Month: February 2020

This sounds like a new hike but it is just Rattlesnake Mountain. Hiked today with Ken, Mark, Mike, Greg and John.

The Rattlesnake Mountain Trail is still the Rattlesnake etc. trail, but ever since they finished putting in all the mountain bike trails there are signs advertising the area as Raging River State Forest.

I am not sure I have ever seen any rivers in the immediate area raging, but I must not be hiking in the right place.

At one point, there were three signs pointing out where to go:

This is the same hike I did with Carl a couple of weeks ago. 8 mile up and down, about 2K elevation gain, not a lot of views on the way (and none today, it was rainy) but plenty of awesome forest and it is a fun workout.

It is not a killer hike but it is a much better workout than my typical hour on the treadmill or 5 mile neighborhood walk.

More rain forecast next week but spring is on the way.

I did something a little different today.

I parked at the Woodinville Sports Field parking lot intending to do my usual Tolt Pipe Line hike. That hike starts on the Sammamish River Trail and, after only a few hundred yards on the river trail you intersect the pipe line trail. Today, when I got to the pipe line trail I walked a short way to get a closer look at a couple of horses:

But then, just to be different, I turned around and went back to the river trail. I am glad I did.

This trail is pretty flat and (not surprisingly) runs along the side of the river for miles and miles. I determined to walk an hour and then turn around. It was so much fun I extended it to an hour and a half, making this a nice 3-hour walk.

Plenty of things to see along the way. A little snail, for example. Finally someone I can outpace:

I silently wished this little creature good luck, as there are a lot of bicyclists zooming by, and it would be easy to run it over.

There were various river scenes:

Next time I do this walk I will bring the Garmin to map it out and see how long it is. 90 minutes each way, I am guessing about nine miles out and back?

Anyway, it was a fun walk. Rain back in the forecast starting tonight but I take my opportunities when they appear.

Two days in a row with no rain, two days in a row hiking. Not a coincidence.

Mike and Ken and I got out this morning for a little Tiger Mountain jaunt. The loop we did was similar to the loop I often do solo, but we went up (rather than down) the Wetlands Trail and up (rather than down) the Nook Trail. Down (rather than up) the Section Line and so on.

About 5 miles, great workout. Here is the track:

Carl and I did Rattlesnake Mountain/Sno Valley trail head to Grand Prospect this morning. Along the way we saw something we had never seen before – a (quasi) rainbow without the rain.

We both stopped to capture this rare phenomenon. The sun was peeking through the forest, intersecting a thin mist that was floating in the air. The combination made for a rainbow – a rainbow that seemed close enough to touch.

But my camera and camera skills were too weak to register this beautiful sight. Oh, well. We had a terrific day.

This January and February has been a wet, wet, wet fest. Few of us have been getting out regularly because of the constant downpour. But today is marvelous, sunny and cool, perfect hiking weather.

We saw few people on the way up (we left the trail head about 7:20 am) but on the way down we saw dozens of people and it seemed about half of them had at least one friendly dog. A great day.

Great way to start the day.