Came here today for a good jog with family and the pup! It's a fairly long trail but very serene…read more As you start the trail, there is a fairly deep pond where sometimes little kids would splash in. A little along the way, there is a very pretty stream where our pup had the time of his life running and prancing in. We jogged about 4.5 miles along the trail, even though there was a bit more ways to go. We came across some wooden bridges atop of a steady stream underneath; it was all very beautiful! It was overall a great workout and a wonderful experience to get in touch with nature!

Coal Creek Natural area is a fun place to explore. You can walk as much or as little as you want…read more The trails are well traveled and vary in width. Clear signage gives you directions and most of the trails loop around and or run into each other. This mornings walk/hike was to explore the primrose loop. Wanting walk farther my friend and I took the red town trail down towards the coal creek parkway trail and headed back up the promise trail. I think. We walked along a beautiful trail next to a creek with bridges and waterfalls. It was gorgeous! Slightly muddy due to the rain. But very walkable. The parking lot by coal creek parkway is no longer open due to reconstruction for something city related. But along Newcastle golf road towards lakeshore blvd. There are other parking lots. Do it! Enjoy life and hike in nature.

Fantastic preserve for a relaxed walk in Washington's beautiful natural beauty or for a pretty…read moretiring 2 mile hike (a lot of uphill) to really get your heart rate going. We didn't originally intend to take that route, it just sort of happened. But I'm really glad we did because it was so pretty and great leg/cardio. I'm feeling awesome (and slightly sore) afterwards. There are several different paths you can take that are quite short to a full loop around, so you really get to create your own way. Options are always nice. On a Sunday the parking lot we parked at was quite full (10 or so cars) and we passed several pairs and singles with pups. I'm sure it's a tad less "busy" on weekdays but we just let people go ahead when we saw them so we could just enjoy being away from everyone in nature. I know we'll be going back in the next couple weeks after exploring some other good hikes in the area and I'm just hoping the rain lets up a bit because the steep hike was super muddy in spots. I refuse to slip down a damn mountain! Ain't nobody got time for that.

This is a great spot and so close to town. There are a lot of different parts of the trail so make…read moresure you follow the signs or use a map on your phone. The trail was fairly busy but there was plenty of parking, especially because there are different lots/different starting points. Decent amount of elevation and really beautiful scenery. A few parts of the trails were closed.

We live in the neighborhood and are so fortunate to have this in our backyard! Very well…read moremaintained trails, lots to explore - cyclists, joggers, and hikers all enjoy them. The last time we came, someone had planted some very nice planted rocks that my 5 year old was thrilled to discover and look for more. Made for an even more fun hike for us.

Fun easy trail thru the woods. Plenty of parking during the week, but since the parking is at a…read morepark with playgrounds and sports fields, guaranteed, that it gets tight on weekends and evenings. Signage is excellent throughout, easy to subtract or add miles to your hike. AllTrails shows many trails, but as usual, their mileage is usually short of what you will put in. This is a very easy fun trail, maybe a bit more challenging when more bikers are out, but this time only a few bikes and almost had the trail to myself. Grateful always for the quiet and nature time. I know I take pictures of mushrooms, plants, and fruit, but please, please! Use your discretion, I would not recommend eating any mushrooms or fruit off the trail unless you're 120% it's edible, I've taken many horticultural and mycology classes and I'm still very very careful with fruit, let alone mushrooms, err on the side of your safety, it's your life and health you're putting at risk. Just sayin' be safe be wise, it is life or death stuff. There's a lot of poison stuff out there. Better to just enjoy nature, truthfully. Getting back to the trail, this is one for just getting outdoors and getting some good n easy miles in. Love all the woods, sadly a lot of the streams are drying out. It is summer. Lots of birds and squirrels about, even heard quite a few owls hooting about. Have fun out there! It's summer! Happy hiking! Yelping! God bless and Cheers!

