Tolt Pipeline to Moss Lake

The Tolt Pipeline Trail

It may not look like it, but it was just after twelve noon when I took this photo.  The morning started out with 28 degrees on the thermometer when I woke.  Lynn & I had planned to meet-up earlier, but decided to delay our ride to give the day time to warm up.   Rather than try to cross SR 203, we took Big Lake Road from Duvall & easily found the parking area.

The view east!

Seeing all that trail heading into the distance is really something.  Miles & miles of hills either direction.  We'd wanted to do this ride for a while & today was a perfect day for riding.    We had a couple road crossings, but no traffic at either.  

Our route

We did some sight seeing - passing a couple "Paradise" on earth type of horse farms...  Amazing places these.  Farah enjoys seeing how other horses live too :-)  She sometimes will stop to check them out!  It didn't seem like long before we saw the road going in to the Moss Lake Trails & two riders coming out.  We were careful to watch our corners, since it was only Lynn's third visit there & my second.

Moss Lake

This time, I actually got to see the lake!  It is a very pretty place, with a thin layer of ice over most of the open water.  We picked up the pace going to the parking lot.  There we found a large group of people working on the trails & putting in a new one!  I'm wondering if these are paid employee's, volunteers, or a combination of both?  We made a short stop before heading back.  Farah was not at all surprised that the trailer wasn't there & when we turned to head back - of course the pace picked up!  :-)

Nice new signage~

We took the short way back to the pipeline that Lisa had suggested to us, so we ended up making a nice loop.  Once back on the Tolt, we moved right along - meeting a few people out walking.  Daughter Courtney & Grandson Mason called, they were at our trailers & had hoped to see us - but we were still too far out & they had to get home.

Looking west toward SR 203

Once back at the trailers, we rode west a way toward SR 203 & the SVT Trail - probably another mile or two from where we stopped.  It was almost 4:30, getting dusk & the temperature was already dropping.  We'd covered almost seventeen miles & ridden through a beautiful winter afternoon.  Incredible weather for January - no complaints!