Lake Sammamish State Park  and Pickering Farm Trail

Hike Length: 4 miles
Elevation Gain: minimal
Hike Difficulty: easy
Map: Green Trails 203S “Cougar Mountain”
hike overview map


Lake Sammamish State Park occupies a prime location on the south end of Lake Sammamish. The park offers a diverse mixture of developed picnic areas and beaches, as well as undeveloped wetlands, fields, and woodlands. Issaquah Creek, which flows through the center of the park, is noted for its salmon runs.The trail system within the park, though pleasant to walk on, is not extensive. However, newly created trail connections to Issaquah and the Lake Sammamish Trail greatly increase the hiking possibilities.

A fine way to end the day is to hike into downtown Issaquah, do a little shopping, then ride the bus back to the Issaquah Park and Ride, where connections are excellent to all destinations.

Getting there:

From downtown Seattle, catch ST 554 and ride it to Issaquah Park and Ride [GPS N 47 deg 32 min 32 sec, W 122 deg 03 min 44 sec].

 There, transfer to the Bellevue-bound M 271 bus, which after a short ride will take you close to the park entrance on NW Sammamish Road [GPS N 47 deg 33 min 07 sec, W 122 deg 04 min 03 sec].

The distance from the Park and Ride to the park is short enough to walk if you choose, but crossing on foot over a busy I-90 interchange is unpleasant.

Bus service is good on weekends.

The Hike:

From the park entrance on Sammamish Road, follow the driveway into the park. Turn left into the west set of parking lots, and head for the Lake Sammamish waterfront.

Once at the lakeshore, maximize your walking pleasure by first heading left to explore the westernmost part of the waterfront. When you’ve gone as far as you can in that direction, reverse course and follow the water east You will pass a well-groomed sandy beach, which might temp you to take a swim on a hot day. At Issaquah Creek, the developed portion of the park ends. There it’s worth following a dirt-surfaced trail on the west side of the creek to a dead-end at the lake shore. Return from there back to a foot bridge which provides access to the less developed eastern portion of the park.

Once across the bridge, wander at will on the unpaved paths lacing this part of the park. The trails pass through spacious, open fields that provide vistas of Tiger Mountain and the other peaks of the “Issaquah Alps”.

A digression: the term “Issaquah Alps” was coined by local hikers years ago to describe the officially nameless range of low, rounded mountains stretching from Lake Washington to North Bend. This obviously tongue-in-cheek name took hold over the years, and now everybody--hikers, Issaquah civic boosters, even real estate agents-- uses the term, any trace of sarcasm forgotten. The Issaquah Alps are actually not foothills of the Cascade Mountains, but the remains of an old mountain range predating the Cascades. Come to think of it, perhaps the Issaquah Alps really do deserve their proud new name, after standing up to countless millennia of erosion by water, wind, and multiple assaults by ice-age glaciers, which ground right over the peaks’ very tops.

Now back to the park’s trail system: you can follow one path through the fields that eventually leads to the eastern extremity of the park, where there is a boat launching area and parking lot. After returning from there, you can take another path following Issaquah Creek in a southward direction. Eventually the trail leaves the park, passes an office park on the left, then comes to an apparent end at the north edge of Sammamish Road.

However, if you go right (west) on Sammamish Road for a few paces and cross the bridge over Issaquah Creek, you will discover a paved trail continuing south along the creek. Despite being close to office buildings and and a shopping center, this trail (The Pickering Farm Trail) is woodsy and not bad walking. Go left (east) at a junction; shortly this trail joins up with the gravel-surfaced Lake Sammamish Trail, which offers miles of strolling opportunities. The path is built on the former right of way of the Seattle, Lakeshore, and Eastern railway, the same railway route that Seattle’s famous Burke Gilman trail now occupies.Go right ( south) on the trail, which heads under the I-90 freeway and eventually ends at the edge of Gilman Boulevard.

You may catch busses on Gilman to get home, or continue walking into Issaquah’s quaint downtown district. A remnant of the old SL&E railroad track continues north of Gilman Boulevard; a path alongside the track provides a pleasant walking route. The railroad eventually leads you to Front Street in downtown Issaquah, where you can check out the various shops. Also, be sure to visit the nice new King County library located on the corner of Sunset and Front.

Getting Back

From Front Street ( in downtown Issaquah) or Gilman Boulevard, take either the M200 or M209 busses to the Issaquah Park and Ride. From there, take the ST 554 bus to get to downtown Seattle.

Rev 02.12.06