I love this trail!…read more My work office recently moved to Issaquah and my office overlooks this trail. Since the weather seems to be improving, I decided to walk this trail during my lunch breaks. It is wonderful! It connects to the Sammamish Trail on the northern side, and it winds to the south to the Pickering Farm and the Pickering "commercial area", passing over bridges and through glades of trees, heady with the aroma of lilacs and sweet botanicals. Today alone, during my brief 30 minute walk, I saw up close and personal a magnificent blue jay, a crow wrestling with a small snake (and winning that battle, I might add - soundly!), a vibrant Monarch butterfly that flew so close to me, I could touch it, and lots of folks out with their dogs. What a great way to escape the corporate world, if just for a brief respite.

"Tales of Trails and Tea Houses" April - September, 2022…read moreMy new theme for some of my yelp reviews for this year! My husband and I are planning on exploring a new trail and a new tea house for our monthly dates for the 6 warmer months of this year! :) Welll... I am glad that my husband and I decided to explore this trail today for our monthly date for April, but it was not altogether an entirely pleasant experience for us, which is why I have deducted one star. This trail is entirely paved and there are almost no inclines to it, so "trail" is a slight misnomer (at least, how I think of a trail, that is). The entire trail is a paved, wide, cement path with about 2 feet of grass on either side of it on most parts of this trail. The trail has only very slight inclines. So, we most definitely did not need to be wearing our hiking boots! Almost any sort of walking shoes would be just fine to wear here. The trail is more like a wide sidewalk through a park/wetland than it is like a hiking trail. There are some beautiful trees, plants, and greenery to feast one's eyes on along this trail, and there is a wetland to one side of the trail. Please do not step off of the paved path if you decide to explore this trail, so as not to disturb the wildlife. We liked it that there was almost no one on this trail today other than us. We saw a lady walking her dog, and we saw one other couple walking along the trail. There was an 80% chance of rain today, so we wore rain coats and brought an umbrella, but fortunately our time here ended up falling in between today's intermittent rains. Apparently the Pickering Barn, which is in the middle of the Pickering Trail, is available to rent out for events. There was a beautiful wedding there today, and we saw the wedding party out near the trail getting their photos taken. It warmed my heart to see that the bridesmaids all had the groomsmen's suit jackets on. At 42 degrees, today was not a warm April day in Issaquah. How thoughtful of the gentlemen. We saw one tiny, beautiful, black and white bird. This beautiful bird was the extent of the wildlife that we saw on this trail today. We have a bird book, but there are so many neat birds in the PNW that I am not able to identify very many types of birds on sight. This bird was a joy to behold, however, whatever it is called. We couldn't get a photo of it; it flew off too quickly. There is a connector trail on one end of the Pickering trail to Lake Sammamish State Park, and a connector trail on the other end to a couple of other, smaller parks. We started at the Pickering Barn and walked to the end of the trail one way (about a 10 - 15 minute walk), then walked back and walked to the other end of the trail. At both ends of the trail, the trail dips under 2 busy traffic overpasses. Underneath the low overpass that is built over a wide stream, which is located near to the connecting trail to Lake Sammamish State Park, there were some of the worst stenches that my husband and I have ever smelled in our entire lives. We were both unable to place exactly what the complex blend of multiple different stenches was made up of. It was just horrible! Walk underneath the lowest overpass at your own risk! I have visited Issaquah countless times in the past, since my Sister's first husband and some of his family is from Issaquah, and my Sister and her first husband lived in Issaquah for several years, near his parents' home. However, over 95% of my visits to Issaquah have been for family events or to babysit my niece and nephew. So, I really haven't explored much of Issaquah other than visiting a handful of homes scattered among the beautiful forests of trees in this lovely city. This trail was a somewhat mediocre and slightly disappointing way to begin my Issaquah explorations. However, the trail did have only one other review here on yelp, so there wasn't much for me to go on. I actually really enjoy putting new places on the yelp map and/or adding a review and/or photos to a place that only has 1 or 2 reviews and little to no photos up for it, so that's on me. There were several tall office buildings, some of which are currently under construction, very near this trail. There are very few sections of this trail from which we could not hear busy traffic, which surprised me - since the trail is adjacent to a wetland, I guess I did not expect that. I was quite delighted by some of the botanicals along this trail, though. Like the bird, I don't know what most of them are called. However, it was hard for me to stop gazing at the beautiful willow tree near where the trail meets the path to the Pickering barn. I love willow trees. I doubt we'd return, but I feel like avoiding walking under the lower overpass near the wide stream would've made our walk so much more pleasant overall, so perhaps someone else can learn from our experience. I'm not sure if the smell is worse after rains or not, but it does rain a lot here! Happy Hiking!

