Welcome to the Jungle, Washington Park Arboretum.

Spring has finally made it to Seattle, WA! Are you ready for the perfect 70 degree days, slight humidity and perfectly clear blue skies? I know I'm ready, except those days are not quite here, but the trees and plants have began to bloom! Head out to the Washington Park Arboretum for the day and take a stroll through the 230 acres of beautifully maintained trees and plants. The UW Botanical Gardens is responsible for all of the plants and trees within the Arboretum and continue to landscape and keep the grounds pristine.

You will find yourself walking along a trail entering different sections of the Arboretum, which each section houses different types of trees and plants. Out on Lake Washington you will find Marsh Island, which is surrounded by lilly pads in full bloom and an array of long grasses. As you head in land you'll go through the oak family, winter garden, Japanese maples, woodland garden, Asiatic maples, rhododendrons (Our state flower), and many other beautiful and intriguing sections of trees and plants. If all of this is a little overwhelming and you're wondering how you are going to see all of these sections in one day, don't you worry. You can go to the gift shop near the main entrance of the Arboretum, and sign up for either a guided tour or audio tour of the 230 acres!

If you are willing to pay a small fee you can enter the Japanese Garden which you will find in the Northwest corner of the Arboretum! The Japanese Garden is home to hundreds of Japanese specimens and water gardens. Meditate and put yourself at ease while walking through this beautiful garden. A great place to take a slow walk and really enjoy yourself on a sunny day.

The Washington Park Arboretum is truly a great place to run, jog, walk, or sit down and have a relaxing picnic! I hope you enjoy your time at the Arboretum!

Japanese Gulch, Mukilteo WA

Japanese Gulch is a great greenbelt for mountain biking in, with 14 miles of single-track trails and a possible 500ft. elevation gain. Throughout the trails you can find numerous ladders, dirt jumps, and drops, all with varying levels of difficulty allowing for a good time for any skill level of rider.

There are many entrances into the gulch, with the main one right off of 5th st in Mukilteo, Wa. Pull off at the bridge that goes over the train tracks, a sign was recently added saying Japanese Gulch here. you are starting at the bottom from this entrance, so every trail leads up, and you have a variety of options. Explore them all yourself and you wont be disappointed.

Another possible entrance is off of the Mukilteo Speedway, near 5th st. Instead turn onto Goat Trail Loop Road and follow it all the way to the top, where you turn right onto 19th. This entrance will put you near some fairly large dirt jumps and ladders, just poke around for them.

Yet another entrance into the gulch is near the end of seaway blvd off of Hwy 526, in the back corner of the baseball fields on your left side. This puts you at the top of a plateau with fun downhills, jumps, ladders, and drops in every direction. It's a solid time, but riding back up can be a bummer. Shuttle? 

There is acess to all the trails from all the entrances. Have fun, love animals, wear a helmet.
peace.

Stevens Pass Snowmobiling?

We all know Steven's Pass is a world class ski area. Known for it's steep, technical slopes and hundreds of inches of crystal light snow it receives yearly. But what you probably didn't know is that during the third week of April every year, Stevens Pass lifts shut down and the mountain's lift-line roar tapers off. The silence is heavenly, the chickadees can be heard for the first time all year and squirrels can be seen scurrying across the ungroomed runs. That is until snowmobilers make their way up to the mountain.
Ever year after the mountain closes, the Mill Creek side of Stevens Pass is opened to the snowmobile community. Snowmobilers park on the east side of the pass in the Nordic Center parking lot, and snowmobile about 5 miles in to the base of the southern cross chair lift. From here they can power up the groomed runs, double black diamonds, and even cruise along the top of the ridge and look down on the front side towards highway 2 and the base area of the ski resort.
I had the opportunity the week after the mountain closed to do just this. It was a fantastic day trip, and we were blessed with over a foot of new snow the night before. I would recommend that if you want to be the first one up the mountain and your from the west side, stay the night before in the Nordic Center parking lot. If you risk getting up after 8:30 a.m., you may not find a spot to park your truck and snowmobile trailer. I stayed the night before in my car, and was on the mountain by 7:45 a.m. the next morning and did not have to worry about the onslaught of traffic filling the parking lot.
If your looking for an excellent day trip with technical terrain and the different setting of a ski area close to home, snowmobiling the back side of Steven's Pass is for you.

Camping near Leavenworth

What's not to love about the East side of the mountains? Especially when you have the chance to make a trip over to Leavenworth camping for the weekend. I travelled over early in the afternoon on Friday with two friends, and explored the Icicle, at the base of the Cascade Mountains for spots to camp. Unfortunately, with it still being fairly early in the spring, most high altitude camping spots were either snowed in or inaccessible due to closed trail heads and forest service gates. But there are still several accessible developed campgrounds open early in the season. One of which was Eight Mile campground, about five miles up the Icicle. It's location is ideal, with easy river access and numerous trails to explore right around the campground.
Our group decided that we were going to find an undeveloped spot to camp for the night and avoid the traffic of other campers. The spot we found was extraordinary. Tucked into a cliff side about 75 feet up in the air, rested a flat, sandy and perfectly located camping spot looking over the river. Easily accessible from the back of the cliff, we hiked onto the 15x20 platform and set up camp. From here, we looked could see out towards Leavenworth and up into the Snow Lakes area.

