Location: Rattlesnake Ledge

Date: Friday, April 25, 2014

Summary: Friday Morning Hike at a Popular Seattle Area Trail
Hyperlinks: WTA, Go-Northwest
Maps: Trail Map

Hike #4 – Distance and Elevation Gain Log

	Distance This Hike	Elevation Gain This Hike	Cumulative Distance	Cumulative Elevation Gain
BigA	5.07 mi	1381.18 ft	10.24 mi	2205.28 ft
Good-time Slim	5.07 mi	1381.18 ft	10.36 mi	2267.00 ft
Average	5.07 mi	1381.18 ft	10.30 mi	2236.14 ft

Hike #4 – GPS Track

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We both got Friday off from Work and hit the the Rattlesnake Ledge (Ridge) trail pretty early.  It was nice and cool with mostly light crowds at the start of the hike.  Was mostly quiet as we ascended the ridge, with a few people passing us going both up and down hill.  The clouds started to enclose on use as we got closer to the top, somewhat obscuring the views off into the distance.  However, it is always a cool feeling to be standing on top of something, looking down into a cloud!

There were quite a few people at the top when we got there, and a few larger groups joined as we sat and enjoyed the views for a while.  The descent down was uneventful, but definitely more traffic as we got closer to the bottom.  This is definitely a popular destination; one to enjoy at a non-peak time.

Hike #4 – Photo Locations

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Location: Saint Edward State Park

Date: Friday, April 11, 2014

Summary: Beautiful evening hike in along the shore of Lake Washington
Hyperlinks: WTA, State Park Website,
Maps: Trail Map

Hike #2 – Distance and Elevation Gain Log

	Distance This Hike	Elevation Gain This Hike	Cumulative Distance	Cumulative Elevation Gain
BigA	1.96 mi	404.76 ft	3.13 mi	571.43 ft
Good-time Slim	1.92 mi	444.95 ft	3.09 mi	611.62 ft
Average	1.94 mi	424.86 ft	3.11 mi	591.53 ft

Hike #2 – GPS Track

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This was Good-time Slim’s first trip to Saint Edward State Park and it was a great time to visit the park. It was nice and cool as we started down the ‘North Trail’ on the North side of the park, descending towards the shoreline of Lake Washington. The views of the lake along the ‘Beach’ trail are awesome, especially when visiting in the evening.

Shoreline Neighborhood from Saint Edward State Park

Lake Washington from the Beach trail at Saint Edward

In the picture above you can see the houses along the shoreline opposite Lake Washington from Saint Edward State Park. These houses are part of the East side of Seattle proper, and are most likely part of the ‘Shoreline’ Neighborhood. The shoreline of Saint Edward State Park is supposedly the only undeveloped shoreline around the entire lake, which is quite amazing.

Rocks along the Shoreline at Saint Edward State Park

Beginning of Sunset at Saint Edward State Park

The State Park is near the North end of Lake Washington, placing it near the Kenmore Air Harbor, a world renown float plane airport. This means a fair amount of small aircraft traffic is seen above the lake from the park. As seen below, we snapped a few pictures of one of the planes as they were leaving Kenmore, headed to some other beautiful place in the Pacific North West.

Float Plane Above Lake Washington, Saint Edward State Park

Float Plane Above Lake Washington, Saint Edward State Park

We finished the hike by going up the ‘Seminary’ trail, climbing back up the hillside to the trail head and parking lot. This was the first hike on the ‘Bike Hike’ Website where it felt like appreciable elevation was gained, although it is only a introductory prelude to the hikes to come.

Hike #2 – Photo Locations

[mapimages]