3 Great Hikes in Washington with Comedian Andrew Rivers

Andrew Rivers is a Tacoma-based, internationally touring comedian who has had millions of views on YouTube. He frequently tours the country with comic Steve Hofstetter, was mentored by TV's Christopher Titus, and is the son of Seattle radio legend and parody song-maker Bob Rivers. 

Andrew's father introduced him to the joys of hiking at a young age. It didn’t take. Not at first, anyway.

 I just didn't appreciate it, you know, because I grew up near the mountains, and I didn't know that wasn't everywhere.

Andrew: He used to lure me with candy bars. And I used to fake an asthma thing to get out of it. And then he'd just be like, "whatever." But then once we weren't allowed to go anywhere (because of Covid). I was like, “Well, I’ve got to get out.” The first six months of COVID, they were like, you know, “you’re not allowed to go on a hike,” and they roped off Green Lake in Seattle.

Dan: Were there that many hikers that you couldn't socially distance while hiking?

Andrew: It was very silly, but then I discovered all these cool trails that were right in my backyard the whole time.

Dan: Where are your favorite places to hike? 

Poo Poo Point

Poo Poo Point in Issaquah, Washington is by far the most bang for your buck.

Andrew: It's got the best views and it's still in the medium difficulty category. It is a bit of an ass kicker if you're not in shape, but you're going to get the best view of Mount Rainier. And then there's a secondary peak, and it's only like ten more minutes of extra hiking, and then you can see Bellevue and and Lake Sammamish. And it's just the coolest view.

Rattlesnake Mountain

Andrew: Rattlesnake is good for the East Side.

Mailbox Peak

Andrew: Mailbox Peak is amazing, but extremely annoying. Difficult.

They have warning signs in the front of the trail, like, "please turn around. This isn't going to be fun. We have to rescue people all the time."

Andrew: But, you know, once you Google the thing and look it up on the All Trails app, that will give you a good idea of what you're in for. Because that shows the length of the trail, and the elevation. And then you can kind of compare and say like, "Oh, this is two miles and 2000 feet. And this is, you know, 1.8 miles and 4000 feet."

Dan: Why is it called Mailbox Peak? Is there a mailbox at the top?

Andrew: There is a mailbox on top of it, to mail in your ballot.

Dan: (laughing): Is it a working mailbox?

Andrew: I don't think so. I mean, there are little papers in there. People put chocolate in there. People leave little gifts. I put my beer koozies in there, and little stickers.

Hiking - There's an App for That

Looking for someplace new to hike? Andrew recommends an app called All Trails. He uses the app in conjunction with Google, where he simply searches for the "best views."

Andrew Rivers takes advantage of hikes near the various cities he performs in across the country, and across the border. Recent weeks have seen him performing comedy in Vancouver, B.C., Tucson, AZ and Honolulu, HI. Andrew returns to Seattle September 10th at Emerald City Trapeze Arts. You can buy tickets here.

And you can stream his latest album on Laugh Button Records.