A nice hiking trail that isn't too far out from Greater Seattle. The destination doesn't have…read morestunning views compared to other hikes, but the journey itself was pleasant. According to WTA, the roundtrip is 6.5 miles with a 1500 feet elevation gain and the highest point at 1730 feet. It took us a bit over an hour to reach Debbie's View. The day was rather cloudy so Mt. Rainer was obscured. The service is suspended due to COVID-19, but typically Trailhead Direct offers convenient transportation to the trailhead. No passes or entry fees required if planning on parking instead.

There different access trails to the top of this mountain. The access today was challenging as one…read moreparking lot was closed because of the atmospheric river which caused a hole at the entrance to the parking lot. The trail also had some detour signs due to trail improvements. This trail is uphill. With various viewpoints. We got lucky today and the mountain was out! As Washingtonians say. The trail is well maintained and becomes a single lane on some parts. There are also lots of lovely views along the way. This the name, Margaret's way. Debbie's view is also there. Do it! Pet trees and high five ferns. SYOY!

This is a beautiful place for activities as run and walk, the environment is peaceful. I really…read moreenjoy this trail when I need to run and breathe some fresh air.

A hidden gem for wild (and thus organic) blackberry picking! The hill running down from…read moreRedmond-Woodinville Road NE to the Sammamish River Trail is overgrown with blackberry bushes. Every summer we come by and pick over two pounds! The time varies, but typically the blackberries are ripe by the end of July. Make sure to cover yourself as protection against the thorns, especially since the best blackberries tend to be harder to reach. As a trail itself, the views aren't as nice as the Sammamish River Trail, and a couple of areas are also rather narrow. It runs along civilization, so you have to pay attention to road crossings, but it's still a decent trail.

This is a wonderful trail, for hikers of all abilities. Running under the PSA power lines, it runs…read morefrom, roughly, the 1200 hundred block of the Sammamish Slough Trail, to Farrell-McWhirter Park. It's comprised of a semi-wide dirt path that winds through woodsy and residential Redmond. There's a fairly steep climp up from the slough trail, eastward, until the Red-Wood Road, and be advised that there are a few, large street crossings (ex., the Red-Wood Rd, where there is a pedestrian light and crosswalk, and also on NE 104 St, mid-block. No light here, but a well-marked crosswalk at least). The majority of the trail is flat and it's a bit over 3 miles in length. I love seeing horses and riders occasionally here, and there are quite a few runners. Ending at Farrell-McWhirter Park is just lovely (see my review of that park). THis makes for a fabulous family "trek", ideally ending with a picnic at the park!

Very popular trailhead due to the close proximity to the city, as well as the multitude of varied…read morehikes available. Discover pass is required for the parking lot. Some folks park just outside the gate to avoid the pass requirement? Since the dogs are now the equivalent of 80+ years old in human years, we've been exploring the more flatter trails. Thankfully there are many possible loops. Hiked along the swamp trail, adventure trail then the bus trail. Less than 4 miles with 300 feet elevation gain. Hopefully when I'll be able to do the same when I'm 80.

Really enjoyed this hike but it's definitely challenging, especially going up to West Tiger…read moreMountain, intense incline but amazing views up there. I would suggest having trekking poles. There were lots of trail runners so keep an ear out for them. If you go go West Tiger to the summits, you'll get a 360 degree view of everything in the area, including Mt Rainier, every other mountain range, downtown Seattle and Bellevue, the lakes, and everything in between.