Late afternoon winter bike ride in Bellevue

Here's a bicyclist gingerly pedaling over a light frost on the Mercer Slough Causeway alongside I-90 in Bellevue late Sunday afternoon. 

You can see by all the tracks in the frost that this is a popular bike route. It's a main corridor between Bellevue and Seattle.

The slough encompasses more than 300 acres of Bellevue along the eastern shore of Lake Washington. The city park is home to 168 species of animals, including otter, coyote, beaver, fox and many waterfowl.

Passing through here often, all I've ever spotted are the stealthy heron that wait in the stream for fish and the occasional duck or osprey.

The Seattle-based Pacific Science Center has an environmental education center in the slough with programs for families and children. My son went there for a couple of weeks one summer and had a blast romping around in the woods and marshy habitats.

The Bellevue Parks and Recreation Department maintains 7 miles of trails through the park.