Sammamish River Trail Hike

Eleven of us enjoyed perfect 70 degree hiking weather minus the forecasted rain. Pictured are: John, Flo, Ida, Dale, guest June, Cam, Gerlinde - bottom row, Stacy Joel, Joanie. Another guest, Roxanne, took the photo.

We started at Blyth Park in Bothell with Flo’s famous energy bars. Then a short walk up the Burke-Gilman trail brought us to Red Brick Park. Here is a remnant of a military road commissioned in the 1850’s by the Secretary of War between Bothell and Seattle. It became the first paved road to Seattle around the north end of Lake Washington - paved with red bricks from 1912-1915 by Italian and Greek immigrants. Gerlinde added that she had observed a photograph of Italians coming to America that was on the wall at Ellis Island. The caption told how Italians had heard that “in America the roads were paved with gold”. When they arrived, they found that the roads were not paved at all!

We continued along the Sammamish River for a couple of miles, dodging the many bikers, big and small, who ride this trail like an extension of the Burke-Gilman. Lunch was with our legs under a picnic table in Blyth Park among the very large trees.

All told: 3.5 miles, 9,450 steps, 65ft elevation gain, a lot of good chatter.