The Washington State Hiking Podcast
Welcome to the The Washington State Hiking Podcast with your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming. Along with part time co-host and guidebook author Craig Romano, she provides practical and timely seasonal hiking advice for hikers, trail runners and potential hikers of all skill and ability levels that is practical, accurate, fun and inclusive. We cover hikes near Seattle and Tacoma as well as hikes all across Washington from the rain forests of the Olympic Peninsula to the Shrub Steppe of Eastern Washington.
Jennie is a middle aged, plus sized, frequently solo slow hiker and a born and raised Washingtonian and has enjoyed Washington's trails her entire life. Craig is a trail runner and ultra marathoner who also loves the mellow walk close to home. Originally from New Hampshire, he has made his home in Washington for more than 30 years. He the author of more than 20 guidebooks covering trails across Washington State and beyond.
The Washington State Hiking Podcast
Taking Trailhead Direct to Popular Trailheads with Ryan Miller from King County Metro
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Ryan Miller from King County Metro joins Jennie to talk about the Trailhead Direct bus service to popular trailheads in King County as well as other metro routes to trails year round - skipping driving, parking hassles and parking passes.
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Welcome to The Washington State hiking podcast. I'm your host Jennie Thwing Flaming. Along with my part time co host guidebook, author Craig Romano. We provide practical and timely seasonal hiking advice for hikers, trail runners and potential hikers and trail runners of all skill and ability levels. That is helpful, accurate, fun and inclusive. We would love to hear from you, our listeners, the second link in the show notes right below the tip jar. Hint Hint, is our voice memo link. Please leave us a voice memo with your question, and we will answer it in a future episode. Are you tired of dealing with really difficult, crowded parking or not really sure what paths you need a different Trailhead. One solution to that is to take the bus and that is what we're going to talk about today with King County Metro. Hi, everyone, Jennie here. So today, I have Brian Miller with me from King County Metro. And we're going to talk about the trailhead direct bus service, which is just a really awesome thing that's available to those of us in the Seattle area. So, Ryan, welcome to the Washington State hiking podcast. Thanks for joining us.
Ryan Miller:Thanks for having me. I'm super excited to talk about Trailhead direct, it's a program that's very near and dear to my heart. You know, I love spending time in the outdoors. That's really what makes this region Oh, like the bounty of outdoor activities that are available and near to us in the Seattle region is one of the things that makes this area so amazing to be around. And so being able to work to improve access to, to be outdoors and to end providing transportation for more kinds of folks to be able to access the outdoors is something that I'm really passionate about. So I'm very happy to talk about it with you all today.
Jennie Flaming:That is That is awesome. I am so I'm also really excited about talking about this. So Ryan, can we start with you just sharing a brief introduction to yourself and how you got involved with Trailhead direct at Metro.
