Karen Sykes, Neighbor

I'm a Washington native and have lived in Washington most of my life. I started to hike in 1979 and joined The Mountaineers the following year. I have been leading hikes for The Mountaineers since the early 1980s – I have also led snowshoe trips and scrambles. You could say I'm a hiker that never stopped hiking – I'm still hiking and get out on the trails at least a couple times a week if not more. In the 1980s I began writing articles for regional outdoor magazines (Signpost Magazine which later became Pack and Paddle), writing often enough that my name became familiar to other hikers. In the late 1990s I was contacted by The Seattle Post Intelligencer and asked if I'd like to give "Hike of the Week" a try. I said "Yes" – the "try" turned into several years of writing a weekly hike column for The Seattle Post Intelligencer until they shut down their printing presses. I also write trail descriptions (with photographs) for www.VisitRainier.com a Web-based information center. I've also published an article in "Sierra".  Mountaineer Books published  "Hidden Hikes" (out of print) and I also contributed most of the trail descriptions for their "Best Wildflower Hikes". I continue to write an occasional piece for The Seattle Times.  I have a grown daughter, Annette Shirey who lives and works in San Francisco and a wonderful life-partner, Bob, who prefers to go by his hiking moniker "Silverback".