10,000 Steps

Maybe you have heard of the recent fad of walking 10,000 steps per day. How far is 10,000 steps anyway? 10,000 steps is approximately 5 miles. The 10,000 steps thing is about walking more in your daily life: taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking in the far corner of the parking lot and walking to the supermarket. Stuff like that.

I would like to hike at least 5 miles each time I go hiking for the WTA hike-a-thon this month. At that rate, I would be able to knock out my goal of 50 miles in only 10 days. But real life intrudes and with work and other obligations, some days I cannot fit in more than a mile or two in a park in town. Today is one of those days. I am canning my Granny's vegetable soup recipe and I will be lucky to sneak in a couple of miles this afternoon.

But on Wednesday, I visited St. Edwards State Park with a goal of hiking 10,000 steps or 5 miles. I hit just about every trail in the park to make that happen. I took the North Trail to the Beach Trail and climbed back up the hill along the South Ridge Trail. Then I took the Perimeter Trail back around to the Seminary Trail and I went back down to Lake Washington. Someone had left a rope swing tied up down at the lake. It looks like it could be fun on a hot day. Then I took the Grotto Trail back up the hill. I took the South Canyon Trail down again and came back up to do the Orchard Loop. I hit the Volunteer Trail and the Juanita Trail at the other end of the park to complete my 10,000 steps!

I had been to St. Edwards State Park when I hiked for WTA in 2006.

http://samanark.blogspot.com/2006/08/hike-thon-begins.html

From the 1920s until 1977, the land on which Saint Edward State Park sits was owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle. In 1977, the diocese sold 316 acres, including the Saint Edward Seminary to the state of Washington for use as a state park.

While researching the history of the park for this blog I found out that the McMenamins had proposed to develop the main seminary building into a hotel, restaurant, and conference center. But their proposal was withdrawn in 2007. A McMenamins Hotel and restaurant in the Seattle area would have been pretty exciting. We have a couple of pubs here in Seattle, but the hotels are really cool. I am a huge fan of the McMenamins Edgefield and I have stayed there often when I visit Portland!

http://www.mcmenamins.com/

My sister and I will visit a McMenamins or two on our trip to Oregon later this month.

So far I have hiked 11 miles and raised $683 dollars for the WTA. Thanks so much to everyone who has already gotten your pledges in to me. I need to get everyone's money in by September 3rd. You don't have to mail me a check, just go online to My WTA Pledge Page and you can use your credit card to donate as much as you want. $5 or $50 it all makes a difference!