I did a loop hike today, heading up Cedar Butte via the longer of the two trails, then continuing on by taking the unmaintained connector trail over to the Olallie bike trail. I returned by continuing down the Olallie trail to the main bike trail on the old railroad grade.
Parking for Rattlesnake Ledge was predictably overflowing today, but there were plenty of spots at the Cedar Falls trailhead ay 10 am, including an entire empty parking bay. There were a fair number of people on the Cedar Butte trail, including several at the top, but the connector trail was deserted except for one trail runner, who seemed as surprised to see me as I was to see her. There were a handful of bikers (and 3 people on segways!} on the Olallie trail, which ascends the west flank of Mt. Washington.
I would recommend the connector trail to anyone who wants to extend the Cedar Butte hike and who is sufficiently adventurous. It takes off right at the signed junction below the Butte, but is difficult to spot. Once you are on it, it isn't difficult to follow, but today it was overgrown in places. There were a number of trees down, but most were easy enough to navigate, although a couple near the east end required a bit of effort to get over. There is one section about halfway in which is short but quite steep (downhill if eastbound), and poles were handy here. The connector is about 1.5 miles.
All told, I measured the loop at 7 miles and just over 1000 feet in elevation gain.
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