Hathaway Park has a playground, ball field, boat launch, and rough trail along the river.  You can take a stroll through the park, or you can take a more challenging walk up the river.  When I reached the bend in the river, I realized I had been there before, because I had previously come down river along the trail from the Schmid Family Park.  This means there is a more or less walk able trail for roughly half a mile.

The Washougal River Greenway Trail is a great place to take a walk through natural landscape, along the river, and explore a little.  The two ends of the Greenway Trail are at NE 3rd Loop and at Beaver Park.  Both areas have space for parking, though more at the Beaver Park end.

From the NE 3rd Loop trail head, you could walk a short distance northwest, across 3rd Ave, and start up the Lacamas Creek Trail.  Along the Greenway trail, there are several unpaved side trails that can take you either to the river, and around the ponds.  At the Beaver Park end, you could continue on to Goot Park (also where the nearest public restrooms are located) and loop back across the fields under the power lines to reconnect from side trails.

The other side of the Washougal River has another area of trails to explore along the Washougal River Greenway.

This is a little trail, only 700 ft to walk out around and back, and it is rather neglected.  I decided to post about it, because where it is situated it could serve as a link in a much larger network, if trails along the BPA right of way are completed and connected.  It would be a small task to connect this trail through from 58th Ave to 56th Ave.  The bigger step would be making east and west connections along the BPA right of way.

The quiet neighborhood of Winchester Hills has several trails that allow for a walk or jog alongside a natural habitat area.  Most of the paths are paved, but the southern most portion of the trails are not paved, and not maintained.  Blackberry bushes encroach the trail in spots, and part of the fence is leaning in at another spot.  This does provide an interesting little access to the natural area.  I find it unfortunate that there are no through trails to connect to the Lewis and Clark Pedestrian Viewpoint.  If connected with other nearby trails, this could provide a nice network.

Trails are connected to the roads at SE 196th Ave, SE 196th Ct, SE 41st St, SE Harmony Pl, SE 38th Cir, SE Lacy Way, and SE 36th St.

This is an area of natural forest surrounded by cleared fields with a network of trails winding through it.  It is a great place for a casual walk in the woods.  The most difficult part of walking these trails is getting to them. There are three points of entry, each with it’s obstacles.

You can enter from the north, by going through the Lucky Memorial Dog Park.  Park at the parking lot for the Dog Park, enter the Dog Park gate, walk straight south through the fenced area, and at the far fence turn right, exit the gate and enter the nature preserve.  It is also possible to walk down NE 101st Pl to reach the nature preserve, but this road is a private drive, so please be respectful of the neighbors.

To enter from the south, you park at the end of NE 97th Ave, then step over the low barbed wire fence, or through the gate, and follow the trail to the trees.

Another trail enters from the track behind Laurin Middle School, but that is mostly useful for anyone coming from the school.

An interesting oddity is the fact that when entering from the south, there is a sign that says “Groth Nature Preserve”, and when entering from the north, there is a sign that says “Lauretta Norene Forest Preserve”.  It appears that there were two adjoining plots of land dedicated by the two families to form the preserve.

This viewpoint was built without a parking area, however there are options to park nearby and walk to it.  A brand new road just completed now takes you right to it.  The area just north of the viewpoint is preserved as a natural area, and has a couple trails that can make for a more interesting walk as well.

The new road to the site is not yet included in Google Maps as of this writing.  It is accessed from a new traffic circle on SE Brady Rd.  There is no open access from SE 42nd Circle.  However, on SE 38th Way, you can enter a trail through the natural area.  Follow this trail until you hit the back of the QFC.  Turn left and follow that trail parallel to the overhead power lines until you reach the path along 192nd Ave, and then up to the Viewpoint.  The trails in this natural area can also be entered from behind Symmetry Massage and Fitness, from next to Radiance Dental Assisting Academy, and from the parking lot near the UPS Store.

If you don’t want to walk through the nature area, but want to walk to the Viewpoint, the parking lots near QFC provide a good option.  Just walk south along the east side of 192nd Ave to the path up to the Viewpoint.  As the area below the Viewpoint is being developed with new roads and multi-use paths, more options are opening up for parking nearby.

This route is best explored by bicycle, though walking or jogging is an option.  My favorite part is the crossing of Salmon Creek.  There is some kind of work being done beneath the bridge, so steps have been built to walk down from the path to the area beneath the bridge.  These steps are likely just temporary, to be used during the current work, but it gave me a convenient path to get down closer to Salmon Creek.

This is a multi-use path separated from SR 503, running alongside it from Brush Prairie to Battle Ground (about 2-1/2 miles).  If you want to walk it, the best places to park and access the path would be on 154th St (at the end from the east side, so you need to go through Brush Prairie to access the dead end) or 179th St (park on 122nd Ave north of 179th St.).

This is a long narrow neighborhood park with a paved path that meanders the length of the park and has lollipop loops at both ends.  Walking the full length, circling at both ends, and returning to the starting point makes for about a 1/2 mile walk.

At first glance this is a small neighborhood park, with a playground area and access to Burnt Bridge Creek.  There is a scenic bridge over the creek, and the area around the playground is well maintained, but there is more to the park that is somewhat neglected, as well as trails that can offer a longer walk through some of the neighboring undeveloped lands.

The entry points to the park are from the tree shaded turnaround on NE 51st St or the cul de sac end of NE 47th St.  There is an access pathway at NE 48th Circle, but that enters into a neglected corner of the park, and does not have a trail connection to the other areas of the park.  In fact, that access pathway appears to connect to the neighboring undeveloped lot, rather than directly to the park.

I took a longer walk at the site, about 1.7 miles.  I started at 51st by following the well used walking path to the left.  This took me along Burnt Bridge Creek, along side the open meadow, and then out towards 51st to get around the waterway.  I then followed the trail along the edge of field, near the waterway, to the bridge at NE 11th Ave to cross Burnt Bridge Creek.  I turned left to cross the next field, again following the creek.  This trail hits a wooded area where I turned to the left to and followed the access path out to 48th Circle.  I then walked the road around to the right, along 109th Ave and 47th St, to reach the park again.  At the bridge, instead of crossing, I went to the left, and followed a path along the west bank of the creek out to a field.  A circuit around the field brought be back to this path and then back to the bridge at the park.  I then crossed through the park, then did a similar circuit around the field to the west, which has a trail a long the north bank of the creek.

There are areas of this walk where a litter cleanup is needed, and a few places where someone may have been camping recently.

Please note, these large fields are not part of the park, but are sites planned for future development, owned by Weston Investment Co, LLC.  Please be respectful of private property, and only walk the trails at your own risk.

I came across this site while out exploring.  It’s a field and wetland managed for wildlife habitat.  Several paths, perhaps a little over 1/2 mile, have been mowed in the tall grass to allow easy walking around the site to explore, learn, and to watch for wildlife.  You can also view the spring which is the headwaters of Curtin Creek.

It can be tricky to reach, since the entrance is at the end of NE 72nd Ave, and 72nd Ave can only be turned onto when going west on NE 78th St.