1/30/2010 East Wenatchee

This weekend I am in East Wenatchee, so my walk today was a 55 minute walk on the Loop Trail off 19th Street. The Loop Trail consists of  13 miles of trail here that go along the shores of the Columbia River, in both Wenatchee and East Wenatchee,  It's a great paved trail.  My friend Patricia, who lives in Wenatchee, walked with me today. She has walked and roller bladed these trails for years, and said she remembers the one we were on today when it was just a trail through the sagebrush before it was paved.  When I got to the walking route, I realized that I had left my pedometer at home, and then I found out that my Allsport on my phone had expired today--I would think they would remind you and get you to renew as soon as you could to gain more revenue--so I couldn't track my route or count my steps. Instead I just went for time, and we walked for 55 minutes.  I have walked enough now to give a pretty good guesstimate as to how much distance I can cover in a given amount of time on all sorts of terrain.  At the pace we walked today, I am guessing we went about 2.5 miles.

The route is a little hilly, definitely not flat, but pretty minor elevation changes.  The crisp air and walking along the river was quite refreshing, and with the great conversation with my friend Patricia, time passed quite quickly.  A nice walk. I look forward to exploring more of this trail over the next year whenever I visit the area. And tonight I will sign up again for my Trimble Allsport.

1/29/2010 An Urban Walk

Today I took a friend to the doctor in the U District in Seattle, and while she was at her appointment, I went for a little 2 mile walk around the area, an urban walk today.  I headed south from the clinic and found Peace Park, home of the Sadako and the Thousand Cranes sculpture, something I had no idea was there, but was very neat to run across. I'm glad I took a picture of it.

After that, I walked across the University Bridge and down to South Passage Point Park, a very small park that is underneath Interstate 5 on the south side, between Lake Washington and Portage Bay.  In order to climb the hill back up to the University Bridge, I walked past the Pocock Rowing Center. I got a great view of the rowing sheds with all the colorful sculls.  I headed back across the University Bridge and could look down on the houseboats.  I always thought it would be a great to live on a houseboat in an area like Seattle.  I am so glad I take my camera with me each day to capture what I see.  It also makes me look at things in a new way, searching for just the right pictures. 

Tomorrow I will be in Wenatchee for my walk.  I guess this blog is chronicling my travels as well as my walks.  You can see my route today here:  http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/610201  

1/28/2009 Port of Skagit--Last Trail

Jeff left this afternoon, and my friend Christie walked with me. We walked the last complete trail at the Port of Skagit that I hadn't done yet. It was a very nice 2.4 mile loop, partially through the woods.  I am amazed that I think nothing of walking a distance like that now with 28 days under my soles.  Today I was talking about walking in some fun run/walks this spring and summer. I look forward to being able to do that.  My knee is still a bit sore, but it's not the knee as much as the muscles around it, and they are fine after a couple of ibuprofen.  Again today, even though it was a bit gray outside, we saw lots of ducks near the ponds. I noticed that they were all paired up, but it doesn't show that in this picture.

My favorite part of this trail is the section that goes through the woods. When I was recovering from my knee surgery, I could only go about 10 minutes into the woods, so not too far. Today we went all the way through. When the trees get their leaves back, they actually form a canopy in this area.  It will be very cool to see it this spring and summer and compare photos.

Tomorrow my walk will be in the Seattle area. Saturday and Sunday I will be in Wenatchee.  As Willie Nelson says: On the Road Again...  You can see my route from today's walk here:  http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/609587

1/27/2010 A Walk With Jeff

Earlier this month I mentioned that a good friend of mine, Linda, had passed away.  Today her son Jeff came to visit me and went for a walk with me.  It was pretty special to have him here. The last time I had gone on a walk with him (not counting hanging out in Seattle one day) was in Little Rock, Arkansas, when I was visiting his mom. So we walked and talked, recounting stories of his mom and my friend. It made for a special day.

