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I was attending a writer’s conference in Redmond this last weekend (Potlatch/Foolscap), so I thought I might try riding there from Georgetown.
My initial hope was to take the Burke Gilman Trail, because I’ve never done that route, but it turns out that would have added a good 10 or so miles. Instead, Rob and I opted to take the I-90 Trail, then flounder out in the burbs (we were in Kirkland*, maybe?), then take the 520 Trail into Redmond.
Believe you me, if you’ve never taken the 520 Trail, that decent into Redmond is FUN! I was glad I was getting a ride home from someone, though, since that would have been a beast of a hill to climb back up.
Rob opted to take the Lake Sammamish Trail back to the I-90 trail, but since he doesn’t blog for me then you won’t get to hear about it. He liked it, though.
Anyway, all this to say that I snapped what I feel is a cool photo of the I-90 floating bridge disappearing into the mist. It’s like Mercer Island is shrouded in Fog of War. Is there a Zerg camp over there? We’ll have to bike across to see**.
* A simple Google Maps search tells me we were in “West Lake Hills.” If your first thought is that sounds like a place that has no bike lanes, you’d be totally correct.
** Pretty sure there weren’t any Zerg on Mercer Island. At least not on the north end. Please let me know if I’m incorrect.
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There is a great route from West Lake Samamish road, which has a bike lane, up the side of the ridge to 165th, all no traffic, neighborhood streets until you hit the Alberstons at the top of the hill at SE 36th. Unfortunately it’s not marked as bike trail but you can see it if you look at google maps.
Thanks for the tip, Gary. We’re always looking for more long rides that we can go on from our house, and if we can get a good route down, that might become a regular.
When I was regularly biking from our home in Lake Forest Park to work in Redmond, I would have to climb up that hill you mentioned to get to my office building, which was at the very top. In theory, at least: a lot of the time I would wimp out and wait a few minutes for a bus that could take me to the top of the hill.
However, aside from that the Burke Gilman/Lake Sammamish Trail that goes around the north end of Lake Washington is *gorgeous*. You’re riding next to the Sammamish River the whole time, through farmland and woods, with mountains and hills on both sides of you. You should definitely try it some time.
I can’t wait–that sounds like such a fun ride.
When I was working on Cap Hill I always said that the best thing about climbing a hill to get to work was that at the end of the day when you were tired and tipsy (you got an after-shift beer at your job, right?) you could just coast down. But climbing Capitol Hill seemed like a better deal than climbing that hill on the 520 Trail. I’d probably wait for the bus, too.