Well, it was snow free for awhile. We did an urban walk in Everett so we could bail quickly if it started sticking. We parked at Legion Park, walked thru the Arboretum first, then walked down Grand Ave to the P Patch. We walked across the bridge on 20th then along Marine View Dr. We were amazed by all the new construction going on along the Everett waterfront, fancy condos, a couple of hotels and new restaurants, the once gritty waterfront is going upscale, a bit sad IMHO. There are nice restrooms in the building where Scuttlebutt is located. Once we availed ourselves of this luxury, we went back by way of the new Grand Ave bridge, a good way to get some uphill in. The snow was starting to stick by this time, so we picked a good time to finish. 7 miles of nice walking in the falling snow. 

Quick walk along the Mill Town Trail Sunday morning.  There is free 2 hour parking at the large boat launch lot on the north end of the waterfront, plus various street parking along the route.  The nice restrooms at the boat launch have been demolished and are currently being rebuilt but there are a couple well used honey buckets available.  The trail remains largely urban, paved multi-use and there are no issues/blockages.  The water taxi over to Jetty Island is also now running again and there was quite a line.

The big heron rookery just north of the boat ramp area, while well past its peak, still has a number of active nests with adults coming and going to feed the remaining juveniles.  You can hear the sealions barking out on the Navy pier.  There were several Osprey out fishing along the northern area as well.  Don’t miss a quick side trip up and over the cool new pedestrian bridge for some additional nice views of the bay.  A nice little walk with lots to see.

Given the flooding and landslides across many roads and trails, we opted for a nice urban walk along the Everett waterfront. We started at Legion Park (loo is open), walked north until we could cross Marine View on a crosswalk to catch the sidewalk along the waterfront. There is a lot going on, new buildings and a cleanup and restoration effort at the old mill site. You have to skirt a bit of construction, but there is plenty of access to water views and the Marina. You can see a few osprey nests (osprey are gone for the winter) but the herons like to perch on the same pilings.  At the building that houses Scuttlebutts, there are restrooms inside and a little coffee shop that has a few lunch items also. There is a nice little display of the history of the waterfront, those of us that have been around awhile will remember the smokestacks and smell from the mill. We continued our walk south, wandering here and there until we found the bridge going over the RR tracks connecting the waterfront to the bluff.  There is an elevator, but c'mon this is a walk, get those steps in! The top comes out at Grand Ave park. From there we walked down to 21st and turned to the right where you can access a small pocket park and continue to the P Patch. It is fun to see what is growing here any time of year, now chard, kale and garlic. Once done here we headed back uphill to Colby, turned north and headed back to our starting spot. Watch figured about 8 miles, but probably more like 7 with all the wandering I think the count was a bit off. 

Quick walk along the Mill Town Trail in Everett on this beautiful Sunday morning.  Our route was roughly out and back south from the boat launch hitting the big piers, over the cool new pedestrian bridge to Grand Avenue park and north to a couple additional viewpoints along W Marine View Dr.  There is free 2 hour parking in the guest area at the boat launch.  Additionally there is quite a bit of free street parking along Grand Avenue right near the bridge.  Restrooms at the boat launch area were open and in good condition, (no other facilities along this route.)  There is continued construction along the water with the residential developments going in but no blockages or trail issues.

Quite a bit of wildlife out this morning including several seals, half dozen heron, tons of ducks/gulls/etc plus you can hear all the sea lions barking along the big Navy pier.  Views off the shoreline really are very nice over the water and Jetty Island to the Olympics, and north to Mt. Baker..  One other surprise for any Navy nerds out there - a Zumwalt class destroyer, the Michael Monsoor moored at the far end of the Navy pier, (sure they are a $22 billion “oopsie doopsie!” but they look like something from Starwars.)  An easy, beautiful walk with lots to see.

It never occurs to me to go for a hike that starts under the freeway and weaves between the sewage plant. My mom lives nearby so I keep coming back. Ignore the sewage plant and pretend the freeway noise is the ocean. It’s really pretty, especially before sunset. Lots of singing birds. We stayed on the paved trail. It looks pretty lush across the bridge. 
Drove to the Mill Town Trail and walked along the waterfront for sunset. Very pretty.