The Filson Journal

Oceans Initiative: on a mission to protect marine life

Conservation scientist Erin Ashe, PhD, says we all have a “cetacean story”: the moment in our lives when we realize that whales and dolphins—the spellbinding mammals she studies—exist. Ashe was...

Northwest Beaver Mechanics

Founded in 1988, Northwest Seaplanes is based in Renton, Washington, and has a fleet of five Beavers and one De Havilland Otter, aircraft called the "best bush planes ever built."...

The Woman on the Mountain: Christine Estrada

Christine Estrada, a fire lookout, having visited 93 of the remaining lookouts across Washington State, works tirelessly during fire season to spot, report and communicate with fire teams on the...

Halibut Hooks of the Northwest Coast

Traditionally, a náxw, or “halibut hook” in the Lingít language, was carved out of two pieces of wood attached with cordage (natural fiber) to form a V-shaped hook. A piece...

We Helped Restore a Forest Service Lookout Tower That Was Almost Consumed by Flames

A team of eager and passionate Filson employees, together with the National Forest Foundation, were wrapping up a restoration project at First Butte lookout tower, the fourth tower our team...

A Short History of Helicopter Logging

The practice of helicopter logging is still employed in parts of the world today, including the US and Canada. Often the USFS will use it to thin forest lands in...

For Busted Up Loggers: The Deming Log Show

A bond exists in the lumberjack community, a shared brotherhood of the saw. It comes from the long, hard hours spent in the forest, far from crowded cities and civilization....

Profiles

Lael Johnson - Olympic Peninsula Fly Guide

Lael Johnson is a fly fisherman and guide on the Olympic Peninsula. His passion for the anadromous fish of Washington’s coastal rivers is contagious. He loves these fish, these rivers,...

The Puyallup: one of North America’s most endangered rivers

The Puyallup River flows roughly 65 miles through Mt. Rainier National Park, with its origins in glacial snowmelt. Home to the only spring Chinook salmon population in the South Puget...

Encounters with a Game Warden - Tales from the Field

As a vital, but often unseen, part of our outdoor landscape, game wardens are jacks-of-all-trades—part policeman, part researcher, part educator. They are the folks on the frontlines ensuring that the...

The Great Cascade Tunnel

Between Seattle and Chicago, a train called the Empire Builder rolls on 2,206 miles of steel track. It leaves daily on a 48-hour trip, gliding past splendid vistas including Glacier...

Why the Skagit River Watershed Matters

Nothing feels small on the Skagit River. It emerges from the Cascade Mountains, the ridgelines rising suddenly and severely, compressing the landscape and framing the view with their immense, sharp...

A Guide to Overlanding the North Cascades

The North Cascade Mountains of Washington attract all types of recreationists during the spring and summer months, from locals to tourists, from hikers and climbers to high mountain anglers and...

Profiles

Return of the Icons: Grizzly Bear Reintroduction

Grizzly bears. An icon of the West. A keystone predator that can weigh up to 600 pounds. Their thick, lush fur can range from dark brown to nearly towhead blonde....

A Soldier to the Last – Lieutenant Pierce and the Skagit Expedition of 1882

On July 18, 1882, a lieutenant in the US Army named Henry Hubbard Pierce received a letter from Brigadier General Nelson A. Miles, who was commanding the Department of the...

Profiles

Conservation Northwest: Keeping the Northwest Wild

For the 7.5 million residents of Washington state, most, if not all, have used or will use I-90 at some point. This interstate connects the two largest cities in the...

Profiles

North Cascades: Bastion of the Wild

Sitting like stone guardians just below the Canadian border, the North Cascade mountains are keepers of the wildness that once roamed unchecked across North America. Soaring high into the skies,...

Profiles

Climber Fred Beckey: Spirit of the Mountains

If you listen hard enough, you can hear Fred Beckey’s spirit whispering among the towering peaks and hidden valleys of the Northern Cascades. Around campfires, bar tops, or anywhere that...

Signature Materials

Signature Materials: Technical Rainwear Pt. 1

When you’re outdoors and can’t escape wet weather, staying dry is a very real need. Quality rain gear not only keeps you more comfortable—in cold temperatures, it can prevent life-threatening...

Food & Recipes

Q & A With the Open-Fire Chefs of Portland's Tournant

Tournant is an open fire cooking and events company. Based in Portland, OR, their business serves as a homage to the Pacific Northwest, to one another, and to all the...

