Choosing a Less Traveled Path

When planning a walk or a hike, the first parks that come to mind are the most popular ones – Green Lake, Alki Beach, Marymoor, Rattlesnake Ridge. But these can get crowded, especially on summer weekends. But in King County, we are blessed with so many fabulous public spaces outdoors. Here are some less well known gems to consider for your walks. (Some of these are bike-friendly, some are not: check bike maps for bike trails.)

Bellevue

Bellevue Parks has over 2700 acres of parks and open space and over 90 miles of trails! There’s a map of Bellevue Parks here. Some options to try out:

• Lake to Lake Trail System is ten miles of trails. You could park at many spots along the way and just do a portion of the walk. The Lake Hills Greenbelt is from Phantom Lake to Larsen Lake. Larsen Lake Blueberry Farm has plenty of room for wandering up and down the rows.
• Coal Creek Natural Trail is near the Cougar Mountain trails, but has fewer hikers.
• Lakemont Park is 16 acres with 3 miles of trails. 
• Lewis Creek has a 2.3 mile walk that takes you through wetlands and meadows. 
• Mercer Slough is 320 acres. It’s got multiple trails to hike to view wetlands and meadow.

There are three parks I know of that you might never know had a mile or more of hiking hidden in them.  Robinswood Park – near Bellevue College. Here’s a trail map, with one of our favorite trails through the woods marked out on it. Ardmore Park – near Microsoft.  Zumdieck is just north of downtown, and has a nice little loop through the woods. These are all great hikes for young children – I’ve done them with many three year olds, also good for elders who aren’t looking for an endurance hike. All three have playgrounds.

If you want a more challenging, straight uphill in the woods hike, try the Weowna Park Trail up hill from Lake Sammamish. And Bridle Trails is lovely if you don’t mind encountering horses.

If you’re just looking for a place to have a picnic or sit and read or play, there’s also tons more parks, both big and small. Some have playgrounds, some don’t. There are also lots of “mini-parks” and “corner parks” that aren’t much more than some grass, some trees and a picnic table. Check on the Bellevue Parks website to learn more. And more Bellevue trails are listed here.

Great Parks that can get Crowded

Downtown Bellevue Park; Crossroads Park. The barn area at Kelsey Creek park may be more crowded, but there is a nice .9 mile walking trail there, which should be fine.

Kirkland

Here’s the Kirkland Parks map. Some parks to try:

• McAuliffe Park (between Totem Lake and Juanita Beach) is a big park with wide open grassy fields, shade trees, an ancient barn, vintage farm equipment and wind mills.
• OO Denny – north of Juanita, near the Kenmore border. Nice beach area. (There’s a playground there.) What many people don’t notice is that on the other side of the road, up the hill, there’s a few miles of fabulous wooded trails (here’s a trail map with points of interest). It’s a pretty challenging steep climb, but beautiful. When we went on a beautiful day in late April, we hiked two hours, and passed maybe 20 people.
• Big Finn Hill is also on the border of Kirkland and Kenmore. It’s got 9.5 miles of trails back behind the playground.
• Carillon Woods – near Northwest College. Some trails into the woods, pretty hilly. I wrote a post about it, though it mostly covers the playgrounds.
• Edith Moulton – between Totem Lake and Juanita. Here’s the schematic for when it was re-designed, which includes detailed maps. It’s got a nice easy walking loop.
• Juanita Bay (around the corner from Juanita Beach) has a nice path to look over the lake. You may see turtles. The boardwalk there can get a little crowded when we’ve driven by near dinner times.
• Juanita Heights, Kingsgate and Norway Hill also have trails. They’re maybe a mile or so, just wandering in the woods – not “special” but a nice opportunity to get outside and move. They are quite hilly, so not stroller parks.
• Places to sit and read/work outside: Everest Park – I like parking at their north parking lot and sitting by the stream. Peter Kirk in downtown Kirkland (park at the library), Terrace Park in Houghton – both of those have playgrounds.
• Best parks for toddlers: Tot Lot, Phyllis Needy are both fully fenced, so it’s easy for parents to relax.

Juanita Beach, Marina Park, and Houghton Beach can get really crowded on sunny days.

Kenmore

• Rhododendron Park has a short trail – a nice amble for a young child or an elder.
• Wallace Swamp Creek has trails, but I haven’t had the chance to check it out. (Note, this is NOT an off leash dog park, but some people are under the impression it is, so there may be loose dogs there.)
• Burke-Gilman Trail. This is a 20 mile long trail, but portions of it go through Kenmore. It’s paved, so great for bikes, roller blades, strollers. It is quite busy on sunny weekends, but probably a decent option for a cloudy, gray weekday. We have found the Kenmore stretches to be less busy than the Seattle zones.
• St. Edward’s State Park. Lots of great trails. Quite busy on a sunny weekend, but would be a good outing on a rainy weekday. Large playground – it’s possible to park a ways away and walk away from it, and they might not notice. It’s a state park, so you need a Discover Pass, or it’s $10 to park there.

Here are more Kenmore parks,

Redmond

There are 59 miles of public trails in the City of Redmond! The City of Redmond website doesn’t provide a lot of detailed information on the trails; however, you can find more info about them on the All Trails website or app, on the Washington Trails Association website or TrailLink.

Trail names to look up:

• Watershed Preserve Trails, off of Novelty Hill Road. 800 acres, with multiple trail options from 0.6 short loops to 4.3 mile hikes. Beautiful walk through green – moss, ferns, trees, ponds…. beautiful. There’s a lot of tree cover, so it’s good for rainy day hikes.
• Tolt Pipeline Trail – 11 miles, Duvall to Bothell. Bridle Crest Trail, 3.3 miles from Bridle Trails to just north of Microsoft – it runs where 60th St would be if 60th went through.
• The Marymoor Connector Trail is a 1.6 mile trail through Marymoor Park. It’s an easy walk with a stroller or an easy bike ride. It connects the East Lake Sammamish Trail (11 miles, up the east side of the lake) and the Sammamish River Trail (10 miles, Redmond to Bothell)
• Farrell-McWhirter off Novelty Hill Rd. near Avondale – this is a farm park but there’s also a 1.3 mile trail through the woods. There’s a self-guided orienteering course there.

Or, there’s the 1.5 mile Viewpoint trail in the Tam O’Shanter neighborhood on the border of Redmond and Bellevue.

Snoqualmie / North Bend

On weekends, their parks can be over-flowing with day hikers. If you really can’t resist the area, instead of going to Mount Si, check out this article on 7 Trails to Try

Other Areas

Check out this Parent Map article on State Parks near Seattle. It covers Dash Point in Federal Way, Flaming Geyser in Auburn, Bay View in Mt. Vernon, Camano Island, and Salt Water in Des Moines. And this article on Secret Urban Hikes in Seattle area.

Learn about Nature while you’re out

I’ve written a guide to learning about Northwest Native plants, which includes all the major plants you’ll find on a hike outdoors, and also has a couple of scavenger hunts – one for preschool age kids, one for older kids (or adults), and a dichotomous key. Here’s another great Native Plant Field Guide that was developed by someone as her senior year project.

The City of Bellevue has a scavenger hunt for Lewis Creek that could also be used elsewhere. I found that some of the things on it were harder for kids, so I made my own version of the nature scavenger hunt using theirs as a base.