Ryan Miller:Yeah, absolutely. So I'm Ryan Miller, I am a I'm the program manager for the trailhead direct program, the way this program kind of came to be, was my colleagues at King County Parks approached me for in a prior role that I was in leading a or helping to with a program called Community Connections, which is where we worked with communities that were not traditionally good fits for fixed route bus service, and through a collaborative planning process figured out ways to serve these areas that are not well served. And they came to us saying, Hey, we have, we've noticed an issue with overcrowding at our trailheads creating sick or overcrowded parking areas at at a certain at certain trailheads that were creating unsafe environments where people were parking on the side of like very busy highways that didn't really have a shoulder and we're walking back and forth, creating kind of a safety concern there. And they wanted to understand what we could What if there was something that you know, metro or other kinds of if there were kind of ways to help alleviate that safety concern. So through a collaborative outreach process with the outdoors, community and land managers and such, one of the one of the ideas that we came up with was a was a transit service to you know, eliminate the need for parking at these trailheads entirely. We ran a very brief pilot, just in a single loop around the square out. So starting at the transit center, going to a couple of trailheads, around Issaquah. And then, you know, back and forth for just a couple of months in 2017. One of the things we learned out of that program out of that project was one, there was absolutely a appetite for people to access the trails without needing a car entirely. But also that there was a desire for this kind of service to extend to more places and to be more of a direct connection to people. So our first full season of operating Trailhead direct was in 2018. And we were actually able to expand pretty dramatically because we engaged with the community and we heard what folks wanted. And one was, yeah, that direct connection into more places. So we extended that a supply route to light rail station in Seattle in partnership with the City of Seattle. We also worked with we also when we asked people where they wanted the services to go, we heard like people love going to Mount Sinai and so we were able to do Again, working with the City of Seattle and our partners in King County Parks. We made a connection with Washington State DNR. And we're able to create a second route that went from Capitol Hill Station, one of the most densely populated parts of the city of Seattle, down through downtown Seattle picking up people at, you know, our very dense transit corridors, and then head out directly to Mount Sinai, Tenerife and little sigh. We also had like a small like kind of parking satellite parking shuttle at mailbox peak that year. And one of the things that we learned in that 2018 season, our first full season, we had initially started this project around, like, trying to alleviate overcrowded parking areas, but we really learned in engaging with our customers and riders on Trailhead direct, that it was something like 70% of our, of our ridership didn't own a car themselves. And yeah, and most folks who were accessing Trailhead direct, if they didn't have access to this service, would not have had access to the outdoors. And that completely reshaped our thinking around how we designed the service and who it's for. Yeah, and really had us thinking a lot more about this being ending access to the outdoors and more of an equity focus, and then outdoor equity focus, or this kind of program. Yeah, I'm really excited about our 2024 season.
Jennie Flaming:Yeah. And, you know, I'm glad that you mentioned that, Ryan, because one of the things that I think, is really cool about Trailhead direct as like a transit rider, is that depending on I know, it's a little bit different each year, and we'll talk about that in a minute. But there's options for like, if you want to drive somewhere and park, you know, like you were talking about is a quad transit center and just not deal with passes and parking. But there's it also opens up some of our most popular trails in the greater Seattle area, and around King County, to people who don't have cars at all, which is really awesome. It's a very cool thing about it. I think that is really cool that you can both not have a car at all, but also drive and take a bus depending on, you know, the situation each year. And I know, it varies, and we'll talk about that in a minute. So, um, it is awesome to hear a little bit more about kind of how this got started and how it evolved over time. That's very cool. So in 2024, Ryan, what is the plan for So Trailhead direct as a service generally, and this year is no when Trailhead direct is operating? And which routes because I know that has varied a bit each year. So what's the plan for 2024? exception, runs on weekends and holidays. Through the spirit from the late kind of late spring into into early fall, this season starts Memorial Day weekend on May 28, or not on May 25. We are starting service for Trailhead direct and it will run through September 15. So the week after Labor Day. So it's going to be Saturday's Saturday, Sundays and and and and holidays. In this case, it's going to be you know, Fourth of July. Yeah, even though that like you know is following on like a Thursday, I believe. Labor Day and Memorial Day. Awesome. So which routes are you guys gonna be operating this year? Yes,
Ryan Miller:so much as we have the past few years we'll be operating the Capitol Hill route with the Capitol Hill to Mount Sinai route which goes Capitol Hill through downtown Seattle out out to North Bend from North Bend out to Mount tener F mount psi and little psi. This year, I'm also really happy to announce that we're going to be bringing back the Issaquah Alps route which is our second most popular route. So that starts at Mount Baker Transit Center in Seattle, heads out to Issaquah and serves a number of trailheads OUT out there and serves squawk Mountain State Park the Margaret sway Trailhead poopoo points trip that they chair co trailhead, high school Trail and the East sunset way trail head. So you can actually do a whole lot of hiking in the Alps. And one of the really nice things that I like about Trailhead direct and that route in particular is that it makes it creates a lot of options for thru hikes. Yeah, it would be completely and that would be a lot harder. Even if you were driving, so being able to do a point to point hike is one of those extra advantages of Trailhead direct. Yeah,
Jennie Flaming:that is awesome. So on the on the Capitol Hill route, there's not really a place for people to join up with a car and park somewhere. Right? That one is really more for people without cars. And the other one does start stop at the is a quad transit center. Is that right?
