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Louis's Photos from 4-29-00

Ever since I discovered the part of the Lake to Lake Trail that ran by my old apartment, I've wanted to hike the whole thing. I had never gotten around to it, and I figured this was the perfect time. I have hiked much of the trail before, but never the whole thing, so I decided that this Saturday it was Lake to Lake or bust. I did it! I walked from Lake Samamish to Lake Washington and back, and I dipped my hand in both lakes. I started at 1:30pm, and I got back to my car at 8:15pm, and I was walking almost the whole time. Boy was I hungry when I got back! I estimate that I hiked ten to twelve miles.

My apartment complex, Hampton Greens, at its best. It's a sunny spring morning and the trees are green and the flowers are starting to come out.
Some pretty purple flowers. They were supposed to be backlit, but the sunlight disappeared while I was composing the picture.
Here is a picture of the trail as it goes through Weowna Park. This part of the trail is a very lush forest.
Here's the view to the east looking out over Lake Samamish and the Cascade Mountians. This picture was taken from a clearing created by the development on the hillside right next to the park.
From Weowna, the trail continued along the side of a street. This is one of the weirdest types of trees I've ever seen. Instead of leaves or needles, it has big thick scales.
There were a lot of these little baby-blue flowers along the trail. This picture doesn't show how vibrant their color was.
Here is a good map of the first half of the trail. Unfortunately, I never did find a map for the second half, and eventually I just had to fake it. The trail continues west from Larsen Lake.
Just to show that the whole trail wasn't all forest, here's a view of the trail in the Lake Hills Greenbelt. All those bushes are blueberries. Blueberry fields forever!
Then the trail changes again. Here, it's a boardwalk over a bog.
I just thought that this rock was begging to have some pithy phrase engraved on it.
In this section, the trail goes along a residential street. The weird part is when the trail goes right between two houses at the end of the cul-de-sac. I'm not sure if those buildings far in the background are Bellevue or Seattle, but I'm sure I passed the dark line of trees in front of them.
Here the trail enters Kelsey Creek Park. These are steps down a very steep hill. I thought they'd be killer on the way back, but I guess doing six flights of stairs twice a day has its rewards. :)
Next, the trail goes through the Bellevue Botanical Gardens. The garden club was having a Rhodedendron show. This was a surprising bonus.
A piece of art at the botanical gardens. Remember trial by stone from The Dark Crystal?
Tulips and daffodils at the botanical gardens. Those tulips are huge. The flowers are bigger than my fist.
Next, I had to walk through the edge of downtown Bellevue until I got to Meydenbauer Beach Park. This beautiful little park was really hidden away in a ravine. You'd never notice it was there if you drove over the bridge you can see in the picture. The only way in by car is way off on a side street. However, this park has really nice facilities, play equipment, and swimming area. Quite a find.
On the way back, I walked through Downtown Park, which I also didn't know existed. This is a huge grassy area just south of Bellevue Square Mall. It has a fountain/moat that makes a 3/4 circle, with this wide waterfall and lake on the end quadrant. Another good find.
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Louis K. Thomas <louiNØSP@Msth@hotmÑOSP@Mail.coNÕSP@Mm> Fight Spam! Auth 2002-04-26 (2360 days ago)