Hidden Gem

I hiked the River Place Nature Trail with a friend as a training hike.  We were both looking for some elevation change without travelling too far and River Place sounded like the perfect place.

I found the trail to be scenic, especially the Lower Panther Trail section.  Absolutely charming.  It was also refreshing to see the trail well-marked with display maps and distance markers.  The people that developed and maintain the trail have done a very nice job.

I was a little disappointed in the difficulty level, though.  I expected it to be harder.  Maybe I am more accustomed to hiking up mountains with a full pack, but I expected a better cardio workout.  Just when I started to break a sweat, I reached the top and leveled off.  On balance, it is still a decent workout, but I was hoping for a bigger challenge.

A small part of the mid-section of the trail is currently closed due to trail renovation.  There is a detour route marked by orange tape streamers on the tree branches, but my friend and I didn't take the detour since it was steep and slippery and her shoes didn't provide enough traction.  So we hiked back to the original trailhead, then drove around to the second trailhead and did the remaining part of the trail up to the "closed" section and hiked back.

I accidentally deleted the 2nd half of our hike's GPX file, so I am only able to upload the first section we hiked. :(