Ryan Miller:That is so it is. It is absolutely accurate that you know, if, if you're starting in Capitol Hill, you are going to need to either find street if you're driving to the Capitol Hill Station, and I would encourage people to take transit there's Yeah, train right there. But you it is not impossible to find street parking around Capitol Hill station if you are driving inclined. But again, lots of great transit options. We designed that route with, you know, transit in mind. But yes, the is quite Alps route in particular, you know, there's a parking lot, there's a parking ride with a lot of parking available at Issaquah transit center. So if you are planning on driving, that is an option for you. In prior years, we did serve, we would serve a skate park and ride which and, you know, I think it's our intent to be able to serve that in the future. Unfortunately, for the next couple of years, the off ramps that allowed us to easily serve East Gate Park and Ride are closed as as the Washington State Department of Transportation is, you know, redoing some culverts in that area to allow for fish passage, which is great. But it does mean that temporarily, the east gate park and ride, which would have been another option for people who were driving to the Trailhead direct is not on the table for the next couple of years.
Jennie Flaming:Yeah, that makes sense. Which is awesome for fish. Yes. But I was you know, that's funny. I've been wondering what was going on with that project. So that is good to know. Cool. Okay, so, um, that's really exciting about the Issaquah Alps one coming back, because that one has, like, both the No, no car and car option, and those trail heads are so beneath all of these so isme outside, but anyway, well, okay, so, Ryan, let's talk about logistics a little bit. So where can people find you know, like, the schedule and like, Okay, I heard in the podcast that was at the capitol hill station, but like, where is it exactly? Where do people find that kind of information? Yeah,
Ryan Miller:that's a great question. So the first place I would direct people to is Trailhead direct.org. That's a one stop shop for information about trailhead, direct it, we'll have our schedules posted, we'll have route map. So we'll have all sorts of even some like outdoor FAQs and such, that's a great option for people. But also another thing that we look at doing whenever we're starting a new, a new transit service like this is making sure that information about that is integrated into all manner of the typical ways that people try to plan a transit trek. Yeah, you know, it will be in Google Maps. So if you like, if you plan a, you know, transit trip, for like from Seattle to outside, if you just put that in Google Maps on for like a weekend. It will give you transit directions. They're really nice things about, you know, the Yeah,
Jennie Flaming:that's something else I was going to ask you, actually. So that is great to know
Ryan Miller:Awesome. Yeah. So it will be one bus away, it will be in Google Maps, it will be in all of those services that in that normally ingest metro transit information. You know, one of the things that we really wanted to do is make this as you know, as similar to any other bus service that exists that extends not just to like the data that's put out into the world. But also in terms of fare, it's just a standard Metro fare you use your ORCA card or cash or an mobile ticket, just as you would with any other bus. It costs exactly the same as any other bus, your transfers are going to work using your ORCA card or paper transfer. Like all of that is exactly the same as any other regular Metro service because this is a metro service.
Jennie Flaming:Yeah, the status is really cool. And something else I was going to ask so, um, because I haven't taken it since the pandemic and before I remember it being really smooth, but I know things might have changed. So if I'm getting on it, like the North Gate station, or you know, a fellow station or even at the airport, if I'm like staying at an airport hotel, um, I would just use that as a transfer with my ORCA card or my ticket like any other route.
Ryan Miller:Yes, exactly. So just like with any other like, metro or Sound Transit service, like you're going to if you if you're using an ORCA card, you just tap off you Tap on, let's use Northgate as an example you would tap on the train at North Gate station, take the train to either mount vache either to Capitol Hill Station, or to Mount Baker station, you would tap off the train, you walk to the bus stop, which, you know, at Capitol Hill Station, it's literally right outside one of the station entrances. Yeah, you would wait for the trailhead direct bus bus comes, you tap your ORCA card on there, and it automatically calculates that transfer and you're, and you're off to the races, you're out on your way to the trailhead.
