Things To Do in Seattle - Duthie Hill Mountain Bike Park

Apparently, Issaquah is suddenly a mountain biking destination. Thanks mostly to Duthie Hill Park just about a mile from Klahanie in Issaquah.

There are trails for beginners and a lot more trails for advanced riders. Everyone I've met there has always been friendly and I don't feel bad about bringing my hard-tail Trek that's probably worth a fraction of the other bikes I see there.

Best of all, it's always a great workout.

The last time I was there, I tried going off a small jump with only about a 2 foot drop. But my right foot slipped off the pedal and my shin landed on the pedal. Instant bruise and bleeding. You may want to bring protection if you plan on doing anything freestyle. For me, I'll stick to the trails and stay out of the air.

Marymere Falls Hike - 07.31.2010

Distance : 1.5 miles round-trip.

Time : 1 hour total, even after stopping for 10 minutes for pictures at the top.

It's located on the Olympic Coast and starts at Lake Crescent. It's a really short hike compared to the ones I'm used to, but usually there isn't a waterfall at the end of my hikes so I enjoyed this one a lot.

It's relatively flat until you get to the river, and from there it's straight up to the viewpoint where this picture was taken.

This hike is NOT pet-friendly however, as someone in the parking lot told me that the rangers were ticketing people who tried to sneak dogs onto the trail. And you can't get close to the waterfall which is another downside.

But we did this hike before noon, came back and had lunch by the lake and still had plenty of time for other destinations before making it back to our camp site.

Things To Do in Seattle - Car Camping

Ever since taking over the Lodge, I felt like I would be cheating on Mount Rainier if I went camping or hiking anywhere else. But it turns out, Washington State has a lot of variety to offer.

Last weekend, I went to the Olympic coast and went car camping for the first time in probably 5 years. It brought back a lot of fond memories, since the last time I was on the coast was with my dad.

We stayed at a camp site in Sequim Bay State Park, which turned out to be a nice location because it was close to Port Angeles, Dungeness Spit, Marymere Falls, Lake Crescent, and even Port Townsend. Everything was about 20 to 45 minutes away.

The Dungeness Spit was fun, although it's definitely cold there even in the middle of summer. It was easily 10 degrees cooler on the spit than it was in the parking area. I was surprised though, that none of the places we visited were pet-friendly except for Port Townsend.

Car camping itself is unpredictable. Sometimes you just get a fire going and hang out at the camp site all day. This time, we decided to site-see and check out as many places as we could. I didn't get to relax as much as I would on a normal camping trip, but I did get to catch up with some good friends.