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!