Jennie Flaming:Perfect. And I will say by the way, you know, most of you listening to this podcast are living somewhere in Washington State or maybe Portland. But if you do happen to stumble upon this episode as a visitor, and you're staying either downtown or near the airport, this is a great way to get out on some of our awesome trails without having to deal with renting a car. So that's pretty cool. Also, okay, um, in General Ryan, like, what is the schedule? I know, like the days but like, when is the first run in the morning? When is the last one? What happens if I'm two minutes late? And I miss it? Yeah, I mean, it's like missing any bus. I know. But yeah, so let's hit on that.
Ryan Miller:Yeah, absolutely. So it's going to vary based on Route. So each route has, has a slightly different schedule. But the Capitol Hill route starts at around 730. The first run out to the mountain starts at around 730, in the morning, or there abouts. And it'll be heading out every half an hour to the mountain until about, I think it's 1230. And then it there are a couple board trips, but they're every hour in jail, I believe 130 or 230. And then return trips start. And the reason why we ended, you know, trips out at about two o'clock is that we wanted to make sure that once you're out at the trailhead, you'll have enough time to like safely do a full hike, and then be able to get back without missing the last bus on the return trip. So yes, return trip start about for the Capitol Hill route, start at around 1030. So you know, if you catch that first class out, you'll have like a couple hours to do your hike before, or do whatever you want to. Before you before you then kind of like start taking the bus back, the bus back runs every half an hour, I think the last bus back
is about 6:30pm. And, you know, it's just that simple. We also work really hard with our operational partner, hopefully, who operates the service to make sure that like, especially for the last couple of trips, that even if there are, if the bus ends up being full on that last trip, you're not out of luck, oh, we're on a second bus just to make sure that like anyone who was waiting for that bus at for that 630 trip is going to be able to get home. So you don't need to worry about that. But you do need to make sure that you are, you know, really, you know, on top of your time and catching that bus because it is a bus like any other if you miss the bus, you're going to have to wait for the next one. Yeah. Now the squat Alps route that's operating on a slightly different schedule so that that route starts a little bit earlier in the morning. So the first trip out, is at 630 in the morning, and still runs until
6:30pm, those buses are at least for this year or every hour. The reason why that schedule is a little bit different is we want to make sure that we were that we have the operational capacity to safely run all of these buses and not have canceled trips. You know, part of the reason we've seen changes in the trailhead direct schedule, especially since the pandemic is because Metro is rebuilding our operational capacity. The number of bus drivers we had, you know, was reduced during the pandemic. Yep. And we will. And as we're bringing back transit service, we're wanting to make sure that we bring back transit service in a way that we're not overly ambitious and we don't have enough people to operate all the transit service we promised. So we're bringing back service, you know, in a measured way to make sure that we're especially for Trailhead direct service where we are out more in more rural areas where there aren't a lot of options to get back that we're really making sure that we're fitting the service that we promise with the service that we can deliver.
