I joined my outdoors club (Peninsula Wilderness Club) on this bike ride on the Sammamish River Trail. I found it odd to schedule a bike trip in February because around here it is usually cold and raining this time of year. But I was interested in seeing this converted rail trail and thought why not? The weather forecast for the weekend looked favorable so I went for it.
After catching the Bainbridge/Seattle Ferry, we drove to Log Boom Park where we started the ride. Log Boom Park is located on the north end of Lake Washington in Kenmore. The trail here is actually the Burke-Gilman Trail but after about 2 1/2 miles it turns into the Sammamish River Trail.
The trail is very popular. There were all kinds of people out there, even for being a cloudy grey day. The trail is paved the whole way and goes through different neighborhoods and countryside. I mostly felt we were in the back yards of communities and apartment buildings and I never completely felt like I was out in the middle of nowhere. This is kind of a drag if you're looking for something more natural, but looking for solitude in the Seattle suburbs is kind of silly now isn't it?
We made our way all the way out to Marymoor Park when it started raining pretty hard. We found a dry place to have a little snack while we waited out the rain. It was actually kind of funny. It was supposed to be a sunny weekend but we picked out one of the only places in the state where it was raining. Once the rain stopped, we started back. We stopped at the Redhook brewery along the way and had lunch and a couple beers. The highlight of the day was a beautiful rainbow on our way back. I joked that the brewery must be the pot of gold at the bottom of the rainbow, and indeed, it looked like where the rainbow sat, was about where Redhook was.
All in all, despite the rain, it turned out to be a very fun day and with great company.
I think we ended up riding about 28 miles round trip.
This is a great website to help you plan a ride on Seattle area trails, although curiously, the Sammamish River trail seems to be absent. While technically incorrect, you can essentially consider the Sammamish River trail to be an extension of the Burke Gilman Trail. http://www.seattleoutdoorsinfo.com/hiking-and-biking/seattle-biking/seattle-bike-trails
