On average how far do you drive for a hike and how often ?

30mins to 2 hours, every weekend or every couple weeks.

It really depends on my mood. Sometimes I'll stay much closer, driving 20-30 minutes because I just don't want to drive and don't mind "sucking up" a trail I've done way too many times but mostly, hikes are an all-day adventure for me so I don't mind driving 2 or 3 hours or more for one. Heck, a good drive can extend the fun if you take the time to stop and sightsee along the way. Plus having a Hybrid and / or carpooling helps.

But if it's just for training, I try and follow a hike longer than I drive rule.

1 hour away will get you a great hike, 2 hours away will get you an amazing hike, 3 hours away will get you an incredible hike.

I’d drive as far as it takes to leave flip flops, dogs, Bluetooth speakers, and children behind.

Depends. In the summer, I can drive 6+ hrs to go places, mostly for scrambles and alpine climbing. In the winter/spring, 1-3 hrs for conditioner hikes, depending on my mood

Greater Portland area here. In 2021, I had a newborn and was trying to do the 52 hike challenge after everything reopened from COVID. I did 40 hikes with just a handful of repeats. I drove anywhere from like 20-30 minutes to Forest Park as another redditor mentioned and as far as Hood River area and the coast, which are 1.5-2 hours. Going nearly weekly, sometimes we did little nature hikes like in Forest Park, just to get out, and other times we drove to Hood and/or hunted waterfalls. I discovered a lot of actually very nice trails within 45 minutes that I now love, and I spent a lot more time exploring Hood River and Mt. Hood than I ever had. I now love going out to those areas and adding in a food or wine stop to make a day of it.

Seattle area, 2ish hours is usually the max but I'm easily swayed

It depends on what you consider "good". If you just enjoy being outside, Capitol state forest can work for after work. Lots of people would love to have that nearby.

I live west of Portland, and have decent go-to hikes about 30-45 minutes away. But things get more impressive the further you can go.

I try to get out once a week.

It I'm lazy or decided last minute, I'll stick to the I-90 corridor at 30-50 mins from Seattle. If I actually plan in advance I'll go up to North Cascades, down to Rainier or across to the Olympics anywhere from 2-3 hours.

I shoot for every week or every other week.

Tacoma here. I used to be into driving 1.5+ hours for a day hike but now I just never feel like driving that far. Usually I’ll drive at most an hour and even that is tough. carbon river area, tiger mtn/cougar mtn, pack forest are all within an hour

Seattle area, for after work stuff I usually stick to nearby foothills less than 30-40 min away but on weekends all bets are off. I'll drive up to 3+hours away sometimes, but definitely like to also camp if I'm going much further. From Seattle you really have to go at least 1.5 hours to find good hikes that are not crowded. Hot tip, the warm side of the mountains is still under 2hr away, so when a planned hiking weekend is rainy on the west side we sometimes change plans and go visit Yakima canyon or similar for sunnier adventures.

I’m in Eastern Washington. 15 minutes on average.

The nearest good hike to where I live is 4+ hours away. So I mostly hike on small hills and do repeats to train for hiking trips. I wish I had hikes as incredible as ones near Olympia/Seattle 1-2h away

If I need a reliable good hike that's suitable in any weather, 30 minutes to Wallace Falls in goldbar, else it's ~1 hour to others about 2-4 times per month 6 months out of the year.

From West Seattle, the Squak and Tiger Mountains are about 45 mins, and lots of stuff in the I-90 corridor in an hour or so, some real nice hikes and wilderness. I do need to venture further out North to explore more new areas.

We go out almost every Saturday year round for hikes. We go anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours each way, most being in that 90 minute to 2 hour distance.

North Idaho here. Not far at all and I am very thankful. It’s sometimes less than ideal when I see more people than moose. 🫎

At most, if I’m with friends once and a blue moon I’ll drive 2-3 hours. But I like to keep it at an hour give or take 30

Portland. I hike 3-7 times a week. The gorge or coast on active weekends and/or forest park, as it’s my neighborhood.

Anywhere from 30-40 minutes for Coast Range stuff to 2 hours is pretty standard day trip territory.

Try to do a few further ones a year. Last years big trip was Mt Adams.

I’ll drive two hours to go on a hike but quite a bit longer to go camping and/or backpacking. The father I can get from Seattle, the better.

Near the Columbia gorge here. So some very decent hikes (defiance , Hamilton , dog) are 30-60 mins away. If it’s more of a day off then hood , st Helen’s and all kinds of stuff around it is 1-2 hours away. It can feel the same with daylight though , anything “new and exciting” being 1-2 hours away when you work until 5 doesn’t really pan out as easily and it’s hard to squeeze in the new hikes.

I like a couple times a week in summer. Usually drive 1-3 hours.

I just visited from Texas and I’m so jealous of how close everything is to each other. We don’t have much hiking out here in general, and it’s a days drive to even get out of state. 🥲

1-3 hours

I'm fortunate to live near a bunch of trails systems. I hike several times per week. Usually solo. I travel to hike a few times each month, usually no longer than 90 minutes. A few times (2-3) a year I make plans to backpack/camp and will travel further to do so. Going to Zion NP in September and the redwoods in July.

I’d go over to eastern Washington all the time. It’s only 4hrs away. The cascade mountain range is gorgeous!!

I used to drive 5.5 hrs each way to hike the Adirondacks in NY so driving a couple hours to get deep into the Cascades feels like a small price to pay

at 3 hours i'm sleeping in my car on one end of it. seconding I-90 corridor out of seattle, but i don't know what crowding issues people are having there besides the like top 5. there are SO many other options. skip Si, Mailbox, Dirty Harry's Balcony, and Snow Lake, and you may not have the forest all to your lonesome self but i'd hardly call all others "crowded" until 1.5 hrs out of town.

maybe that's just because i prefer cooler overcast days and don't understand the crowds drawn out by burning cloudless sun

When I was in NJ it was 4 hours to get to any decent hiking. 1-2 hours for hiking isn’t that bad…

Also in the Seattle area -- and I think that is spot on -- 30 minutes to 2 hours for nearly all my hikes.

However, now that I'm retired, I've been trying something different. Now I sometimes drive out to a hiking area and stay a couple of days, in a hotel, while doing two or more hikes in the area. I get to see and hike a new area without being on a tight time schedule.

I've done that in the Yakima Canyon area and stayed in Ellensberg. More recently I stayed in George for a few days and hiked both Ancient Lakes and Frenchman's Coulee. My next planned trip is up to Deception Pass for 2-3 days, and I'll do several hikes in that region.

Portland here. I don't really like to drive more than 1.5hrs for a day hike, though I'll do more if there's a really good reason. I don't see the point if it's much more than that, as it just sort of makes the entire day feel very compressed and rushed. Makes hiking feel just as over stimulating as being in town, honestly. I say this as someone who has circles around the entire country for no reason ~10 times in the last few years.

For weekend trips, I try to stay below ~3.5 hours each way. If I've got 5+ days, I'll go pretty much anywhere. 

If its summer season30 mins to 2 hrs. If its the spring/fall szn, I will drive up to 4hrs just to see them wildflowers/larches

About 2 hours. Every other weekend!

Simple geography

There are 5-star hikes inside the City Limits of Olympia, Tacoma, and Seattle at places like Squaxin Park, Point Defiance Park, or the Washington Park Arboretum.