The Burke–Gilman Trail is a

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

King County King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

. The multi-use recreational trail is part of the King County Regional Trail System and occupies an abandoned Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway (SLS&E) corridor. A portion of the Burke–Gilman trail is managed by the City of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. The trail begins at 11th Avenue NW in Ballard and follows along the

Lake Washington Ship Canal The Lake Washington Ship Canal, which runs through the city of Seattle, connects the fresh water body of Lake Washington with the salt water inland sea of Puget Sound. The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks accommodate the approximately difference in w ...

and north along

Lake Washington Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle. It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It borders the cities of Seattle on the west, ...

, designated as ending in

Bothell Bothell () is a city in King and Snohomish counties in the U.S. state of Washington. It is part of the Seattle metropolitan area, situated near the northeast end of Lake Washington. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 48,161 resident ...

Route

The trail is a substantial part of the of signed bike routes in Seattle and the of trails in the King County Trails System. A segment of the Burke–Gilman portion, opened in July 2005, runs for from NW 60th Street and Seaview Avenue NW to the

Ballard Locks The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, or Ballard Locks, is a complex of locks at the west end of Salmon Bay in Seattle, Washington's Lake Washington Ship Canal, between the neighborhoods of Ballard to the north and Magnolia to the south. The Ballard ...

. The main trail resumes at 11th Avenue NW and NW 45th Street and runs to Blyth Park in Bothell. There, it becomes the Sammamish River Trail segment, which parallels the

Sammamish River The Sammamish River (also known as Sammamish Slough) flows through north King County, Washington for about , draining Lake Sammamish into Lake Washington. Along its course, the Sammamish River flows through Redmond, Woodinville, Bothell, and K ...

for to Redmond. The Burke–Gilman trail runs along the

Fremont Cut The Fremont Cut is a canal in Seattle, Washington, United States, that connects Lake Union to the east with Salmon Bay to the west. It is part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal linking Lake Washington to Puget Sound, and is long and wide. ...

Lake Union Lake Union is a freshwater lake located entirely within the city limits of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is a major part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, which carries fresh water from the much larger Lake Washington on the east to ...

(an old freight depot remains visible at the foot of Stone Way), and through the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

campus. After passing the

University Village University Village may mean: * University Village, Albany, California *University Village, Chicago, Illinois *University Village, Grand Forks, North Dakota * University Village, New York * University Village, Riverside, California *University Villa ...

shopping center, the trail heads up through northeast neighborhoods, alongside the Hawthorne Hills, Laurelhurst and

Windermere Windermere (sometimes tautology (language), tautologically called Windermere Lake to distinguish it from the nearby town of Windermere, Cumbria (town), Windermere) is the largest natural lake in England. More than 11 miles (18 km) in leng ...

neighborhoods; through the Sand Point neighborhood, passing

Magnuson Park Magnuson Park is a park in the Sand Point neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. At it is the second-largest park in Seattle, after Discovery Park in Magnolia (which covers ). Magnuson Park is located at the site of the former Na ...

, then alongside Lake Washington from just before the Matthews Beach and Cedar Park neighborhoods of the former Lake City, continuing on through Lake Forest Park and Kenmore to Bothell. The trail throughout is nearly level with few large intersection crossings — it is a former railroad right-of-way. The trail runs between Ballard and Tracy Owen Station in Kenmore (its initial eastern end), or to Blyth Park. The Seattle Parks Department considers the Burke–Gilman segment of the trail to end in Kenmore; while King County considers that the segments divide in Bothell,. The total distance from

Golden Gardens Park Golden Gardens Park is a public park in Ballard, a neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The park includes wetlands, beaches, hiking trails, and picnic and playground areas. The park's bathhouse was designated a historic landmark by the City of S ...

to Bothell, including the proposed "missing link" through Ballard, is .

Sammamish River Trail

At Blyth Park in Bothell the trail becomes the

Sammamish River Trail The Sammamish River Trail is a bike path and recreational rail trail in King County, Washington that runs along the Sammamish River from Blyth Park in Bothell to Marymoor Park in Redmond as part of the “Locks to Lakes Corridor.” It connect ...

and continues for to

Marymoor Park Marymoor Park, located on the north end of Lake Sammamish in Redmond, Washington, is King County's largest, oldest, and most popular park, with more than 3 million annual visitors coming to roam its . Among recreational activities available are ...

, Redmond, on Lake Sammamish. With the completion of a connector trail through Marymoor Park in May, 2009 the trail network continues to the city of

Issaquah Issaquah ( ) is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 40,051 at the 2020 census. Located in a valley and bisected by Interstate 90, the city is bordered by the Sammamish Plateau to the north and the "Issaquah Alp ...

via the

East Lake Sammamish Trail The East Lake Sammamish Trail is an recreational rail trail in King County, Washington that runs along Lake Sammamish from Marymoor Park in Redmond, through Sammamish, to Gilman Boulevard in Issaquah. History The trail had initially encountered ...

