Business took me up to Seattle and a conference in Snoqualmie, WA. I arrived early on Wednesday and found a local outfitter who was kind enough to point out some nearby trails in this beautiful lush green area. On his recommendation, I drove up to the trailhead and set out for Rattlesnake Trail to East Peak. The trail snaked up through a dark green forest up a steep climb to Rattlesnake Ledge and then continued up the ridge line to East Peak. Don't let the term ledge fool you. This was a non-stop climb from 900' to nearly 3500'. I expected some flat spots but saw none. Just a pure climb that while tough wasn't a killer. I kept a pretty steady 11:00 pace (I estimate) through switchbacks, smooth trails and the occasional root or rocky cluster along the ridge line. I passed a few hikers but the woods were earily quiet, dark, and sometimes down-right spooky. The wildly different topography and landscape from my East Bay, CA haunts kept my mind distracted and the occassional vistas were ample reward for the effort. Sixty-five minutes and nearly 5 miles later I reached the awesome views from East Peak. Needless to say the pace back down was considerably faster and I reached the trailhead some 35 minutes later.The next two days the conference I was attending kept me close. Despite the rain, however (and I guess this is just something a Washingtonian just becomes oblivious to), I got out on some forest trails nearby the Salish Lodge. I got in two 10K runs through a very wet, dark, fern filled forest. The trails were a blast--soft, winding, and fast--I felt like a speeder in the forest of the "Empire Strikes Back."