Jeff has a nice Nikon Digital SLR, so I chose Padilla Bay for our walk, in hopes we would see some water fowl, along with the views of the North Cascades and Mount Baker from there. Today, we could actually see Mount Rainier also. I have to say, we didn't walk too fast--stopping quite often to take pictures, but we did put in the miles. Jeff must have taken about 100 pictures; he really enjoyed the sights. Two heron flew right past us, and Jeff got a great shot of one of them in the stages of flight. Besides the stories of his mom I told him, he'll also have some great pictures to remember the day.  Our route is posted here:  http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/609154

1/26/2010 Walking is man's best medicine.

Today I wasn't feeling too well; bad dose of antibiotics, I think, but I crawled off the couch late afternoon and went for a walk.  Like the title says, Walking is man's best medicine (Hippocrates).  I can't say I was too active after my walk, but I did stay up the rest of the day.  My walk today was quite slow, 2.2 MPH, but I think that is because Christie and I were busy taking pictures.  There were two eagles in a tree on the lower trail, sitting near their nest, so we shot a few pictures of them.

They looked pretty regal up there.  It was a beautiful sunny day, in the upper 40s, so still a bit of a chill in the air, but the blue sky was wonderful. It gives you a different perspective on things; colors seem more vibrant against the blue sky.

I have a hard time believing that I have actually been walking for 26 days in a row now.  Only 334 more days to go. It really is helping to vary the distances each day. The lower route we took wasn't too long, so we also did part of another small loop, totaling 1.4 miles in all, but a walks a walk...you can see my route here: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/608575

1/25/2010 Bellingham South Bay Trail and Boulevard Park

Very nice day today. My friend Christie and I were heading to Bellingham for a few things, so we decided to walk a trail while we were there. We parked at Boulevard Park and walked southwest to the end of the trail and then northeast a bit and back. All in all we did 2.06 miles in about 46 minutes. A good walk. I decided that my speed is dependent largely on the type of surface I am walking on. Yesterday's walk was a slower pace, but it was a dirt trail. Today I was on wood, cement, and packed gravel.

Part of this trail is built out over the water on a pier. Very nice and great view of Bellingham Bay since you are literally right on top of it.  Another thing this trail has at Boulevard Park is  Wood's Coffee right in the park; perfect for an after walk beverage!  Lots of people out today biking, running, walking dogs, taking kids for walks in strollers; lots to observe.  There are benches to sit on all along the way, and a children's play area, even a small sandy beach to play on. We were in wind quite a bit while on the pier portion of the walk, but once we left Boulevard Park and headed toward Bellingham, the trail was much more protected from the elements; in fact, we got a bit warm and had to unzip a few layers. That part of the trail parallels the train tracks...very loud, by the way, when the train whistle blows.

You can see my route here:  http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/607882

1/24/2010 Cranberry Lake, Cama Beach State Park

This morning I decided to drive to Camano Island to Cama Beach State Park and take a hike I read about to Cranberry Lake.  The drive itself one way took as long as the hike, but it was a nice day, and the drive to around Camano Island is really nice.  I read about this hike in a collection of winter hikes I have. It is only 3/4 mile into Cranberry Lake, all on a nicely maintained trail through fern groves and deciduous and evergreen trees. In one spot there is a boardwalk built over a small stream.  Like some of my other walks, this is a trail that will be interesting to walk all four seasons of the year. 

I was looking forward to seeing a lot of wildlife, as everything that I read said that there is quite a bit at the lake, but alas, today, there was none.  Maybe it was because it was Sunday morning and all the waterfowl was sleeping in. I heard some birds when I got to the lake, but couldn't see where they were, and no ducks or anything else.  The water on the lake was so calm that the trees reflected in it perfectly.

Cama Beach State Park is a unique state park in Washington.  It contains several cabins right on the beach that can be rented for stays instead of actually camping. The cabins are replicas of old beach cabins.  They don't have TVs, cable, or stoves, but they have electricity, bathrooms, microwave, refrigerator, and such. Great way to get away from it all.  You can see my route here:  http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/607108