A lovely 7.7 mile ramble through McGarvey Park Open Space and Spring Lake/Lake Desire Park. We started on the McGarvey West Trail at the TH on W. Lake Desire Dr SE where there's a pull-off of sufficient size for 4-6 vehicles.  This is a pleasant rolling up/down trail with Echo Mountain being the main elevation gain which, in a clear day, offers a view of Mt. Rainier. From Echo Mountain, we continued to Lake Desire by following the 3 Lakes Loop trail, bypassed Shady Lake (because the route was on paved road rather than trail, and unsure if we'd actually see the lake) and then to Spring Lake.  For fun, our group did a bit of caroling at Echo Mountain.

This was a great add-on to some errands I had to run in the area.  It was warm, and the trees smelled good and so did the hot dirt.  The blackberries were ripe on the east trail, so that supplied a nice snack break along the way.  There were a lot of woodpeckers, snakes, and squirrels out today!

I started at the suggested parking spot on the King County Parks website for McGarvey park, where the McGarvey West Trail crosses 174th Ave SE.  From there I headed eastward to the McGarvey East Trail, then a right at the Echo Quarry Trail, crossing into Spring Lake Park.  I didn't intend to go up Echo Mountain, but almost before I knew it I was at the base, 0.2 miles from the top, so I decided what the hell.  The approach from the north side is steep, so going down I took the less steep south-side trail and Trillium Way road-trail until I reached the Echo Quarry trail again, then doubled back to the junction with the north-side trail and thence back to the way I came to my car.  Total distance was about 4 miles.  The whole time I met only one other group of hikers, on the Echo Quarry Trail shortly before completing the loop section.  Most of the walk was mud-free, the muddiest section being the section of the Echo Quarry Trail to close the loop, although since it was raining during the latter part of the hike it might be muddier now.

Went for a walk with my Spouse this beautiful morning to McGarvey Park Open Space. There were 2 other vehicles at the Trailhead though we didn't see any one in the Park during our slow-paced walk of ~1 hour in the Park, enjoying the birds singing in the quiet forest. The trail is well-maintained. It's only when we got back to the Trailhead that we encountered 1 woman with 4 young children who were going in to the Park.

The trail was starting to get overrun by the blackberry bushes in some points.  There were a lot of Mountain Bikers on the trail so be prepared to step aside.  For the most part there was plenty of room for us and the bikers.