What a beautiful creek! I walked the North Creek Trail earlier tonight for the first time, with a…read morecompanion. It was an interesting trail, and I felt a sense of wonder, awe, and adventure while traversing this trail. There is so much natural beauty to see here! I found myself wondering if walking on this trail may be defined as "urban hiking." I googled urban hiking, because I'm quite unsure of how it is supposed to be defined, and I am still wondering if this experience fits the definition! My companion and I pulled in to the address for this trail that is listed here on yelp, so we started walking on this trail next to the middle of the creek, at the part of the trail that has the creek on one side of it and parking lots and office buildings on the other side of it. We walked up the short entry trail from the parking lot, and we took a right and walked all the way past the larger bridge with the wooden beams overhead. Then we turned around and walked all the way back, and passed our initial starting point. I'm very glad we didn't just head back to the car when we had reached our starting point again, because in my opinion some of the most beautiful parts of the creek were located in this section of the trail. At one point the trail meanders through a thicket of blackberry bushes, which are thick on both sides of the trail. The trail is wide enough that we were able to stay in the center of it and not worry about getting poked by blackberry thorns walking through that section, and I saw tiny beginnings of blackberries on a few of the branches. (Blackberry season is a ways off still.) For the sections of this trail that we chose to walk on today, a large part of the trail was gravel, and another large part of the trail was paved. I definitely did not need to be wearing my hiking boots. There was little to no incline, and the trail was fairly wide at most points. There were quite a few roots crossing the trail though. There were 4 or 5 bikers during the hour or so that we were walking on this trail. The bikers that were coming up behind us yelled out "on your right" or rang their bell, so that was nice. There were about 4 or 5 other people who were also walking on this trail whom we passed as well. We saw two geese floating on the water, and we saw two tiny birds in the trees. We also heard the birds chirping for a bit as well. It was a lovely sound. We ended our exploration of this trail at the smaller bridge towards the end of the creek, and we finally reluctantly headed back towards the spot where we had parked the car, as it was about to get dark. I loved how the creek wound around several large green areas in the middle of the water, with abundant long grasses waving all over them. This was one of the last sights that I saw on this trail tonight, and it was magical! I would love to walk this trail again, but I am planning on exploring several new-to-me hiking trails and walking trails this year, so I'm not sure if I will be back to walk this trail again anytime soon. But I am very happy that I chose this trail to walk on tonight!

Lovely trail next to a creek and ponds. Beautiful forest so close to neighborhoods. Still getting…read moreused to how green WA is compared to my former home in CA. Absolutely gorgeous. This trail also has several spots with picnic tables and I even saw one bbq. The trail is shared with dog walkers too. I am not sure if the trail loops as I walked about a mile and half than turned around to head back towards my car. If you're visiting the town center this trail is a nice refuge that brings you into a lovely natured area. No restrooms on the trail. So, be aware. Happy adventures and happy Yelping.

Serene little park that offers a shady respite for people & their littles, including fur babies…read more I've not mastered the ins & outs of the trails bc I'm admittedly directionally challenged, but there's basically a corridor path that runs down the middle, and meandering paths on either side. It's peaceful & shaded- usually quiet. We appreciate having such a great park minutes from home.

Hamlin Park is a lovely place to go on a walk and enjoy the tall trees and wildlife. Trails run…read morethroughout the park and one of the paths (the main one I suppose) has white trail markers indicating in what direction to proceed to stay on the trail at forks in the trail. We didn't realize these were trail markers until towards the end of our walk today... we ended up going in the reverse direction around the trails. Runners, dog walkers, children in camp, and walkers abounded this morning. Along one of the trails there are restoration in progress areas where one can get involved in environmental stewardship if so inclined. Posted signs provide contact information on where to seek more information about this. The birds loved this portion of the trail and we heard a variety of different bird songs as we traversed this area. Wildflowers and plants in the park were beautiful and captivated my attention while exploring. On a more industrial note, there are big guns (I call them cannons) from the 1800s located by the playground. An essential stop if you want a fun photo-op and to learn a little bit of war history on your visit. My mom and I both enjoyed our visit today, Tuesday the 21st of July 2020, and found Hamlin Park a place we both are interested in revisiting. The parking lots didn't have many cars when we arrived around 9 a.m. but by the time we left, a little after 10 a.m., the parking lot we had parked in was about half full. The morning sun and cool air was very refreshing for a forecasted hot day.