Pacific Fishermen Shipyard: The Origins of Ballard’s Oldest Working Shipyard

Pacific Fishermen Inc., or “PacFish,” as it is known to the many boat builders, ship crews, employees, family members and stakeholders in the Ballard community, can be traced directly back...

Profiles

Renowned Artist and Activist: Ray Troll

Ray’s Alaska adventure started in 1983, when he moved here to help his sister open a seafood retail store in Ketchikan. Ray soon turned to art to document his experiences...

Profiles

Deep Sea Fishermen's Union

Back at the turn of the last century, a hardy group of men roamed the wooden docks of Seattle. Grizzled and gruff, they would spend days out on the unpredictable...

How To's

How to Filson's Guide to Conifers of the Cascades

Washington’s forests are home to more than 25 unique species of trees. We’ve put together a comprehensive guide on how to quickly identify the 5 key varieties in the North...

Profiles

The Glaciers of the North Cascades

North Cascades National Park counts more than 300 glaciers along this northwestern spine of mountains—and that’s just inside the park boundaries. The North Cascades are the most glaciated place in...

Signature Materials

Signature Materials: Technical Rainwear Pt. 2

When looking at pictures of rain jackets on a web page, they all kind of look the same. How does one choose? Simple: honestly prioritize your needs as a user...

How To's

How to Avoid Attacks in Bear & Cougar Territory

Consciously or unconsciously, humans, bears, and mountain lions, along with many other large mammals, all speak the same language with their bodies. The body language of an unleashed dog on...

Profiles

Puget Soundkeeper: On the Water Every Week, Stopping Pollution Every Day

On any given day, Puget Soundkeeper’s boat patrol team can be seen monitoring the waters of Puget Sound for illegal pollution and activities that violate the health of our waterways....

Profiles

WSDOT Ferries

Twenty thousand years ago, a glacier tall as six Space Needles whittled the valley between the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, leaving a complex inland seascape. The First Nations people who...

Signature Materials

Signature Materials: Which Filson Wool?

For as long as history has been recorded, wool has protected people from exposure to the elements, and today it works just as well as it always has. No other...

Profiles

Seattle Maritime Academy - 50 Years of Training Seaworthy Mariners

Long before Seattle was a tech town, or even an aviation town, it was a maritime town. In fact, it still is. And although some brag that Seattle has more...

Profiles

The Ocean's Top Predator: Puget Sound Orcas

Black fins sliced the water and rose higher and higher, close to our boat. With a puff and a blow, the orcas surfaced: members of J pod, the southern resident...

How To's

How to Preserve Your Catch

Winter brings slower days and time to cook – and a freezer full of fish after a summer of harvest. Nourishing and delicious protein, wild salmon brings brightness to the...

Signature Materials

Signature Materials: Why Filson Wool?

Filson has been a wool expert for over 122 years. In fact, our original name in 1897 was Seattle Woolen Manufacturing Company, Pioneer Alaska Clothing and Blanket Manufacturers. We got...

A Day of Celebration: History of the Chittenden Locks

Started on September 1, 1911 and completed in 1916, the Hiram Chittenden Locks, alternatively called Seattle’s “Big Ditch,” or “Ballard Locks,” as they are commonly referred to today, helped make...

The SS Bering

The story of the SS Bering begins with her launching under another name, the Annette Rolph, on July 4, 1918, in Fairhaven, California. The ship was a wood-hulled “tramp” freighter...

Journey to the Yukon: Passage Aboard the Steamships from Puget Sound to the Far North

The month of July 1897 was an exciting time to be living on the West Coast. Steamships with names like Excelsior and Portland were docking in the ports of San...

Profiles

Western Flyer: The Vessel of John Steinbeck

On the morning of Monday, March 11, 1940, writer John Steinbeck and marine biologist Ed Ricketts boarded the sardine seiner Western Flyer at a wharf in Monterey, California. Both men...

Profiles

For the Love of Wooden Boats: Port Townsend's Shipwrights Co-Op

Southeast of Port Townsend is a gravel yard where large boats balance on blocks of wood and slender steel stands. Removed from the water, the vessels reveal pleasing, functional curves....

Profiles

Rick Myers: Profile of an Illustrator

In Rick Myers's garage sits a hand-built dingy—shiny with newness, waiting patiently for water. Adjacent, the oars that will propel it lie unfinished across two sawhorses. The illustrator holds a...

SS Portland: The Ship that Started the Boom

August 16, 1896, stands out in the history of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska as the moment when miners prospecting along the Klondike River in the Yukon Territory discovered gold...

