Burke-Gilman Trail — Friday, Aug. 8, 2025

Walked the eastern most end of the venerable Burke Gilman trail from Bothell back west to the Tl awah-ah-dees Park in Kenmore Friday morning.  We parked at the Blyth Park in Bothell which has relatively plentiful free parking and nice full restrooms.  Total roundtrip mileage for this section is an easy 3.3 miles.  The trail remains typical wide, fully paved mixed use rail-to-trail style.  The surface condition is fine but this section is getting a bit brushy late in the season with bushes well out into the travel lanes causing potential unsafe interaction between cyclists and walkers..  Maybe if anybody at King County sees this they could get their Brush-A-Matic 5000 out for a few hours.  Otherwise this section offers some nice views of the Sammamish Slough, the old Wayne Golf Course property and other areas that were adjacent to the old rail line.  Keep your eyes open along the slough, we spotted three smaller river otters way off in the distance playing then scurrying up into the tall grass shoreline.  Also don’t miss the short side trip to one of just a handful of remaining sections of original red brick road along with nice historical information posted.  Lastly, lots of nice blackberries along much the route w/in easy picking distance.