Monday, May 26, 2014

Rattlesnake Ledge

Good evening!
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend, enjoyed some time either relaxing or having some fun in the sun. After a busy workweek we were very excited to get outside and enjoy an extra day together. Travis had his first full week of work at the new job at Mortenson and it went great! He even got to spend his second day at the Portland office helping kick off a hotel project. The rest of his week was full of training/onboarding and meeting the rest of the office. Overall he's had a great experience so far and is excited for this next chapter of his career!

We got in our first Seattle bike ride this weekend, a quick evening ride Friday night down the bike trail along Elliott Bay just before sunset. We discovered a quiet spot down by the water next to a marina with a beautiful rocky coastline. We hung out there for a bit and snapped a few pictures since the lighting was gorgeous. 





Sunday we went on a hike to Rattlesnake Ledge, which is in North Bend Washington. We realized it was going to be a very busy trail as soon as we pulled into the parking lot and saw an overflow of cars along the side of the road. Even though the trail was basically a highway of people, it was a beautiful hike. There was an elevation gain of 1,200 feet over two miles, so this made for a challenging uphill climb. It was doable though and provided a very good sweat (I'll admit, I had to stop a few times for a breather). 

It took us about an hour to hike up to the top and it was well worth the wait, we were greeted by a STUNNING view from the rock ledge overlooking Rattlesnake Lake and the Snoqualmie River Valley. It was a good thing we aren't afraid of heights, as it was a long way down and a very sudden drop off. We enjoyed a gourmet lunch (PB&J sammies) on the rocks while taking in the gorgeous views around us. I would definitely do this hike again, however, I'd get there early in the morning to beat some of the traffic, our lunch spot on the rock face was prime real estate and very crowded. Here are a few shots from up above as well as our climb back down the trail. 

Sorry, I just have to say...this first photo - what a hunk! The outdoors look great on Trav, don't they? : ) 







We bought a great hiking book today with 60 hikes less than 60 miles from Seattle, so that should provide us with a lot of great trips to dive into. Being able to get out into the wilderness and feel a true sense of adventure has been so great (not to mention the fact that hiking is free and a great workout), we look forward to our weekend exploring all week! 

Hope you all have a great week!
Cheers!
KP

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