I come here frequently because there are a few hills that are good to condition on. That said, I've only hiked the four or so westernmost miles of the Tolt, haven't followed it very far east yet. They completed some grading work on it in the summer of 2015 and it has altered the grade of some of the hills a bit, but nothing very drastic. The gravel is soft and mushy in spots though, until it packs back down. Harder to run on now, but still a great local resource.

For all those snowphobes, this trip report is guaranteed to be avalanche zone, hypothermia and frost bite free. Taking a page from Mr. Manning's original Footsore 1, I walked the Tolt Pipeline Trail between Avondale and the Snoqualmie Valley Monday afternoon parking at the lot right off Bear Creek Rd NE. Plenty of space there, but there is more parking a block west along Avondale Rd NE, (though you do have cross the busy street.) Total distance is just shy of 6 miles round trip. Total gross vertical is only 300-400ft - a relatively easy walk with just enough distance and hill to get the blood moving. Bear Creek is running high and there is some nice relatively new ecological signage at the crossing point. The trail is typical utility right of way - but more rural than much of the western portion of this trail. Many of the property owners along the trail are equestrian estates and/or breeders and you will likely run into folks out with their horses on the trail. Woodpeckers, a raven, thrush and a couple smaller raptors were all out this afternoon along with the horses. This portion of the trail goes nearly all the way to the Snoqualmie Valley, though today there were limited views due to the fog/clouds - on a clear day you can see the cascades off the eastern end. One other point of interest is the large water pipeline coming in from the big Seattle Public Utilities South Fork Tolt Reservoir. It pops out of the ground for a few hundred feet in one of the valleys along the trail. It's not a bad thing to know how your water gets to your kitchen faucet. An easy to get to, nice walk through eastern King County suburbia.

Walked the Tolt Pipeline Trail between the Sammamish Slough and the top of the highest ridge going east, (168th Ave,) Sunday morning. Distance for this section is a little over 3 miles out and back with about 400ft of altitude gain. Parking is available on either side of 148th just north of the Hollywood Hills schoolhouse or, if you don't mind a little extra distance, at the big parking lot for the ball fields just west along hwy 202, (just walk north along the Sammamish Slough trail about a quarter mile until Tolt Pipeline starts off to the right.) The trail is typical utility right of way crossed by several roads. Equestrian estates on either side of the trail. One point of interest is where the big Tolt pipeline carrying much of the water for City of Seattle pops out from the ground to cross a gully and road. Once finished you can hit all the wineries, distilleries or Redhook Brewery.

Another trail run with the baby (in a stroller) and the dog. Tolt Pipeline is hilly, but I actually really enjoyed the varied terrain. We started at the trailhead off Avondale Rd in Woodinville. Ran a fair ways in both directions. There were a couple steep hills that required walking, but it's definitely doable and I liked that it wasn't just flat monotonous trail. Overall, a great trail run with my two girls. :)

Tolt-McDonald is one of King County's nicer parks, located near Carnation. There's a surprising amount of trail mileage there if you try out all of the different options. And no snow! When I stepped out of the car at the T-M parking lot, I noticed a strange sensation--a lack of biting arctic cold. With the temperature surging past 50 F, the air felt positively tropical. Could spring be finally here? One can surely dare to dream... After crossing the suspension bridge over the Snoqualmie River, I hiked the trail that climbs up to the Port Blakeley forestland on top of the plateau. This is a mountain bike playground, with trails going just about everywhere. I simply hiked the main road, a two mile loop mostly in forest and wetlands. The multitude of mountain bike ""single track"" trails will not interest most hikers. One exception is a short side trail that led me to an impressive viewpoint overlooking the Snoqualmie River Valley. Look for this trail at the southeast corner of the loop road, where it approaches the bluff. Careful students of the Footsore guides may have read about another vista point farther to the north, near the high point of the park, but this now has a lot of trees and not much of a view. After hiking the tree farm loop, I headed back down to the lowlands and did the two mile loop at the base of the bluff. This is a lovely trail, but muddy in places. Along the trail, trickling creeks tumbling down from the bluff provided a restful sound, and lots of new spring growth was sprouting up everywhere. Near the river was an area of lawn that serves as a walk-in campsite. Not seeing anyone around, I let my dog Lex loose for a little off-leash romp. He soon rushed around a clump of bushes, interested in something. I saw something blue behind the bushes and though, ""oh no a ranger's truck"". Now I was thinking that I was about to be busted for an off-leash dog. But when I came closer, the blue turned out to be a tipped over port-a-potti. And Lex was joyfully rolling in toilet paper scattered nearby. Bleh...dogs...who needs 'em? All in all, I walked about 5 miles.