Jennie Flaming:Yeah, that as a transit rider, I really appreciate that. Yeah, that's awesome. Cool. Well, we're gonna take a short break, and when we come back, we'll be chatting more with Ryan about the trailhead direct from Metro Okay, we are back with Ryan Miller from King County Metro And we have been talking about the trail head direct bus service, which is a seasonal service of Metro that goes to some of the most popular trailheads in Kern County. So, Ryan, um, before we talk about some other places that you can go on trails with Metro, I'd love to ask a few like, kind of technical questions about it. Things like, can people bring things like strollers or wheelchairs or mobility devices or pets or candy? Or like, what what are things that people sort of can and can't bring with them? When they're riding Trailhead direct? Yeah,
Ryan Miller:so you know that the nice thing about Trailhead direct, just like any other metro bus service, like we follow the same rules as any other metro bus service. So all of our coaches are like I heard you mentioned wheelchairs, all of our coaches are wheelchair accessible. They have securement spaces for a couple of wheelchairs minimally. And so those are absolutely allowed and encouraged on our on our trail on trailhead, direct coaches. We part of our outreach process for Trailhead direct was you know, coordinating with outdoors for all and making sure that we were thinking about accommodating people with disabilities directly in our planning for Trailhead right from the get go. One
Jennie Flaming:thing I want to just mention Ryan, back in like episode two, we talked with Anna from the Washington Trails Association. And the WTA website is another good resource for like getting information about if a trade deal is appropriate, or a specific person's disabilities. It's not perfect, but there is some good information there and definitely getting better. So I just wanted to mention that before you go on.
Ryan Miller:Yep. And also, we've worked with Washington Trails Association. So for the trail heads that are directly served by Trailhead direct, there's also going to be a little bug on their trail write ups that say, Hey, you can access this using Trailhead direct as well. You know, you can you can kind of cross check those if you're a person who's who uses a mobility device and wants to still access outdoor activities like that. Yeah, cool. Okay. But other things like in terms of like, bringing a stroller along in the same vein as a little bit like we do those in the same way that we do mobility devices, the vehicles have ramps that make it easy. Yeah, lifts that make it easy to bring that onto the coach and secure it in place. Well behaved animals, both service animals and just very friends are allowed on the coaches at the operator's discretion. So those are also allowed on the trails. I know how much people like to hike with their dog or Yeah, or cat or, or adventure, or whomever? Yeah. So just think of it if it would be allowed on a regular Metro bus. It's allowed on Trailhead direct.
Jennie Flaming:Yeah. That's a really, that's great. That's a great way to think about it. Janie, if I can interrupt for a second? I didn't hear Ryan, did
Ryan Miller:you mention being able to bring bikes? Oh, I did not. And that's Oh, that's a great point out I was. That's like one of those things that's always on my head as as a cyclist myself. One of the things that I love using Hold
Jennie Flaming:on one second, Al thank you for that just so I can edit out your random break in there. Ryan, I'll just ask you about that. Yeah. So, Max, just take out that. That's my producer. Just take that out. And thank you all for raising that. So, Ryan, one more thing about what you can bring. What about bikes?
Ryan Miller:That is a great question, Jennie. Bikes are absolutely allowed and encouraged. And in fact, I as a user of Trailhead direct one of my favorite things to do all of the all of the trailhead direct vehicles have securement spaces for at least two and oftentimes three bicycles right on the front of the coach just like any other metro bus, but one of the things that I really liked to do on the Capitol Hill to Mount Sinai route is you can get on with a bike get off the bus in North Bend and like bike tour onto the Snoqualmie Valley Trail. Even connect onto like the iron Goat Trail, I think Goat Trail up over the pass and like continue on to a log on to a longer term bike tour if you so choose. I've definitely taken Trailhead direct and written up to the top of of Snoqualmie Pass written through that spooky railway tunnel that's like two miles. Yes. Just so random. Yeah, at a grand time so bikes are great additions are On the squat Alps route, you can access the mountain biking trails, from Trailhead directly directly. If you take the bus to the east sunset way trailhead, a number of those trails are directly like mountain bikes are allowed on them, you know, consult with, you know, WTA or local trail maps to make sure that you know, a place that you're looking to ride bikes, that a trail that you're planning on taking a bike to is, in fact that that's an allowable use on that trailhead, but, but we designed the service to have direct that if you are a person who wants to like ride bikes on trails Trailhead direct is a great option for accessing that as well.
Jennie Flaming:Perfect. Love it. Okay, so, Ryan, you know, Trailhead direct is awesome. And it's kind of a special bus service on certain days seasonally. So I would love to know, what are some other trails that folks can get to you on Metro? And then how do you get information about how to do that?