We were blessed with beautiful weather during our trip and had an overall fantastic time. One thing to make note of anytime you travel into the woods is the fact that there will be ticks. While setting up camp, we found several ticks in our gear that had attached while hiking to the camping spot. Be sure to check your clothing whenever entering your tent in order to avoid any unwanted visitors!

I would recommend to all of my friends to make a trip over to the east side of the mountains and enjoy the beauty of the Cascade's and surrounding scenery. Just bring sunscreen and bug spray!

Duthie Hill Bike Park

Duthie Hill, the newly opened Mountain Bike park located on the Issaquah Plateau is home to some of the best mountain biking on the west side of the Cascade Mountains. With 120 acres of purely wooded and rolling terrain, the park is spread evenly around a 2.5 acre clearing in the middle. There is a 6 mile single track trail, 4 XC trails, 2 miles of technical freeride trails and several progressive jump lines. All trails are perfectly groomed, featuring ladders, well maintained berms, and flowing transitions.

The only downfall of this beautiful mountain bike park is the fact that the trails are fairly short. Most are around ¼ of a mile to ½ a mile long. By the time you find a rhythm on the track, it ends. But, with all of these trails it makes for quick turn around times and a plethora of diverse, easily accessible trails.

Overall, Duthie Hill Bike Park is a fantastic place to brush up on your trail riding, or continue to push the limits in your free riding capabilities.

There are only 2 ways to access Duthie Hill park:

1. North entrance (aka Duthie Hill Lodge) at 27101 SE Duthie Hill Road. There is a small parking lot. Ride south into the park via the connector trail and boardwalk. The lot fills up quickly -- overflow parking on weekends is at Endeavor or Cascade Ridge elementary schools.
2. South entrance maintenance access road off of Issaquah-Fall City Rd. There is no safe parking anywhere around this entrance. On weekends, park at Endeavor or Cascade Ridge elementary schools and ride to this entrance.

Olympic Peninsula- Mt. Walker

Sunday morning a few buddies and I woke up to the sun at 9 o' clock and caught the Edmonds-Kingston Ferry and headed towards the Olympic Mountains. With no real plan as to where we were going, we eventually turned left onto Olympic Highway 101 and stumbled across a Visitor center. Here we found out that the Mt. Walker trailhead is just down the road and is the easternmost peak in the Olympic mountain range.

There is a road that leads nearly to the top of the mountain, but the gate is yet to be opened for the spring. I would imagine that when this gate is opened the peak will be much more crowded. We parked with a few other cars on the side of the highway, and headed up the closed road. Eventually on the right hand side there was a trailhead sign, indicating a 2 mile trail in one direction with a 2,000ft elevation gain, for a total elevation of 2,805ft. The trail is dirt single-track forming a series of huge switchbacks leading up the mountain. Given 1000ft elevation gain per mile it was quite a workout to get to the top, but the view was completely worth it. At the summit there were outhouses, a picnic table, and a bench situated with a breathtaking view eastward looking towards the Puget Sound. From this viewpoint we could see some of the bigger mountains in the Olympics, Mt. Baker, and the Puget Sound. On the way back down the grade was so steep it was almost easier to run down the mountain, but this is much harder on your knees and feet, and it's easy to lose control.

We saw people from senior citizens to small children hiking this mountain, but you do need some level of physical fitness to make it to the top. On our way up we ran into an older man that lost his group and was too tired to continue on so he turned around. I would suggest to always hike with at least one other person, there are cougars in these mountains.

Earth Day, Get Green'd.

Today is Earth Day, and we at Northwest Active would like to help you get involved. According to Earth Day Network, there have been about 31,466,162,000 acts of "green." This can be anything from replanting a few evergreen trees in a clear cut area, to driving the new fuel efficient hybrid car, or even replacing a dishwasher with a new energy-star rated appliance! So, what green act can you do today? If you decide to participate in the green movement make sure to go to the Earth Day Network and add your green act to the counter on the homepage!

The Earth Day Network website addresses many core issues such as water treatment and conservation, sustainable energy, and even the issue of people disregarding the green movement for nothing more than a marketing ploy. So, after you have looked at the core issues on the website, you might be wondering how you can get connected and help out? Well, Earth Day Network has posted hundreds of events going on today and throughout the weekend. The Climate Rally on the National Mall, in Washington DC on Sunday, April 25th is the scheduled main event! Thousands of people will be gathering to enact a comprehensive climate bill that the United States Government has failed to create in the past. So for you Northwesters that will be on the East Coast this weekend make sure to check this event out for some popular performance artist from the Sting to John Legend, and to listen to great speakers pushing for climate change in the USA and worldwide!

However, if you're not planning on being in our Nation's capital don't worry; the Northwest has hundreds of it's own events going down today and throughout this weekend! Make sure to head to the homepage of Earth Day Network to check out the events in your local area! It is easy as clicking on the "Events" tab and entering your address to see the list of local events! Check it out, and get connected with some interesting, fun and cool people this weekend with the common goal of making the earth a little bit cleaner each and everyday!

Enjoy the Earth!