The History of Ballard: The First 100 Years

Today, the neighborhood of Ballard is well known for its restaurants and atmosphere. However, the history of this Seattle hamlet is a story of industry, community, and entrepeneurship.

Signature Materials

Keeping Handmade Traditions Alive in the Northeast: Filson & Quoddy

Jack and Anne Spiegel originally started Quoddy in Maine in 1947. Their unique footwear was all made with moccasin construction to be flexible, durable, and repairable. At one point, Quoddy...

Filson and The Forest Service

Filson and the U.S. Forest Service share unbreakable ties to our wildlands and a relationship that dates over a century. Since the 1950s, Filson garments have been in-use as field...

The Oldest Continuously Running Sawmill in North America

Port Gamble was a gamble that paid off for 142 years as the longest continuously running sawmill on the North American continent. Like many logging towns, it faced boom years...

Captain Whidbey Inn

The Captain Whidbey was built in 1907 from logs and stone found on site by Chris Fisher and his son Edward. In the years since, it has served as a...

70 Years of Seattle Mountain Rescue

Imagine for a moment you’re miles deep into your favorite backcountry and you’re unable to get out. It’s 1936. You’re using gear that today sits in vintage displays-- leather boots,...

Cooper River Trail

Some of us like hiking and some of us like fishing; a lot of us like both. The Cooper River Trail is the perfect trail for those who like both....

Franklin Falls Trail

Looking for a quick hike before work or an afternoon trek through the forest, Franklin Falls is a great option for those based in the Seattle area. This short two-mile...

PNW Workers: Western Neon

If you've walked Seattle's streets after sundown, you've laid eyes on Western Neon's craftsmanship. Since 1985 they've put their radiant stamp on our booming town. Along with the logo and...

Might of the Pacific Northwest Worker

For 121-years, Filson has outfitted and partnered with makers, builders, fabricators and creators. These craftsmen and women work with their hands. They use brute force and extreme finesse to bring...

Plant a Tree, Grow a Forest

Greg Peters is the Communications Director for the National Forest Foundation. This year they have launched an initiative to replant 50 million trees in areas that have been burned or...

In the Fall: Fly Fishing Washington State's Hidden Gems

Before trucker hats were a fixture of his wardrobe, Paul Moinester spent years wearing a suit and tie championing major conservation initiatives as a senior legislative aid in the U.S....

Filson 101: Campfire Cooking with Tipton Power

Tipton Power has worked on rivers for the last 16 years. He started out as a guide doing fishing and raft trips, and now works as a river ranger on...

Cold Mornings, Dark Skies, Bright Green Birds: Duck Hunting in Snohomish Valley

Around these parts, winter means duck hunting: cold mornings, dark skies, and bright green birds. In the latest Filson Life, follow Alex Busillachi and Blake Berry of Slade Northwest through...

Celebrating Filson Fathers with Cody Humphrey

Cody Humphrey grew up in Hermiston, Oregon helping out on his family's farm from the age of nine. As a young man, he spent his days alongside his father bucking...

Chasing Wild Winter Steelhead with Russell Miller from Sage Fly Fishing

Russell Miller is the Marketing Coordinator for Sage and RIO Fly Fishing products, as well as a member of Team USA Fly Fishing. In the latest Filson Life, follow along...

Shipbuilding in the Pacific Northwest with Haven Boatworks

There is a rich history of maritime pursuits in the foggy inlets and jagged shorelines of Washington State. From the hand-carved canoes of the Pacific Northwest’s original settlers to the...

Trade Stories: Building Boats at the Taylor Shellfish Fabrication Shop with Brian Omdahl

Taylor Shellfish Farms is our kind of company, a company founded on sweat, saltwater, and hard work. Despite punishing conditions and demanding physical labor, this 120-year-old, family-owned shellfish farm has...

Profiles

Trade Stories: Aleph Geddis, Wood Sculptor

Aleph Geddis, a wood sculptor from Orcas Island, WA, has spent the last four months in his carving shed working on a one-of-a-kind piece of art for our flagship retail...

Trade Stories: Basket Weaving with Bernadine Phillips

Using the ancient methods created by the Okanogan-Wenatchi bands of the Colville Tribe, Bernadine Phillips handcrafts coiled cedar root, bear grass and wild cherry bark baskets. She has always had...

Guinevere's First Grouse: Learning to Hunt in the Olympic National Forest

Patrick Colleran has spent summers exploring the Wilderness of Oregon, Montana, and Idaho as a Wilderness Ranger and backpacking guide. Alison Riley is a former hiking and rafting guide who...

