A wetland in the summer, fall, and spring seasons is nature at its most exuberant. From stately herons to swooping dragonflies, the world around you is full of living things, eating, mating, and making the most of the season.
The easiest way to explore that world is to stroll on a wetland boardwalk. A quick walk takes you places that would otherwise take a big struggle through muck and vegetation. In some areas, you can even push a stroller.
When you visit these places, try to slow down from time to time. Encourage your kids to have a quiet moment and use their senses to look at their surroundings. That’s the best way to find interesting animals.
Here are five amazing places around Seattle to start your wetlands exploration.
Mercer Slough Nature Park
BellevueLooking up the slough from the middle of this park, you can see office towers through the trees, but this natural area feels far away from the bustle of Bellevue. There is a long, snaking section of boardwalk around the bridge over the slough, and shorter sections where side trails encounter boggy bits. Wear masks. The trail is too narrow in many places to pass another party safely without them.
Seen on a late July visit: many kinds of dragonflies, including several mating pairs flying around attached. Bright blue damselflies fly with the male hanging on to the female, who stops to lay eggs in the shallows. Abundant hardhack is a wetland shrub with bright pink, fluffy flowers that attract many butterflies.
Accessibility: The boardwalks are even and not overly bumpy, but the trails leading up to them may not be. If you park near the Environmental Education Center, the trail down to the slough has some steep and root-ridden sections and areas where the soft, springy trail surface, while kind to feet, is not so great for wheels.
Juanita Bay Park
KirklandThis park on Kirkland’s waterfront has three different boardwalks. If you have to choose one, it should be the West Boardwalk/Nature Trail. But try not to do just one. Navigating such a small park is awkward for the novice. Take a picture of the trail map at the entrance. You could also try using Google Maps, or if you have a child who plays Pokemon Go, those maps are great.
Seen on a visit: a family of river otters playing at the edge of the lily pads. Eight turtles on a log (they nest in the park). Signs of a battle between humans and beavers: a cottonwood tree encased in chain-link fencing, with fresh beaver gnawings below the edge of the metal.
Accessibility: Gently sloping gravel paths that are stroller and wheelchair friendly.
North Creek Park
BothellMost of this park is on an enormous peat bog, a wetland that teems with life. For those who wish to explore, there’s a mile of boardwalk, floating on the bog’s surface. Two other boardwalks branch off, leading to obscure destinations. If you go down the one labeled “pond,” you won’t see a pond, though there could be one past the thick vegetation. The same goes for the side trail posted “view.” But the walks themselves are fun. Because the boardwalk is close to the water’s surface, this is a great place to look out for small creatures in or near the water.
Seen on a visit: many garter snakes slithering away at the sound of approaching feet (They are not poisonous. There are no poisonous snakes native to the Seattle area.) A beaver lodge at the north end of the trail. Water-striders patrol pools of tea-colored water, insects that glide along the water’s surface. I also saw a short-tailed weasel, not a creature I expected to find two miles from Alderwood Mall.
Accessibility: If you have the muscle and/or suitable wheels to navigate places where the boardwalk tilts or where two panels of it aren’t perfectly aligned, this trail can be used by strollers or wheelchairs.
Marymoor Park
RedmondThis isn’t a very long boardwalk, but it is in a spectacular spot where the Sammamish River joins Lake Sammamish. You can stroll through the willows and cattails right out to the lily-pad-strewn water. The boardwalk is part of the Marymoor Park birding trail, which you can access from Lot G or Lot D. It costs $1 to park.
Seen on a visit: Nest boxes near the boardwalk full of baby purple martins, their parents swooping by to feed them.
Accessibility: Very accessible. The approaches to the boardwalk are on flat paths, some of which are paved.
Washington Park Arboretum Waterfront Trail
SeattleSeattle Parks Department announced on Aug.6 that this trail is closed for repairs. We hope it opens soon.
This zigzag path allows people to walk out on the lake to the aptly named Marsh Island.
On a visit, I saw many dragonflies, boats of all sizes, and families of Canada geese foraging in formation, with the younger geese surrounded by their elders.
Accessibility: If you bring a stroller, you have to be prepared to carry it over steps, in uneven places, over mud pits, and possibly in flooded areas. Sometimes the trail is altogether for weeks at a time because of high water levels in Lake Washington.
Fiona Cohen is the author of The Curious Kids Nature Guide.
