Lovely September day for an urban wander. Started at Visible Coffee Roasters for a delicious fall beverage, then headed north on the North Creek Trail for a nice walk and chat with a dear friend to McCollum Park and back. Trail is wide, paved and in great condition, and not too busy on this Tuesday morning. This part of the trail abuts the north end of the Mill Creek Town center and multiple apartment complexes on one side, even so, a nice place to enjoy the lovely green space of the North Creek watershed. Saw several ducks, squirrels and even a snake friend! 3.3 miles roundtrip and a great leg-stretcher close to home. Happy Hiking! 

Finally I got to add some more miles onto my hikeathon, having spent the last week on the road to visit grandkids. This is a great  urban trail for smokey and hot days. It is close in, so easy to get to for a morning walk, and in the shade. The McCullum P&R and 128th are a mess with construction so I would advise parking at the Mill Creek Town Center then hiking to 164th, turn around and hike to McCullum P & R, then back, total of about 5 miles. The painted pianos are out! We started at 7 so hardly anybody on the trail. 

Muledeer my fundraiser for WTA

Quick walk today along the southernmost section of the North Creek trail and UW Bothell wetlands area before the rain showed up.  We parked next to sports field #2 right off North Creek Parkway S with space available in the business on weekends.  All parking on the UW Bothell campus is pay only all the time and enforced.  There are two full restrooms, just north of field #2 and next to field #4, both were open and in good condition, (and no restrooms other than in school buildings on the UW Bothell campus.)  Our route was a messy up and back along North Creek up to 240th street, then back down and over to the wetland area crossing hwy 405 at Beardslee Blvd for a total of about 5 miles.  The entire route is wide, paved mixed use or fine crushed gravel.  There are several areas of steep incline to get up onto the trail at North Lake and so not really viable for wheelchair/power chair folks along that section. There is one side section along North Creek that is closed for construction, (over by the Northshore School District building) but does not require any detours for the main route.  

Lots of wildlife out today, a ton of young ducklings, wood duck, heron, spring songbirds, raven, eagle, etc.  Some of the ducklings would run right up to me, folks must be feeding them. Additionally, the meadows on the UW Bothell campus have a nice array of wildflowers in bloom currently.  Highlight of the walk was catching what I think is a long tailed weasel just chilling next to the wetlands trail.  Tubs Subs recently moved into a new location at the corner of Beardslee and Sunrise Dr in downtown Bothell  if you need a yummy post walk sammich to refuel.  A nice easy little wetland walk with lots to see. 

We arrived at the McCollum Park TH location for North Creek around 8:30 am and had no trouble finding parking, since this is a park and ride lot.   

We walked the paved trail to the pond at 164th Street and back.   It's a lovely way to enjoy the woods, streams and even a stretch of Mill Creek Town Center, all in one path.   This is a very relaxing, close-in location for a nice walk.  There weren't many others on the trail when we began, but on the way back there were quite a few other walkers, runners and bikers.  

Walking from McCollum Park to the pond at 164th and back, we logged 5.2 miles.   It's a great location, we'll be back!

Today, we started from the McCollum Park and Ride and walked down into the Town Center and back.

The McCollum P&R has a bunch of construction right now. I'm not sure what the end goal is here but they have paved the field next to the trailhead and have torn out the area around the bus stop. There is a short detour to get to the trail but it is still currently accessible.

The trail itself is in good condition. As usual, there was lots of dog poop along the sides of the trail despite dog poop bag stations being available every few feet. I don't know why but I see more of it on this trail than any other. Please do better. The three pianos are still out at the Town Center much to kiddos delight.

Our family is hiking the month of August to raise funds for WTA's Hike-A-Thon so that the trails can continue to be enjoyed by future generations. Please consider contributing, every $ helps! https://give.wta.org/Jenchilada2022
https://give.wta.org/CaptainJames

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