Frink Park, Seattle
The .75-mile Big Loop Trail winds through a 17-acre mixed urban forest past cooling slope wetlands and a waterfall. Benches provide spots to reflect and recharge for the uphill return to the trailhead.
By Kathryn True | August 19, 2004
CYPRESS ISLAND We're just about to enter the shadow of a craggy rock promontory called Eagle Cliff when a bald eagle as if on cue soars in from who knows where. After a few awkward slow-down flaps of its 6½-foot wingspan, it settles high above us on the top rung of an island-edge fir snag. The eagle looks down on us and our four kayaks, its I-gotta-see-this visage implying that we're its amusement for the next little while.
By Mike McQuaide | August 19, 2004
In a series of searing summer days, it's another cooker and the sun-weary are looking for escape from the pavement. But at high noon in Dead Horse Canyon, a mysteriously well-kept secret in Southeast Seattle, people with hints of Cheshire grins are walking their dogs along Taylor Creek in shady comfort.
"It's always at least 10 degrees cooler than in the surrounding areas, and the trail takes you very close to the creek," said Tim Gannon, program manager with Seattle Public Utilities' Urban Creek Program. He has worked on this restoration project for five years.
By Kathryn True | August 19, 2004
Hike of the Week
A quarter-century ago, it was the best of trails, it was the worst of trails.
The old Silver Lake Trail No. 708 was created by miners and was definitely not hiker-friendly. It was a mean-spirited trail, with slippery roots, slabs and brush. The first mile was a virtual streambed and the rest of it a puzzling maze of ancient tread, alternating with slippery slabs that seemed to indicate the end of any kind of trail.
By Karen Sykes | August 19, 2004
We've paddled our kayaks to Little Kaikash Beach on Vancouver Island and are sitting on the rocks eating lunch when one of the guides shouts: "Whales!"
A group of orcas appears in the distance, then another and another, rolling, splashing, black and white, the big dorsal fin of the males knifing the waters of Johnstone Strait.
By Linda Hagen Miller | August 19, 2004
Short Trips
PEND OREILLE COUNTY -- There are no stoplights in Pend Oreille County. And, despite its attractions, not many people stop to visit.
The usual response I got from friends after I told them I visited Pend Oreille County recently was: "Where?"
First, I assured them that the county is not in French-speaking Quebec or in Idaho. It is, in fact, the county farthest north and east in Washington state.
By Jeff Larsen | August 19, 2004
Take a Walk
Location: Whatcom County.
Length: One mile each way.
Level of difficulty: Gentle-and-paved trail soon graduating to moderate-and-gravel.
Setting: By simply driving to the end of the Mount Baker Highway, a National Forest Scenic Byway, you'll find yourself in a stunning spot almost a mile high amid the peaks of the North Cascades. Gaze southwest to see the back side of heavily glaciated Mount Baker, a 10,788-foot volcano composed of alternating layers of ash and lava flows that give the peak its impressive symmetrical shape.
By Cathy McDonald | August 19, 2004
