Lake Wilderness Park & Arboretum, Maple Valley, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

Bob pointing to our Arboretum starting point

 

There is some snow in the mountains, but not enough to ski yet, so we are trying some new places closer to home and sea level.  This week we went to the Lake Wilderness Park and Arboretum in Maple Valley.  This is a city park and therefore does not require a Discover Pass.  There was lots of free parking available.  

 

Informational placards found here and there along the lake shore provided this historical background.  In the beginning of settlement along the lake, coal mining brought the railroad to this area around 1882 when the mines opened nearby Black Diamond.  A little later, Carl M. Hanson, a Swedish immigrant and entrepreneur, with his sons built a sawmill on Lake Wilderness about 1890 and used the lake for storing and floating logs.  By the late 1890s it was one of the largest sawmills in King County. 

 

The last train left Maple Valley in 1980.  The old railroad bed is now part of the King County Parks Regional Trails System providing non-motorized access for biking, walking, running, and viewing wildlife.  Today the forests are being managed and protected for future generations. 

 

 

 

 

View of Lake Wilderness from the Lodge 

Another view of the lake from along the shore line

There were a number of ducks and some herons in the lake.

 

This park has lots of open spaces and water access for swimming and non-motorized water craft, such as, canoes, inflatable boats, and kayaks.  Most of the older, larger Douglas fir, western hemlock, and western red cedar were removed by logging and development.  The forest today is predominately second growth trees. 

 

 

 

Bob standing by one of the taller trees

 

 

This is a people friendly park.  It must be crowded in the summers.  There are several public restrooms located at various places in the park, a stand with life preservers for people to use and return, a pickle-ball court, and a concession stand, closed for the season.  The newer Lodge has an office and venue space for weddings and other group events.  

 

 After walking around the main park we went over to the arboretum where there are many loop trails through the woods and various gardens.  We slowly meandered around looking at things for about two hours. 

 

 

 

Most of the path through the arboretum looked like this

 

There were a couple of these small libraries, this one on an old stump.  It is in the children's garden and is surrounded by child friendly sized benches for a story time setting.  The second one was built in tree trunk and had a nearby adult sized bench.

The park works with the local library to maintain a storybook walk along the trail.  Each board had one or two pages of a picture book.  The book we read along the way was about Leaf Man.  It will be interesting to see what story is shared when we go back another time.

 

 

 

 

There are not many things in bloom at this time of year; however, we saw these purple berries on a Beautyberry bush.

 

 

 

 

Sometimes there are painted rocks like this one in parks

 

Bob estimated that we probably went 1.5 miles altogether.  We did not see everything in the arboretum and will go back in the Spring when it should be in full bloom.  It was a beautiful, sunny, cold day that provided some water reflections and even a tiny view of Mt. Rainier.