Did the ride out to the lake, starting in a clockwise direction (so up the road to Seattle water gate and onto single track from there) on what turned out to be a very hot day.  I'd say it was a good thing the lake was there and it was the perfect termperature to jump in and get ready for the hot ride back to the car.

Other than what has been written, I'd note a few things:

• It's mostly open riding, so on a hot day like this the heat was punishing.  There was little shade to hide in while riding, just a few areas where the trail is in the trees.
• The loose, fist-sized rocks are pretty numerous on some sections of the trail, and they slowed us down a bit on descents but really made the steeper uphill sections challenging.  The final push up to the lake is particularly hard, as are a couple of sections on the way back to the car.
• There are some really nice compact dirt sections that are fun to ride fast, but that is the minority of what is out there (in other words, there isn't a lot of ego dirt out here!).
• It's totally worth a hike up the spur toward the top of the ridge (see map I've posted of our ride).  We went up this because it seemed like there would be nice views up there, wow there are!  Here are a couple of links to photos from up there http://1drv.ms/1KqLyZR and http://1drv.ms/1S5ts1y
• The ride out is deceptive, particularly the part where you exit the single track and get back on the logging road that takes you around the north side of Mt Gardner.  The start of this road is in nice shape (and it's a nice downhill), but then you hit parts of this road with more of the aforementioned loose, fist-sized rocks and some decent pitches to descend and climb.  Plus when you get around to the north side of Mt Gardner (where the road intersects with Rd 9020-1 and the trail out to the lake) you again have some decent terrain to conquer, even before you get to the last slog to the lake.  I had thought once we turned around the north side of Mt Gardner that we were pretty much there, but nope, you have 2.5 miles of pretty solid chugging to the lake.  I also didn't appreciate that from the north side of Mt Gardner you have the north side of yet one more peak to meander around.
• The ride back, well look at it this way... of the 10 miles from the lake back to the car, you are doing some sustained climbing from mile about 2 to mile 7 and the last 1.5 miles of that climb is littered with loose, fist-sized rocks.  Also note that at mile 2 of the 10 mile ride from the lake back to the car you are actually lower than your car, that tells you a bit about the next 5 miles.
• Then you have a nice 3+ mile blast down to the car, in the shade of afternoon sun for much of the way no less!