East of Lake Washington

We first explored the Bellevue Botanical Gardens as part of their winter lights festival (which is recommended). We returned more recently and found many more accessible trails than are open for the evening lights festival. Key stats: Distance: There are supposedly 1.7 miles of trail but not all of...

Camp Brown is a brand new ADA trail along the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River. You get there by taking exit 34 off I-90 and driving 11 miles towards the Middle Fork trailhead. The parking lot for Camp Brown is is about 1/2 mile before arriving at the...

We stumbled upon this trail on a chilly Saturday afternoon in January while Lucas’s sister was at horseback riding lessons nearby. We accessed the trail via Perrigo Park, walking around the sports fields the read of the park where you enter the trail. As you can see from the...

This is one of our all-time favorite trails. We try to go once a year and it’s especially good on a clear day when you can see the mountains. It can get crowded, especially in the summer and especially on the weekends. But it’s worth it given how rare...

Though crowded at times (especially given the parallel off-dog leash travel) the Heron Loop Trail in Marymoor Park is a really nice walk that takes you to a boardwalk view of Lake Sammamish. The huge park is not far from downtown Redmond and filled with sports fields, dog parks,...

This great little park in the Juanita neighborhood of Kirkland nestles up to the eastern banks of Lake Washington. It has multiple boardwalks and is easy to access via the parking lot off Forbes Creek Dr. and 98th Ave. NE. The park is part of a 110-acre urban wildlife...

This is a gem that we only recently discovered. It’s surprising how remote some of it feels given its proximity to downtown Bellevue not to mention two major highways (I-90 and I-405). There’s even a section with old growth ceder trees. We parked in the lot at the Bellevue...

Lucas has a good buddy who lives in Mercer Island so we often meet him at Luther Burbank — a great accessible park that’s actually quite easy to get to from Seattle. The playground is a favorite of Ida’s and also has some accessible features (though the merry-go-round that...

This walk was a lovely surprise – hidden not far off a major road outside Bothell, tucked behind rows of town houses, it still felt like an escape into nature.  The boardwalk offered mostly views of the peat bog and grasslands, but those views felt unique and expansive.  You...

This trail has always held a special place for us as it was one of the first excursions we did in 2012 when we first moved back to the Northwest with Lucas. Years later we returned and it’s still a nice walk, especially the fact that its wide, paved...