Ryan Miller:Yeah, great question, Jennie. There are a number of my Trailhead direct, as you mentioned, is a great way of accessing some like further afield trails. in King County, and but it is only a like, it is only currently a weekend and holiday service in the spring and summertime, people have X want to access the outdoors all year round and on days than on weekdays as well. And there are lots of options for people to do that as well. routes like the like Pole Creek natural natural area are accessible via the route 240. On the east side, you can access places like the Murray Island, marine park, and some trailheads on Vashon and Maury Island using 118 and 119. I did a hike with the Washington Trails Association doing exactly that a little bit earlier this month, and it was a grand time. Awesome.
Jennie Flaming:We also we also have an episode about hiking on VASHAUN. And we talked about the option to take transit. So that's Oh,
Ryan Miller:excellent. Yeah, you can also access for other kinds of outdoor activities. You can also access like a lot of hiking trails at Discovery Park. And there are a number of us routes that that serve Discovery Park. I believe it's the 3233 Hold on I'm confirming that right now before I speak outside. Yeah, it's 33 allow gives access to the north end of Discovery Park and the route 24 Provides access to the south end of the park. There's lots of really great hiking on Discovery Park in Seattle, you can yes access places like Seward Park using the route 50, or the Metro flex service in Southeast Seattle, which is a great way of accessing other kinds of parks and outdoor activities. One of the things that we know, both for Trailhead direct and for transit service generally one of the things that we've learned about through Trailhead direct and applied more broadly to our general transit planning is about the importance of accessing accessing the outdoors and not just hiking trails, but a diversity of outdoor uses. Especially when we thought start thinking about our equity priority populations sometimes, you know, steep, long hiking trails are not always going to be the kinds of outdoor activities that everyone wants to do. And so outdoor activities like parks that have like picnic areas, or other kinds of amenities are also things that we are looking at, like Park access is one of those things that we are that we consider a community asset and we plan for when we're designing all bus service, not just Trailhead direct.
Jennie Flaming:That's awesome. That's very cool. So um, I also heard a rumor that the King County Water Taxi was going to offer some additional sailings over to Vash on the summer. Is that true? Do you know though, you know about what's happening with the water tax either? Yes,
Ryan Miller:I believe starting July 1. Thanks to some funding from the from the state legislature we are going to be able to start serving for some amount of time I believe it's about a year how we're going to have a pilot with midday sailings on between downtown Seattle and Vashon Island on weekdays. And those will be timed up with new trips on the route 118 and 119 which is going to make Oh that's perfect, which is going to make it all that much easier to do a weekday hike out on Vashon Island.
Jennie Flaming:Yeah, oh, I gotta try that this summer. that'll that'll be awesome because that cuts up for if you're sort of new to Seattle or not haven't been to Vashon before. Um, the water taxi goes straight from downtown. So it sort of skips the needing to take the bus all the way through West Seattle to the Washington State ferry terminal. So, yeah, that would save a ton of time. Like probably an hour. Cool. Okay. Um, so, Ryan, before we wrap up, I would love to know, what are ways that hikers can support the trailhead direct bus? Like, is it our tax dollars that are paying for this? Or is there like some benevolent benevolent overlord that we should send thank you notes to or is it? Like, you know, I guess a little bit of that as also like, how is it funded? And as hikers who are either users of Trailhead direct, or want to support it, even if they're not writing it? Like, what's the best way to do that? Yeah,
