Quick! Guess how much this little cart of breakfast groceries costs!?! About double what I was expecting. The US is -expensive-.
One of the nice things about this trail is that it's conveniently close to the city.
Snobby "serious" hikers will complain that there are too many other people there.
But seriously, it's a huge hill. There's plenty of room for everybody.
The parking lot is not small. But still only half full on this late summer's day.
My main man Winslow with all his gear and heavy-ass pack. Crazy!
The hike starts all pleasant enough with creeks and trees and stuff.
Being so popular, this is one of the better groomed trails I've ever seen.
And then it starts going up. 1200m elevation over 6.4km or so. It's all pretty consistent, so it's a very good, gradual trek.
I imagine there armies of volunteers who carry things around to manage these trails.
Oooh, scary bug!
My favourite thing about this trail is right as I'm about pooped, done, and ready to stop ...
... you break out on top and you're done.
Sadly, the gorgeous sunny Seattle weather forgot to tell Mt Si about the plan.
Most people just plop down on their butts and snack for a while at the top. It's a noble cause.
There's a whole other pile of rocks you have to scramble up to get to the "real top".
So, up I went, and then the clouds cleared out for me. Sweeet!
Umm ... somewhere waaaaay out there is Seattle.
I was trying to see if I could get the sweat to soak all the way down to the very bottom of the shirt. Missed by about 1cm. Still gross as hell.
The locals noted that we were munching, and wanted in.
That's North Bend waay down there. At no point during the hike, could you NOT Hear I-90 and all the loud-ass Harleys cruising down.
Okay back down. Great way to spend a Sunday morning. My legs hurt so much I cried like a baby for 3 days. Amazingly enough, I hiked the hill this time faster than I ever did in the 90s. Niiiice.