It's become an annual tradition of mine to trek across the Issaquah Alps from Rattlesnake Lake to Lake Washington, spending the night on South Tiger Mountain. Heading East to West, it breaks down to 19.5 miles on day 1, and 26.5 miles on day 2. This year went pretty smoothly, other than a couple of black toenails.

I got a late start on day 1 and didn't even get moving until the afternoon. I also stopped for a long lunch break a few hours in, so I had to set about a 15 minute mile pace for the rest of the day to hit my camp before dark, but it worked out. My route followed Rattlesnake Ridge, then took the Powerline Trail over to Tiger Mountain, which I should mention is not much of a trail, more like a series of strung together roads & trails, overgrown in places, with no signage, that include fords of Raging River and Deep Creek. Once I had linked up with the Tiger Mountain trail system, I made my way over to South Tiger to camp for the night. With no chance of rain I took the opportunity to lay out under the stars.

Day 2 I really wanted to wrap up by 5pm because I had some things to do that evening, so I once again had to maintain a quick pace. Unfortunately I woke up many times throughout the night, I think due to it being quite noisy from all the wind, making for a restless sleep. I didn't get moving until 8am, which was a couple hours later than I'd hoped for. I averaged about a 15 minute mile pace for the first 12 miles, took a quick lunch break, and then averaged about a 20 minute mile pace for the remaining 14.5 miles, wrapping up just before 5pm. Success! My route took me from South Tiger over to Poo Poo Point, then down to Issaquah High School before heading back up and over Squak Mountain, then Cougar Mountain, then followed the Coal Creek Trail to the Lake Washington Loop trail, which I took to my final destination, Newcastle Beach Park.

This was my fourth time completing this traverse. I finished feeling less sore/fatigued than ever before, it was definitely the least actual trail time I've ever invested in completing it, and a foot & ankle injury/condition that has plagued me the last several years showed no sign of itself along the journey, so I have to say I was very pleased.

Note: The GPS track is missing the first 3 miles of my trek. Sorry!