Urban Hikes - Advantages and Shortcomings

Added: 01/10/2006

Hiking is one of the major outdoor activities, undertaking with the purpose of exploring the scenery. It is regarded as the best opportunity to see all the splendor of nature. Most often, hiking takes place in areas with unspoiled wilderness. However, at present urban hikes are a common thing among travelers, offering the chance to escape the city or suburbia.

Taking into consideration the fact that the landscape of the planet has changed significantly in the recent decades, urban hikes are now common experience with many travelers. The majority of such changes are seen as the results of human activity, which has a far from beneficial impact on the development of natural resources. Urban hikes differ greatly from traditional hikes in preserves, bay area parks, and also wilderness areas, which have undisturbed vegetation. You hardly have an opportunity to get far from the city and enjoy peace and quiet. However, urban hikes are seen today as a popular outdoor activity, which brings together millions of nature lovers.

The most popular destinations of urban hikes around Seattle are Meadowdale Beach Park, Carkeek Park, Schmitz Park, St Edwards State Park, Kirkland Watershed Park, Mercer Slough Nature Park, and Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park.

Encompassing more than eight miles of trails, Carkeek Park is a favorite attraction of Seattle-area park lovers. The best of the trails can be found in the wilder woods on the south side of the park. The forest along the trail houses the remnants of old-growth fir.

Schmitz Park is famous for its 50-acre virgin forest, which is one of two in Seattle to include old-growth forest. Enjoy the view of the massive Douglas fir and red cedar, some of them reaching 200 feet.

St Edwards State Park represents the last chunk of intact forest of the Lake Washington, and contains 3,000 feet of shoreline alongside of ravines and ridges. Following the North Trail, you'll enjoy the view of the 75-year-old forest of fir, cedar, hemlock, and the samples of Pacific yews. The park?s finest is the South Ridge Trail, climbing from the shore up a narrow spine of the forest.

O.O. Denny Park is the best known for its beach on Lake Washington. The most beautiful trail of the park is about one mile, climbing the upland into the Big Finn Creek Valley. With its fine big trees, among which there is a virgin Douglas fir, O.O. Denny Park offers you a splendid opportunity to escape the city and enjoy the genuine beauty of forest nature.

Mercer Slough Nature Park is a mega-wetlands area with nearly six miles of trails for observing geese, ducks, beavers, and herons, and is regarded by many as the largest wetland park in the western United States. Following the main trail on the south side of the park, you?ll forget the surrounding city and plunge into the beauty of wild nature.

Surrounded by Renton, Bellevue, and Issaquah, Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park occupies the territory of 3,000 acres, featuring mountains and hills. There, 42 trails exist, in addition to three major trailheads, presenting a great number of loop possibilities.

Among the wildest trails is that which follows Wilderness Creek to Wilderness Peak, the park's highest point, reaching 1,595 feet. One of the urban hikes destinations is Metro Bus Tunnel, recognized as one of the largest transit tunnels in Seattle. It was closed in September 2005 and is expected to reopen in 2007. Because of the conversion to light rail, dual-mode busses have been replaced by new fleet of hybrid busses.

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