Take an Urban Hike to Octavia Butler Avenue

Visionary science fiction author Octavia Butler lived in a quiet, green neighborhood north of Seattle from 1999 to 2006. In 2023, the city of Lake Forest Park celebrated the writer by naming her former street in her honor. Butler, a non-driver, walked daily for errands and inspiration.

In this spirit, we’ve shared urban hikes you can take to the honorary street — while walking in the trailblazing author’s footsteps.

Octavia Butler Avenue was dedicated in Lake Forest Park on July 29, 2023. Photo of Butler courtesy of Earthseed. Street sign photo by Linnea Johnson.

On July 29, 2023, science fiction fans, activists, authors, community leaders and proud neighbors gathered on a residential street in Lake Forest Park. While Lake Washington sparkled below in the midsummer sun, all eyes were on a new street sign waiting to be unveiled. 

That morning marked the dedication of Octavia Butler Avenue, also known as 37th Avenue NE, the street where the celebrated author lived from 1999 until her untimely death in 2006. She wrote her final novel, “Fledgling,” from her Lake Forest Park home. 

Octavia Butler is celebrated as an award-winning science fiction author, an architect of the visionary fiction genre and the “Queen Mother” of Afrofuturism. Her works lay bare the social and environmental destruction caused by racism, capitalism, and other hierarchies by depicting possible futures — from an eerily prescient 2020s dystopia in the “Parables” series to a planet so devastated by war that humans require alien rescue in “Dawn.” Yet her stories do not only point out our self-destructive tendencies; they also help us envision different ways forward, in which characters rebuild broken worlds by collaborating across boundaries, offering mutual support and embracing change. 

In 2020, the prophetic “Parable of the Sower” became a New York Times bestseller — Butler’s first appearance on the list — 27 years after the book accurately forecast many of the political and environmental crises we face today and offered a new source of hope.

A green refuge in Washington

Lake Forest Park City councilmembers and community leaders reveal the new honorary street sign. Photo by Linnea Johnson

Butler moved to Lake Forest Park, a small suburban city north of Seattle, from Southern California (a similar trajectory to her characters in “Parable of the Sower,” who sought refuge from climate change and violence by fleeing to  the Northwest). “She moved from Southern California to this part of the Pacific Northwest as a kind of climate refugee,” said Charles Mudede, reporting for The Stranger. “She was already in the future. She thought the weather would be better here and that the ecosystem, the environment in Southern California, was collapsing.” 

Her 1957 midcentury modern home, nestled on a tree-lined hill overlooking Lake Washington, was a green refuge for the author, who loved spending time in nature. 

The area also appealed to Butler because she did not drive. “She wanted a home with a garden from which she could walk to a grocery store and had access to a cultural center and a good bookstore via bus,” said Lake Forest Park city councilmember Phillippa Kassover.

During the ceremony, Butler’s former neighbor, Terry Morgan, shared stories of getting to know the shy author when she occasionally accepted a ride back from the grocery store. 

Even though Butler only lived in Washington for 7 years, she is now part of the story of our state — and we are better for it. 

“A person lived here, right alongside us; many of us knew her, some of us never had the chance or privilege; that person left an immense and enduring legacy in the world — changed it, in other words,” said Shelia Liming, who grew up as Butler’s neighbor and is now a professor of writing at Champlain College. “So now we change a small corner of it in her honor and her name.” 

How to get there

Enjoy a local hike to Octavia Butler Avenue in Lake Forest Park from the north, south, or east. Photo by Linnea Johnson

While it is possible to drive straight to Octavia Butler Avenue, you can also turn your visit into an urban hike and walk in the author’s footsteps. 

From Kenmore

Start out at Kenmore’s Log Boom Park and stroll the dock at the northern edge of Lake Washington. Then, hike south on the Burke-Gilman Trail. Turn right when you reach 165th St. then trek uphill until you reach 37th Avenue NE. Roundtrip without side trips: 3 miles.

From Shoreline

Begin at Hamlin Park. Exit from the east end of the park then walk down 160th for eight blocks. Turn left on 35th Avenue NE then take a sharp right once you’ve reached NE 162nd Street. Stroll down 37th Avenue until you’ve reached the street sign. Round trip without side trips: 3.2 miles. 

From Lake City/Cedar Park

Start out at Public Shore at NE 130th Street , then head north on Riviera Pl. NW for 0.4 miles. When you reach the crossing with 42nd Pl. NE, you’ll be able to hop onto the Burke-Gilman Trail. Take the Burke-Gilman north 1.4 miles, then turn left when you reach 165th St. Walk up the hill until you reach the honorary street sign on 37th Ave. NE. Round trip without side trips: 4.2 miles. 

If the trip has you hungry for a good book (or a good snack), take a side trip to the Town Center at Lake Forest Park, which Butler frequented on foot. There, you’ll find the Albertson’s where she did her grocery shopping and the Third Place Books where she’d peruse the shelves for her next read. Pick up one of her books and grab a coffee or meal at one of the Town Center’s numerous eateries.

Just as local walks gave Octavia the space to imagine new worlds, urban trails offer space for all of us to dream, move and care for our mental health close to home. Download WTA's Trailblazer mobile app for iPhone or Android to find a local hike near you.