. The trail is over the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway (SLS&E) line and in conjunction with Issaquah's Rainier Trail, Preston Trail, and the Preston Snoqualmie Trail. The Snoqualmie Falls-North Bend link of SLS&E has become the line of the Northwest Railway Museum. The SLS&E terminated just beyond North Bend in Sallal Prairie. Users of the extensions can continue on the regional trail network at the

Snoqualmie Valley Trail The Snoqualmie Valley Regional Trail is a rail trail in King County, Washington. The trail follows a portion of the former alignment of the Milwaukee Road, which was constructed in 1911 and abandoned in 1973. The trail begins at Rattlesnake ...

in North Bend and connect with the

Iron Horse State Park Iron Horse State Park, part of the Washington State Park System, is a state park located in the Cascade Mountains and Yakima River Valley, between Cedar Falls on the west and the Columbia River on the east. The park is contiguous with a ...

Rattlesnake Lake Rattlesnake Lake is a lake in the northwest United States, located in Rattlesnake Mountain Scenic Area in King County, Washington, approximately east of Seattle, south of Interstate 90. History The town of Moncton existed in 1906–1915 around ...

. With the addition of the connector, the longest unbroken segment of the trail currently extends 42 miles.

Extensions

, there are extensions of the Burke–Gilman Trail at its western end: connecting the short and long segments between the Ballard Locks and 11th Avenue, and a northern extension along

Shilshole Bay Shilshole Bay is the part of Puget Sound east of a line drawn northeasterly from Seattle's West Point in the southwest to its Golden Gardens Park in the northeast. On its shores lie Discovery Park, the Lawton Wood section of the Magnolia neighb ...

from NW 60th Street to Golden Gardens Park, and planning for connecting between the

and downtown Ballard at 11th Avenue NW and NW 45th Street. A major point of contention regarding the remaining "missing link" project was the industrial nature of the

Salmon Bay Salmon Bay is a portion of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, which passes through the city of Seattle, linking Lake Washington to Puget Sound, lying west of the Fremont Cut. It is the westernmost section of the canal and empties into Puget Sound' ...

waterfront, through which this portion of the trail would pass. Local business owners voiced concerns about the safety and liability issues inherent in the convergence of trains, trucks, cyclists, and pedestrians. A citizens groups, and the city, claimed the dangers were being exaggerated. The trail overall can at times be busy and even crowded. Daniel Hunt Gilman 1890

History

The trail can trace its origins to the founding of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway on 15 April 1885, by ten men headed by judge Thomas Burke and Daniel Gilman. In its heyday, Burke and Gilman's road extended from

Downtown Seattle Downtown is the central business district of Seattle, Washington. It is fairly compact compared with other city centers on the U.S. West Coast due to its geographical situation, being hemmed in on the north and east by hills, on the west by ...

north to Arlington and east to Rattlesnake Prairie above

Snoqualmie Falls Snoqualmie Falls is a waterfall in the northwest United States, located east of Seattle on the Snoqualmie River between Snoqualmie and Fall City, Washington. It is one of Washington's most popular scenic attractions and is known internationall ...

. Taken over by the

Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, whic ...

around 1890, the line became part of the

Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a Mergers and acquisitions, merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996. Its historical lineage begins in the e ...

in 1970, and was abandoned in 1971. In 1978, the first of the right-of-way, from Seattle's

Gas Works Park Gas Works Park is a park located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is a public park on the site of the former Seattle Gas Light Company gasification plant, located on the north shore of Lake Union at the south end of the Wallingford ne ...

to Kenmore's Tracy Owen Station, was opened as a public trail and named after the founders of the railroad. A two-mile section of the trail within Lake Forest Park was temporarily closed for redevelopment from June 2011 to February 2012.

Neighborhoods

The trail intersects the following: * Seattle neighborhoods from western terminus east and north: ** Ballard ** Fremont ** Northlake (also known as south Wallingford) ** University District ** Trail runs alongside: ***

shopping center A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

*** Hawthorne Hills, Laurelhurst and Windermere neighborhoods *** Sand Point neighborhood, passing

** Lake City district of neighborhoods *** Matthews Beach *** Cedar Park * Suburban Seattle towns, continuing northeast, east and then south: ** Lake Forest Park ** Kenmore ** Bothell **

Woodinville Woodinville is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is a part of the Seattle metropolitan area. There is also a much larger population with Woodinville mailing addresses in adjacent unincorporated areas of King ( Cottage Lake) and ...

** Redmond

References

Bibliography

* * *
Speidel provides a substantial bibliography with extensive primary sources.