The Green River Trail

Hike Length: 8 to 11 miles
Elevation Gain: minimal
Hike Difficulty: moderate
Map: King County Bicycling Guidemap
hike overview map


The Green River Trail gives you miles of easy walking alongside one of KIng County’s largest rivers. This is an ideal trail for those who just like to cover a lot of distance on flat terrain. The landscape along the Green is not particularly wild these days, but a string of parks along the trail provide points of peaceful repose. Despite being constricted by levees, the river maintains a spirit of wildness as it meanders impudently across mankind’s artificially imposed grid of streets and avenues.

If the county’ s plans are realized, a continuous paved trail may eventually extend from Seattle to Auburn. Speedwalkers and other long-legged folk can rejoice in this possibility.

Getting There:

From downtown Seattle, catch bus M 150 in the Bus Tunnel and ride it to Southcenter Mall Station, located on Andover Park Ave next to the east side of the mall [GPS N 47 deg 27 min 33 sec, W 122 deg, 15 min 16 sec].

For a shorter walk, continue riding to the point where the bus turns left of Andover Park onto S 180th St (heading east). Get off when you see the distinctive wooden arch bridge crossing the Green River, to the right of the bus. Here, the road is right next to the river and trail [N 47 deg 26 min 30 sec, W 122 deg 15 min 06 sec].


There is good Saturday and Sunday bus service.

The Hike:

From the Southcenter bus stop, walk south on Andover Park, east a block on Baker Blvd, then south on Christensen to the riverside BIcentennial Park, where you can find the trail next to the river. Go right (south) onto the paved trail.

The Green River Trail closely follows the west bank of the meandering river. There’s little wilderness other than the river itself and the adjacent strip of greenery; office parks and warehouses are the predominate scenery. In a short two miles, the river curves west along S 180th Street. The M 150 bus runs along the street, an alternate starting point for the hike, as noted in the “Getting There” section.

Near S 180th, the trail crosses the river via an elegant wooden-arch bridge. From this point on, the trail continues its meandering journey south on the east bank. The first of the large riverside parks, Brisco, is reached about a mile from the bridge (3 miles from Southcenter). The river’s setting becomes a little more natural as weedy vacant lots and protected greenbelts become more frequent. Here and there, fisherman have constructed odd little shelters on the river’s banks.

At 212th St., near a KOA Kampground (5 miles from Southcenter), the trail ends and you continue heading south on Russell Road, which is narrow and little used by traffic, not bad walking. The road/trail passes two more parks, Van Doren’s Landing and Russell Woods, where riverside trail resumes (6 miles). Here the river comes close to the west wall of the valley; the steep forest covered slope is a pleasant sight after all the man-made scenery.

The trail squeezes between the river and a housing development in this stretch. After passing a small park next to the “Neely Soames Historic House”, the trail arrives at 240th St. (called James Street in Kent). You can walk east on 240th for a mile to the Kent Park and Ride and the nearby major bus stop, located on LIncoln Ave just beyond the 167 Freeway overpass. This is the recomended end point for the hike (8 miles from Southcenter).

The trail continues on its southward journey beyond 240th St, passing a golf course, more garden apartment complexes, and a couple parks. At Hawley Road, the trail briefly disappears, merging with the road near Riverview Park, which is for now just an undeveloped field and mole farm. Beyond the park, separate trail begins anew, but only for a short distance as the trail ducks underneath the Valley Freeway and then ends again at the intersection with the Interurban Trail. A few steps north, the Interurban Trail meets 259th St. You’ve come about 10 miles from Southcenter at this point, which is probably enough for most people.

To get to a bus,you could walk north on a dull, sometimes scruffy section of the Interurban Trail to the Kent Park and Ride and its ample bus connections. The distance is about a mile.

The quickest way to a bus stop is to walk 259th St. east a half mile to Central Ave, where there are also stops for the 150 bus.


Lake Fenwick Park

The Lake Fenwick Trail offers a nice sidetrip from the Green River Trail. Leave the GRT at W Meeker Street, which you cross in the middle of the Riverbend Golf Course. Cross the Meeker Street bridge over the Green River, then the Rieth Road/ highway 516 intersection beyond. Just south of the intersection, near an apartment complex driveway, look for the start of the Lake Fenwick Trail, which travels a pleasant and woodsy mile to Lake Fenwick Park. Along the way, the trail climbs an impressive one hundred foot stairway, which will give you a bit of a workout. The park itself offers more trails, a swimming beach, lawns, and other amenities.

Getting Back

Catch the M 150 bus at the Kent Transit Center. Ride the bus back to Seattle.

Rev 12.18.07