Jan and I did a little snowshoe outing on the Palouse-to-Cascades trail, parking at the Cedar Falls trailhead and heading east a little ways on the trail.
Jan is not a hiker but she will do a snowshoe once in a while. We only went about a mile and a half (see track below) but there is a bit of effort involved when you are trudging through the snow with the snowshoes on.
It is beautiful around there right now:
And here is Jan as we got near the parking lot on the way back.
A fun outing!
I did a little loop this morning, not too difficult. But a fun time in the forest. I’ll be looking for ways to get out next week as much as I can. Last week of the year!
The weather was halfway decent today so I got out to Cedar Butte – a vanilla route, PTC to Cedar Butte Trail both ways. I took the steep route up Cedar Butte and the not-so-steep route down. It took me just a bit under 2 hours, 3.95 miles.
This was a decent workout and a fun time. I saw zero people until I got back to the car, where there was one more car in the lot with the couple gearing up for an outing.
There was a bit of snow in the forest, not enough to present any difficulties but just enough to make the forest shine. Same with the three ledges.
I didn’t take the Christmas Lake trail back but I did get to peer at it through the trees.
Nice little jaunt.
I did my new conditioning hike today, up Norway Hill to the Tolt Pipeline Trail and then to the Sammamish River Trail back to where I parked, at the Bothell Park and Ride. This hike, which is just under 9 miles, is a loop (see track below) so you can park at any point along the loop. I picked the Park and Ride because, on the way back, I would avoid a generally busy bike corridor.
It has been raining every single day and today has been no exception. But there was a window of clear sky this morning so I took off. Just as I was turning the key in the ignition to drive home it started to rain. Lucky timing.
I will see if I can dodge some raindrops later this week. I am sick of not hiking and I am sicker of not hiking than I am (currently) sick of driving on freeways.
I parked at the May Valley Road parking lot and went up the main trail to Bullitt Fireplace, and then beyond the fireplace to Central Peak. I took the South Access Road down. About 5.5 miles, a good workout on a mostly sunny Sunday.
There was a light dusting of snow above about 1800 feet. The trees at the summit were nice, as seen above.
I sure like to hike in the morning rather than sit around on my old, old duff.
Track below.
I hiked to Grand Prospect today. For the first time on this trail I saw not a single hiker the entire time, all the way up and all the way down, a round-trip of just under 8 miles.
It was a perfect weather day, although it was a zero for views. The photo above shows what is left of the Grand Prospect view point. For reasons unknown to me they upended one of the the benches and cut down the few trees in the area. A little strange.
But, as always, I just love the forest between Stan’s Overlook and Grand Prospect:
Very nice Friday hike. I mean, just imagine spending solitary, quiet time in forest like that.
Here is the track:
