Seattleites often play in the mountain ranges they can see from their city―but sometimes you just need a hike you can do before lunch. That’s what you get with Urban Trails: Seattle. A thriving city of more than seven hundred thousand residents within a metropolitan area of nearly four million, Seattle has become a big city, with rapid growth and an increasing number of new arrivals every year. Thanks to the foresight of early city planners, however, the city's large park system contains a wide array of trails that traverse manicured lawns, nature preserves, old-growth forest groves, historic districts, and vibrant neighborhoods―as well as trails that travel along lakeshores, cascading creeks, and stretches of Puget Sound shoreline.