Hike 22: Ballard Locks to West Point

Driving there:  Find your way to the Ballard Locks, aka Hiram M. Chittenden locks.  Parking is expensive and limited to four hours.  Free street parking is available to the north.

We started by touring the locks.

When we were kids we called this the octopus.

Big locks.

Little locks

Spillway.  Fish ladder on right.

Looking west.

Bascule bridge with 500 ton counterweight.

We watched a few boats come and go and toured the fish ladder, but no fish today.  We hiked through Commodore park and up the streets into Discovery park, formerly Fort Lawton.  It's a maze of streets and trails, but there are lots of signs to guide you.  Click here for a very nice map.

Wildflowers and Puget Sound.

Lisa learns about the dangers of putting toxic butter on varnished clams.

West Point lighthouse.

Puget Sound.  We made it!

Click here for a map of our route.  It's slow to load, but you can zoom in for all the details.

This concludes our Mountains to Sound Greenway adventure.  We started on September 7, 2013 and finished on May 25, 2014.  We walked over 90 miles.  And we may be the only people alive who have walked all the way across King County!

Hike 21: Gasworks park to Ballard Locks

Driving there:  Find your way to Gasworks park, there's lots of free parking but it's a popular place.

Gasworks park is an interesting place to wander through.  It's an abandoned industrial plant, converted into a park. 

The ubiquitous Gasworks perspective photo.  It's required of all visitors.

 

 

Lisa and the big city.

 

At the top of the hill there's a 360 degree view, and an interesting sundial.  You stand on the date, and your shadow shows the time.  Standard time.  If it's summer, you probably need to spring forward an hour.

 

Moving on, we continued down the Burke-Gilman trail.  We took a small detour under the Aurora bridge to see the Troll.

I barely escaped with my life...

After viewing the artistic wonders of Fremont, we continued west.  The Burke-Gilman trail is missing a section, so we had to detour a block north and find our way to the Ballard Locks. 

Railroad bridge at the Ballard Locks.  The right-hand section tilts back to allow tall boats through.

Hike 20: Seattle, University Village to Gasworks Park

Driving there:  From 520, take the Montlake exit and go north.  Montlake turns gently east and becomes NE 45th St.  At a 5-way intersection, turn 45 degrees left onto NE 45th Pl.  After you cross the Burke-Gilman trail turn right onto NE Blakely St.  Street parking is free in the neighborhood.


After getting our palms read at Bill's Butcher Shop, we headed west on the Burke-Gilman trail. It was cloudy but nice today.  There's a construction detour that takes the Burke Gilman trail through the UW campus.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I implore you...

UW

Lisa

UW

The detour signs left us hanging, so we wandered downhill and found the trail again.

I-5 bridge over Lake Union

And eventually to Gasworks Park.  If you've never been there, it's worth your time to walk around and see the sights.

Hike 19: Seattle, Matthews Beach to University Village

Driving there:  From 522/Lake City way, turn east onto NE 95th street.  Turn right on Sand Point Way.  Turn left on NE 93rd street.  Turn left into Matthews Beach Park. 

This hike is pretty much the same as the last one.  A little rain, a little wind, and not much sun.  It was a nice walk, but nothing out of the ordinary until we reached Bill's Butcher Shop, with Palm Reading, Psychic, and Tarot Cards.

  

I guess we're definitely in Seattle now! We ended our walk just east of University Village.

Hike 18: Lake Forest Park - Lake City - Seattle (153rd to 95th)

Driving there:  From Bothell Way NE (aka Hwy 522) turn east on NE 153rd.  At the bottom of the hill there are three parking spaces.  Get there early if you want one!

This section of trail is level and fairly straight, with a nice tree canopy over much of it. 

We had a nice spring day.  The trail has been paved ever since the Sammamish river, and I suppose it will be for the rest of the way.  No mud, but it's a little hard on the feet.  This part of the trail has bikers, joggers, and walkers, but no horses!

We ended our hike at Matthews Beach Park.  We're in Seattle now.  We've decided to make Discovery Park our final destination.

Hike 17: Bothell-Kenmore-Lake Forest Park

Driving there:  In downtown Bothell, park at the Bothell Landing Park.

Bothell Landing park.