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.

Love this for a casual walk or a serious hike. It's stunning features and different levels to test…read moreyour walking strengths. Two different access points either the top of the hill or the bottom. We've done both and can be as challenging as you choose! Rain or shine, visit this place!

Parking lot was full when we arrived but there's plenty of side pull offs to park. The FS road was…read moreactually really nice- only really large potholes at the start. The trail was a bit muddy and damp in some areas but totally manageable. Kids said there were some bugs but I didn't notice any. There were a handful of other hikers on the trail but not too bad. We didn't notice any poop bags or trash- good job people with pack it in pack it out!!! Once we arrived at the lake there were only a few hikers relaxing and enjoying the view. The lake is so clear and was so tempting to jump in but waited for another trip. There were some stones and roots but most of it was quite pleasant and we found the hike back down to be way less brutal than most hikes with some kind of elevation. It was giving me Yosemite vibes with the large rocks and mostly dry path. There was a pit toilet at the parking lot but didn't use it. It states the Discover pass is not valid there- had the national parks pass posted. The noise of traffic could be heard off in the distance but by the time you're at the lake it's completely gone and you're just vibing with the sounds of nature. Will be back again to take a dip in the lake and soak up more of the views. Hiked 6.22.2023

This hike is really catered to family friendly hikers. With that being said, it's a pretty easy…read moreand very light elevation and switch back gain. The only downside is that it can get packed, quick! Be mindful of parking. All in all the lake is gorgeous!! I highly recommend coming early and leaving early, by mid afternoon this place is packed to the gills! The views are gorgeous and you cannot take a bad picture. Enjoy!

Great day of mountain biking. The weather and trails are perfect today. Mostly dry so the roots are…read morepretty easy to navigate.

Paradise Valley is my and my pups go-to for trail running! Trails are all really well signed with…read moremileage and the trails they link up to. Nice variation of hills and flat areas, and so much lush vegetation! Not too crowded early on the weekends or early afternoon midweek.

Kick ass mountain bike trails, 2 acres in size, will contain over 1.5 miles of trail, which you can…read moreride year-round because they are covered by I-5! lots of fun with steep rock chutes, tight banked turns, wooden teeter totters, ladder bridges, a swinging bridge, and "skinnies"!! Thanks be to the Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club, and their many volunteers for making a truly unique space to ride in-town.

Fantastic! Every city needs a Mtn Bike Skills Park like this!…read more Plenty for everyone..... Look for more pics and a review on: http://www.ihatebikes.net/wordpress/spots/bikeparks/seattle-urbanfreeride-park/

Came here on Memorial Day Monday, didn't quite see the fork off of Iron Horse Trail so ended up…read moredoing Olallie and came on Cedar Butte on the way back. Got to the parking lot around 7AM, not many cars but saw many people on the way down from Cedar Butte. The view at the top of Cedar Butte was just okay, there was a small clearing between trees to see the view but otherwise can't really see anything.

