestly exhausting for me, it was a bit over 6 miles total with quite a bit of elevation gain. I burned like 1500 something calories. That being said, this pic wasn’t taken at the end of the hike but more like half way through. And the road was totally clear, as far as I know they clear it Thursday to Sunday or something like that. I was able to drive up to the visitor center in my sedan with no snow chains or anything.

And I'd prefer if we didn't have to give money to Idaho, Mississippi, or North Dakota, yet here we are.

Please keep me posted; would love to see it!

I'll get downvoted to oblivion, but we shouldn't give money to the ukrainians either.

was down last saturday...after 2 runs...sigh

There’s sites on the peninsula that are pretty much open season, but right now there’s snow up those roads. Check out Hamma Hamma rd and Duckabush rd. At least for me it beats being in a packed campground regardless of having a dog. You’re a little more remote, but isn’t that the point? You can’t camp just anywhere, but when you find a spot, you’ll know it when you see it. That’s what I’ve done. Very peaceful.

Thanks. We'll see how it goes.

I’ve never seen these clouds in real life before!

Check out Hipcamp. I specifically look for places that only have one site, as once you get into the places with multiple sites you risk there being another dog.

I appreciate the tip! We’re working with a trainer in the seattle area but our boy came from an abuse case so it’s been slow going to make progress

No specific recommendations for dispersed camp sites, but regarding dog behavior, one of the things that we have found to help (at the suggestion of a trainer) is giving the dog an assignment. Telling a dog to be quiet doesn't mean much to it. Approaching it, getting it's attention, and commanding it to follow obedience exercises it knows by heart is a distraction, and also helps it focus on something normal, which can help lower its stress. This may require an increase in training frequency to make successful.

Absolutely

Finland is one of the most progressive countries on the planet with a population of around 5 million people. They’re doing fine without our money, educate yourself before you type

For your degrees, take a look at the IERF (ierf.org) for a foreign degree verification service. One of the demographics they cater to is for employment using foreign degrees.

And if you decide to study in the US, you can get it evaluated for acceptance by a US educational institution so you don't have start over again.

We can go anywhere in Washington!

Location would help

If you want to check out campgrounds, you can find all of the public campgrounds in the state on our camping map https://maps.northwestportal.com/camp/ You might consider picking a place with camping cabins or Yurts (there is a filter for that.) And you will probably want to bring your kindling with you as the campground stores may not be open this time of year.

This is actually a huge honor. I hate that it takes visits like this to remind us that Washington has very big Finnish-American population, especially right across the bridge from Astoria over in Oregon.

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Hopefully these people can keep their hands out of our pockets...