After looking around the park, we crossed the bridge to the Sammamish river trail and turned right.   The trail merges into the Burke-Gilman trail, which is another old railroad grade.

There are several pedestrian/bike tunnels on this section of trail.

The trail is mostly along Bothell way, and some places are kind of noisy.  It's all paved, so wear comfortable shoes.  The trail users are mostly on bikes, with a few pedestrians.  And no horses! 

Heron nests in Kenmore.

 We followed the trail through Bothell and Kenmore, to Lake Forest Park (Ever since I learned to read I've been confused and amused by that name).  As we get closer to Seattle, the trail is alongside the lake and the views improved.  At 153rd we called it a day.  We're almost to Seattle!

Hike 16: Redmond-Woodinville road to Bothell Landing

Driving there:  On the Redmond-Woodinville road, just south of NE 150th, there's a gravel parking lot on the west side of the road.

Looking west from Red-Wood road.

We continued west on the Tolt pipeline to the Sammamish river, then turned north onto the Sammamish river trail.  It's kind of nice to be on level ground again.

Sammamish river reflections

Today's walk was about 4 miles.  Lots of bicycles and walkers here.  The last half was a little rainy, but we survived.

Old schoolhouse at Bothell Landing Park.

Cabin at Bothell Landing Park.

We crossed the river a couple of times, and ended up in Bothell Landing Park.  It's an interesting side trip, with a few old buildings to look at.

Hike 15, Tolt pipeline 168th to Redmond-Woodinville road

Driving there:  From the Redmond-Woodinville road, at the Hollywood Schoolhouse, go east on NE 146th Pl.  The road changes from 146th to 156th to 160th to 143rd and then 168th Ave NE.  Park where the pipeline crosses the road.

Today's hike was short, about a mile. There's not much to say about the Tolt pipeline, it goes up and down and you're always looking into the backyard of somebody's McMansion.

155th Ave NE

Looking east across 155th

  

Looking west across the Sammamish valley.

 

The weather was good, but changing rapidly.  There were a few small ups and downs, and then a long steep downhill roll into the Sammamish valley. 

Hike 14: Tolt pipeline, 216th to 168th

Driving there:  From Redmond, take the Novelty hill road east.  Turn left on Trilogy parkway.  Trilogy Pkwy becomes NE 133rd.
Turn right onto 218th Ave NE.
Turn left onto NE 140th Pl.
NE 140th Pl becomes 216th Way NE.
Turn right onto 216th Ave NE (not a typo, check your map:-)
Look for parking where the Tolt pipeline crosses the road.

Tolt pipeline looking west from 216th.

 

In a couple of places you can actually see the pipeline.  It's pretty exciting...

Looking east across Avondale road to the Cascades.

Lots of ups and downs and suburban backyards along this trail.

Hike 13: Tolt pipeline, West Snoqualmie Valley road to 216th

Driving there:  This is a tricky one.  There are two pipelines, and the wrong one is the easiest to find.  Near Duvall WA, at the intersection of Novelty Hill Rd and West Snoqualmie Valley Rd, head north.  At 0.5 miles, there's a wide spot on the left side of the road with a wide cleared area going up the hill.  I don't know what it is, but it's not the Tolt pipeline.  Continue north another 0.4 miles.  Look for the Tolt pipeline on the left side.  There's not much to see, just a cleared area going up the hill.  If you pass a collapsed barn you've gone too far.  There's no parking at all.  Go back to the first pipeline to park.

We parked at the only place we could on this godforsaken road, and walked north on the narrow West Valley road to the Tolt pipeline.

Skunk Cabbage

I wonder if it tastes as good as it smells?

It's a kind of a scramble through the bushes up the hill - no trail at all, just mud and blackberries.  It's steep, too, but about halfway up the hill we hit the end of the maintained trail and the going improved considerably.

Looking east across the West Valley road.

The Tolt pipeline is a 100 foot wide right-of-way for a pipe that carries water from the Tolt river to Seattle and the suburbs.  It's pretty popular with walkers, joggers, bicyclists, and horses.  It tends to be pretty straight, but there are a lot of ups and downs. 

Are you looking at me?

We haven't hiked in 6 weeks, and the hill was steep, so we only made 3 miles today.