Ryan Miller:I mean, that I would say in terms of how you can support Trailhead direct. The biggest way is telling people like us use the service, tell people about it. Yep. You know, if you have friends that, you know, don't own a car or want to, or get stressed out driving out to a crowded trailheads. They tell them that like, Hey, this is an option that exists, I'm gonna go with you. Or like, let's let's go with friends. Like one of the really great things about trailer director is that it makes it very easy as a group of people to go out together and not need to coordinate carpools. And like maybe parking in different places and all that kind of thing. So yeah, using the service is a great way to support it telling people about it is a great way to support it in terms of how the service is funded. There are a couple of different funding sources. One, it's funded by, you know, the, these two routes, in particular, the Mount Sinai, and it's quite helps routes, these are sustained services. They started as pilots that were out of like a pilot innovation fund that King County Metro has. We ran them for a couple of years, and they've been successful enough that they are sustained services. So they're just part of our regular Metro operating budget. For routes that are still suspended, that we hope to bring back as our operational capacity improves, those will continue to be you know, out of that pilot fund until we can evaluate their the success of those. Yep. But another big funding partner for Trailhead direct operationally is the city of Seattle through this Seattle transit measure, which you know, voters approved in 2020. And, you know, provides additional funding for, you know, transit service that serves the city of Seattle, and that includes Trailhead direct, they pay for 50% of the operating cost of both of those routes. We also have some a partner in Amazon, which pays which has a sponsorship for part of our marketing expenses. But they're not an operating partner. That's just King County Metro. And and the Seattle Department of Transportation. The other big partner that we have is this yet is King County Parks, this service wouldn't have existed without King County Parks coming to King County Metro, they still are very active role in planning and getting the word out about the service. So those are our those were set up partnerships for this year, and in years prior. Love it.
Jennie Flaming:Well, that so basically, we should ride it. We should tell other people to ride it. And we should keep voting for transit levies.
Ryan Miller:I can tell people how to vote. Yes, I
Jennie Flaming:know. You can. Yes, I know. I know. But
Ryan Miller:I know personally, I appreciate people and people support like I it's very rewarding when people use the services that we just added and it is great to show your gratitude through the use of the service and the kind words and all those kinds of things. Perfect. Well, thank
Jennie Flaming:you so much, Ryan. Before we go, I would love to know if you have just like a personal favorite trail out of some of these ones we've talked about that you can get to on either Trailhead direct or just on Metro. I know you talked about biking out of North Bend. Are there any any other personal favorites? You have?
Ryan Miller:Yeah, I mean, I like I feel like every other Washingtonian I really enjoy Mount Si and yes, and but in particular, like you can connect us to a number of different trailheads Yeah, through Trailhead through those like three trailheads out in North Bend. Yeah, I really loved Henry falls. It's a great a great hike at provides a little bit of challenge but a really great like, waterfall view at the end of it. I really, you know, I'm so excited that we're bringing back the Issaquah Alps route because it does allow for me to be able to do thru hikes, or just to like, if I want to have like a relaxing day, I can just take the trailhead direct out to poopoo point. Have a picnic in that poopoo Point area and watch the paragliders you Yeah, and that's one of my favorite things to do. It's yeah, it is not a hard hike. It's just, you know, you get off the bus, you're in a nice little picnic area, and you can just watch the world goodbye, which is really wonderful. Yeah,
Jennie Flaming:yeah, that is really cool. I have to say, I really love Maury Island, you know, that you talked about it is a little bit of a transit adventure. You know, it's the little far from the bus stop, but it's pretty awesome. And I'm also with you on the on the other ones you mentioned too, and I'm glad you talked about kind of the other trails in the Mount Sinai area because it's not you know, if you're like, I don't want to be on a trail with 8000 people. Um, check out the map because there are quite a few options from that same trail.
Ryan Miller:If you're if you're a true masochist, you can actually get like all of the like harder peaks you can like, walk up to the top of Mount Tanner walk all the way down there's a connecting trail just go up Mount Sinai go all the way up to the top of Mount Sinai go all the way down. Yeah Next thing trail to a little side all the way up there and down. I've I've known more of my like mountaineering focus friends, yes. Doing that kind of thing. It is. That's a little much for me. Same
Jennie Flaming:much for me to the triple threat and one day as a lot. Oh, man. Well, Ryan, thank you so much for coming on the podcast and sharing all this awesome information about taking King County Metro to trailheads in King County. Thank you so much.
Ryan Miller:Yes, absolutely. Thanks for having me
