U-district to downtown via Arboretum and Capitol Hill
Details
For the inaugural hike on the Seattle Transit Hikers meetup group, we will do a classic ramble from the U-district to downtown through Capitol Hill and and several local parks, including the Washington Park Arboretum. We will meet at the transit hub of University Way and Campus Parkway, which can be reached by numerous bus routes. From there, we will take the bridge across 15th Ave. and through the UW campus to the Montlake bridge. Next, we will take the arboretum waterfront trail to the visitor center, which has a good restrooms if anyone needs them. We will then proceed through the park trails to the south end of the park where we climb a steep hill to 26th Ave. and keep on climbing up Ward St. to the top of Capitol Hill. From there, we will head to Volunteer Park and ascend the water tower, marking the highest point on the hill. We will then head southwest to Cal Anderson Park, then descend the hill down Pine St. into downtown. The hike ends at Pike Place Market, with an optional lunch stop for anyone who's interested.
This link shows an approximate path of the route we will take:
This hike is about 6.7 miles in length and gains about 500 feet of elevation, most of which occurs heading out of the arboretum towards capitol hill. I expect to complete it in about 2 1/2 hours.
This hike will go ahead rain or shine. However, I may shorten it by busing certain segments if it's raining hard enough.
Busing to the starting point is recommended. If taking a bus that is scheduled to arrive a few minutes after 10:30, please post a comment letting me know which bus you will be taking so that I can be sure to wait for you.