#30DaysofScootering: Rolling to Renton

Another beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest. I've got the day off from work, so I decided to scooter down to Renton to check out a used bookstore I'd heard good things about. I rolled south on the trail and connected up with the Issaquah-Hobart Road.

Many of the rivers and creeks around here have active salmon runs in the fall.

As I've noted previously, I often stop to take pictures of yard art.

The gravel surface of the trails in this park is really too soft for scootering, but I like to check things out. I walk the gravel trails and roll the scooter next to me.

I can scooter across the little boardwalk bridges. That's Squak Mountain in the background.

This quiet spot is right alongside the Issaquah Creek.

The shadow of my camera got into this timed shot.

More critter warning signs. King County loves posting these.

This little park has a playground for the kids.

The shoulder on the Issaquah-Hobart Road can get pretty darn narrow in places. I'm riding this in bright sunshine at a time when traffic is not too heavy, but this is this road is not for the faint of heart.

The county does have plans to make parts of the road better.

This is the landing area for the paragliders. Nobody is out soaring yet today.

I time things so I cross the narrow bridge when no cars are going by.

I don't need to stop for snacks, but if I did the Tiger Mountain Store has all the essentials.

I turn right on the Cedar Grove Road.

Knotweed is a pervasive, invasive species around here. If you mow it, the chopped bits all regrow and it spreads. It has to be pulled out and treated as toxic waste.

It rains a lot here, as you could probably guess from all the moss on the roof of this little bus shelter.

This is the view looking north back towards Issaquah.

Yeah, the Cedar Grove Road is kind of pretty.

Down at the bottom of a big hill, I turn onto the Cedar River Trail. The trail will take me into Renton.

The Cedar River is another salmon spawning stream.

This sign sure seems welcoming to cyclists.

But this one warns of dire consequences of speeding. A cyclist struck and killed a pedestrian while going too fast at a river undercrossing a few years ago & the city council reacted by imposing this really low speed limit. It's extremely easy to go more than 10 miles per hour on a bike, I can even go faster than that on my scooter if I work at it.

Signs like these make sense to me, as do rules of common courtesy. But the 10 mph speed limit on the flat parts of the trail with wide open lines of sight tend to get ignored.

It makes sense to take it slow and easy here.

A more complete listing of the rules. Mostly, folks seem to behave, except for the 10 mph part.

I'm actually well under 10 mph, especially since I keep stopping to take pictures.

The trail ends in downtown Renton. I work my way over a few blocks.

It's a nice day and I've worked up an appetite. I have a breakfast sandwich and some tea at this place.

The bookstore was my excuse for this trip. It's a pretty good one.

I pick up a nice copy of Sherman Alexie's RESERVATION BLUES.

I rejoin the river trail. The walking trail goes right next to the river.

I turn away from the river and follow the trail by Boeing.

Quotes are embedded in the trail.

I'm following the Lake Washington Loop north now.

When I have both sidewalk and a bike lane, I'm usually on the sidewalk.

I turn onto Seahawks Way.

The training facility for one of our local sports teams. They seem to be rather good at what they do.

I turn onto some more of the great Seattle area bike infrastructure.

This little section of road probably gets more bike traffic than car traffic.

I go straight here. I could head for home through the Newport Hills, but that involves a lot of climbing.

I turn here and head for Factoria.

I'm headed for the I-90 bike route.

I follow the signs to Factoria, which is just as picturesque as it's name suggests. This is why I have no pictures of Factoria. And I do have to climb the big hill by the Honda dealer. It's one of those hills where walking is faster than scootering.

But here I am on the nice Mountains to Sound Greenway Trail.

This is the spiral ramp up to the bridge over I-90

This is the bridge.

Now I'm on Newport Way. It's a downhill run all the way into Issaquah.

The Issaquah city limits are a few miles west of downtown.

Ok, now I'm downtown and home. Another great day for scootering. Now it's time to eat and curl up with a good book.

35.21 miles today, bringing my April total to 116.21 miles.