Stair Climb #1 - Ravenna

I chose this one because I wanted to do one today and had limited time.  I had to get home in time to bake gluten free bread and make minestrone.  I'll blog about those on my other blog (celiacwheatlover.blogspot.com) when they're finished.

I completed the Ravenna Stair Climb today.

It's a lovely summer day in Seattle.  The Weather Channel app on my phone says it's 70 degrees.  Rather than begin where the directions had me start, I started in the middle at the end closest to my home.  I walked north on Brooklyn and entered the park there.

The sun was behind a cloud over my head but a few paces ahead, you could see the sunlight on the ground.  I was under a cloud but it wasn't under a cloud over there!

I had to jog to overtake the moving clouds.

I take my first steps...

Sometimes it shocks me how amazing and wild a place can be so close to my rather-urban home.

I think maybe the Madrones got too much sun and are peeling because of it.

The canopy from the 20th Ave bridge.

Doesn't quite capture the vertigo but I tried.

This is the steep bit they mentioned.  Only place I wish I'd been wearing hiking boots.

Fellow Traveler

The "long" stairs.  They keep going up!

2.7 miles.  415/157 stairs.  1 walks completed.

"I would walk a 100 miles..."

Twitter can be inspirational.  I was minding my own business when Walking in Seattle linked me to Seattle Stairs.  Seattle Stairs has compiled a list of all the stairs in Seattle and designed walks that include the majority of them in neighborhoods all over Seattle. 

I've decided I want to do all of these walks.  I'm already an active person.  There are weeks where I complete almost as much as 6 miles running and 10 on my bike.  (The bike is probably a modest estimation...the running not so much).  But I've often said, "I can walk forever.  The only limitations are the need for sleep and food."  Elevation does create complications, but my hope is that climbing stairs will make running on the flat more doable. 

I am also really looking forward to exploring Seattle neighborhoods in a new way.  When you drive through you see next to nothing.  When you cycle through, you avoid a lot of the steepest bits (which is a lot of Seattle!) and when you take a bus, you have a destination in mind.  I intend to use these as sightseeing tours, although the sights are more likely to be trees and plants and architecture rather than tourist attractions.

I don't expect to complete them before the end of the year, as I will be living in Portland for the academic Fall term.  However!  I will be starting the first one today (if I can decide which gets to be the first!)

Check back for reports, pictures and running stair counts.  The current count starts at:

0 miles.  0 stairs.  0 walks completed.