Such a hidden gem! I agree with the previous reviews, it was quite hard to find/navigate. There is…read moreabsolutely no signage for "Cedar Butte" but we were able to figure it out by asking people where they were coming from. That is the only reason for 4 stars, plus the bugs. I was surprised it was so buggy for a hot summer day in the 70's. It's in the middle of the forest though. The hike took us only 2 hours to complete, with a few stops and a small pup who hates to walk. It was very easy up until the trail leading into the forest. That was a bit more moderate, except it was easy since it was only for about 30-40 minutes of incline. The viewpoint is small, and only one group can have an optimal view with social distancing. However the trail is definitely a hidden gem and has less traffic. Overall I think it was a beautiful, easy and quick hike! I wanted to share some helpful directions to help navigate: Parking - The Rattlesnake ledge lot leading up to it is packed, but luckily this has a bit more space. Plug "47.43246, -121.76654" into your GPS and it'll take you directly to the Cedar Butte lot. When I had input "Cedar Butte Trailhead" into my GPS originally it took me elsewhere. After you park and head to the trailhead you'll see a sign for Iron horse trail. Head that way by taking that first right. You'll come to a clearing with a dirt road, look straight and you'll see a narrow path to follow. It'll bring you to another clearing of a dirty road then make a left. Walk until you see a waterfall/river and cross that bridge. Quickly after make your first right up the narrow path. Eventually you'll come to a fork, take a left. Then you'll eventually see signage for the summit. Follow that and you'll be there in the next 10 minutes!

Trails are nice and well marked, a little overgrown in some areas. The parking lot has so many…read morepotholes and the lot definitely can get full unless you get there early. I like that there are some trails that are pedestrian only. Great spot overall!

I went on a short hike on this trail earlier tonight, with a companion. It was my first time…read morevisiting this place. I noticed that there hasn't been a yelp review of this area since 2020, unless I missed something! When we pulled in to the parking lot here, I noticed that many of the cars had bike racks, so I expected to see cyclists on this trail. What I didn't expect was 10 - 15 very fast cyclists within the first 10 minutes of our hike! Almost all of the cyclists were amazingly friendly and considerate. They often would shout out, "5 more behind me!" , "2 more behind me!" etc, as they whizzed past. One of them even shouted to us, "Hikers! I hope you enjoy your walk today!" I was so surprised I responded, "You too!" before realizing that this was the exact wrong thing to say back, since he wasn't walking and since he was almost back to the parking lot so he was finishing up his bike ride! After a short while on this trail, I was wondering about continuing to hike there. The cyclists were FAST. VERY fast. And most of them were going in the opposite direction to us. There are plenty of twists and turns on this trail, also. However, thankfully we spotted a "Foot Trail Only" not too far from the trail head, so we started in on that. It is called the "Whispering Firs Trail." What a pretty name for a trail! This trail was probably the worst maintained hiking trail that I have ever hiked on. There were 3 or 4 logs across the trail, dense vegetation intruding on the trail which frequently brushed our legs as we hiked, several deep holes right in the middle of the trail, and several rocks of all shapes and sizes which also were on the sides or in the middle of the trail. Sometimes the rocks were not very visible due to the vegetation that had grown over many parts of this trail. However, I'm weird so I loved this trail anyway! I might not have loved it if I would have twisted my ankle, which I almost did twice, but thankfully I escaped unscathed, as did my companion! We were the only ones on the "Foot Trail Only" tonight. We hiked on this trail for about an hour. I was happy with this trail because out of all of the trails I've explored recently, this was the only trail that actually felt like a hike and was also a bit of a work out. The trail has mild to moderate inclines. It's not a difficult hike (maybe other than avoiding all of the rocks and deep holes in the trail!). However, I really worked up a sweat hiking this trail, so much so that I decided to take off my fleece and tie it around my waist, on a fairly cool evening. I thought this was great! In order to hike on this trail for about an hour, we did have to traverse a few parts of it 3 or 4 times. However, I liked this too because we could time our hike so that we got back to the parking lot right before dark. I had a great experience hiking on this trail today. However, I can certainly understand how some of the aspects of hiking here may deter others. I would come back and hike on this trail again any time, but I am planning on trying lots of new-to-me trails this year, so I might not be back to this trail for a while. I'm very glad that we decided to hike on this trail tonight, though!