Hiked Burnt Lake Trail up to ZigZag Mt. Trail and on the East ZigZag Mt. Summit. The hike was 11.5 miles out and back with 2600 Elevation gain. On the trail for 6 hrs. and 15 min.
Burnt Lake – E. Zigzag Mt. Hike
Exploring new trails in Forest Park
The middle section of Forest Park has a maze of trails and firelanes. I have not fully explored this section of the Park so I started today with my first hike to discover what is here. I started at the, never visited before, Springville parking lot. I head down Firelane 7 to the Trillion Trail. The Trillion Trail is a short steep rugged that drop quickly down to the Wildwood Trail. I headed South down the Wildwood trail to Saltzman Rd. I saw several bike riders heading up Saltzman Rd. as I was heading down. Where Saltzman meets Leif Erikson Dr. I headed down Quarry Trail, a little used and brushy trail that took me to the Maple trail and my lowest elevation point. I took the Maple Trail back up to meet the Leif Erikson Dr. and on over to Firelane 7a. The last stretch was Firelane 7a to Firelane 7 and back to my car.
I hike 7.5 miles with 450 ft. elevation gain.
Wildwood Trail North
It was going to be a hot day so Lori, Jeanette and I decide to make this outing short and easy. We started from Newberry Rd. trailhead and did about a 4 mile out and back on the Wildwood Trail. The north end of Forest Park has more of feel that you are out in the woods. Afterwards we went for lunch at Rock Creek Tavern and enjoyed sitting out on the patio having drinks and food.
McNeil Point Hike
It has been a long time since I have done this hike and was excited to do it again but maybe to excited. After only a few hours of sleep I was off for an early morning start of the hike. After finishing the stair climb of what Top Spur has become I found I was having a “legs of lead” day. But it was a beautiful and beautiful place so I press on at a slow pace and made it up to McNeil Point. There were many small change that had taken place over the years I was gone and one big one, see the blow down that had happen from the storm about three years ago. I knew Paradise Park trail had been hit by micro bursts but all other place was a surprise. Hopefully storms like that are rarity and not the new norm. Hike was 10 1/2 miles and over 3000 ft. Total elevation gain.
Mt. Rainier National Park
The plan was to go to Mt. Rainier National Park with Lori, Jeanette and Merlyn and hike around and see the wild flowers. What was not planned for was late snow melt, record setting hot day and altitude. We ended up with a short hike at Paradise with still some flowers and lovely views but still much covered in snow. We did a short visit to Paradise Lodge and headed off for lunch. Our second hike was to be at Longmire but did some stops on the way. By the time we got to Longmire the temperature was in the 90’s so we did a visit to and lodge and headed on. Even on food stop at Papa Bears was hot and did not go a planned. If it wasn’t for the fact that it was just so darn beautiful there it would have been a bad trip but seeing the majestic beauty of Mt. Rainier and the Tatoosh Range with good friends for a while makes it all good.
