What? I thought you brought the bread crumbs! Photo uphillrunning.com |
But I have a list of runs that I want to do in my lifetime. A bucket list of big distances that I want to travel by foot. In terms of shortest to longest, they are:
- Mt Hood's Timberline Trail, 42 miles
- Grand Canyon's Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim, 41 miles
- Mt Rainier's Wonderland Trail, 93 miles
- The Tahoe Rim Trail, 165 miles
- The John Muir Trail, 211 miles
- The Pacific Crest Trail from Snoqualmie Pass to Manning Park, BC, 261 miles
Photo seattletimes.nwsource.com |
Cougar Mountain Regional Preserve is a county park that sits at the southern borders of Bellevue and Issaquah. Its web of 36 trail miles is also linked neighboring Squak Mountain State Park, just across the two-lane SR 900, and another 24 miles of trail, with up to 1400' of elevation difference.
Since 2003, the Seattle Running Club has hosted the Cougar Mountain Race Series. Races of 5, 7, 10, 13, and 31 miles take place over six months from May to October. I thought it would be cool to participate this year, but guiding commitments have me missing the first two races already. So instead I decided to run the courses for myself - the club keeps pdf's and jpeg's of the courses on their websites (there's been three different courses since 2003).
Photo uphillrunning.com |
Cougar Mountain Race Series Maps LINK