How To's, Food & Recipes

How to Shuck an Oyster with Taylor Shellfish

The 4 easy steps to open an oyster from the 120-year old shelfish farm

How To's

New Arrivals

latest article

Oceans Initiative: on a mission to protect marine life

Featured articles

How to Build and Use a Sling

The Pack Horses and Mules of White Pass Trail

Corey Forrest: Fishermom

Mollie Walsh: The Angel of White Pass

National Forest Elemental Series: The Breath of a Nation

How to Kill, Cook, and eat dungeness crab

A Life on the Water: Brett Fitzgerald and the Angler Action Foundation

Denali Damsels

Filson Food: Surf & Turf Alaskan Style

Discover the world of Filson

Oceans Initiative: on a mission to protect marine life

Northwest Beaver Mechanics

The Woman on the Mountain: Christine Estrada

Halibut Hooks of the Northwest Coast

We Helped Restore a Forest Service Lookout Tower That Was Almost Consumed by Flames

A Short History of Helicopter Logging

For Busted Up Loggers: The Deming Log Show

Lael Johnson - Olympic Peninsula Fly Guide

The Puyallup: one of North America’s most endangered rivers

Encounters with a Game Warden - Tales from the Field

The Great Cascade Tunnel

Why the Skagit River Watershed Matters

A Guide to Overlanding the North Cascades

Return of the Icons: Grizzly Bear Reintroduction

A Soldier to the Last – Lieutenant Pierce and the Skagit Expedition of 1882

Conservation Northwest: Keeping the Northwest Wild

North Cascades: Bastion of the Wild

Climber Fred Beckey: Spirit of the Mountains

Signature Materials: Technical Rainwear Pt. 1

Q & A With the Open-Fire Chefs of Portland's Tournant

Pacific Fishermen Shipyard: The Origins of Ballard’s Oldest Working Shipyard

Renowned Artist and Activist: Ray Troll

Deep Sea Fishermen's Union

How to Filson's Guide to Conifers of the Cascades

The Glaciers of the North Cascades

Signature Materials: Technical Rainwear Pt. 2

How to Avoid Attacks in Bear & Cougar Territory

Puget Soundkeeper: On the Water Every Week, Stopping Pollution Every Day

WSDOT Ferries

Signature Materials: Which Filson Wool?

Seattle Maritime Academy - 50 Years of Training Seaworthy Mariners

The Ocean's Top Predator: Puget Sound Orcas

How to Preserve Your Catch

Signature Materials: Why Filson Wool?

A Day of Celebration: History of the Chittenden Locks

The SS Bering

Journey to the Yukon: Passage Aboard the Steamships from Puget Sound to the Far North

Western Flyer: The Vessel of John Steinbeck

For the Love of Wooden Boats: Port Townsend's Shipwrights Co-Op

Rick Myers: Profile of an Illustrator

SS Portland: The Ship that Started the Boom

The History of Ballard: The First 100 Years

Keeping Handmade Traditions Alive in the Northeast: Filson & Quoddy

Filson and The Forest Service

The Oldest Continuously Running Sawmill in North America

Captain Whidbey Inn

70 Years of Seattle Mountain Rescue

Cooper River Trail

Franklin Falls Trail

PNW Workers: Western Neon

Might of the Pacific Northwest Worker

Plant a Tree, Grow a Forest

In the Fall: Fly Fishing Washington State's Hidden Gems

Filson 101: Campfire Cooking with Tipton Power

Cold Mornings, Dark Skies, Bright Green Birds: Duck Hunting in Snohomish Valley

Celebrating Filson Fathers with Cody Humphrey

Chasing Wild Winter Steelhead with Russell Miller from Sage Fly Fishing

Shipbuilding in the Pacific Northwest with Haven Boatworks

Trade Stories: Building Boats at the Taylor Shellfish Fabrication Shop with Brian Omdahl

Trade Stories: Aleph Geddis, Wood Sculptor

Trade Stories: Basket Weaving with Bernadine Phillips

Guinevere's First Grouse: Learning to Hunt in the Olympic National Forest

How to Shuck an Oyster with Taylor Shellfish

Filson Field Guide: Spend a Weekend in the Olympic National Forest

Explore the End of Summer: 4 Late Season Hikes in the Northwest with the WTA

Field Guide: Wingshooting in Central Washington with Red's Fly Shop