Echo Lake is located in

Shoreline, Washington Shoreline is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is located between the city limits of Seattle and the Snohomish County border, approximately north of Downtown Seattle. As of the 2020 census, the population of Shoreline was ...

, a suburb adjacent to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. Echo Lake Park sits on its northeastern corner.

History

Echo Lake has played an important role in Shoreline's history. During the 1800s, logging was a significant industry in the region. In the early 1900s, Mowatt's Sawmill operated at the north end of Echo Lake. From 1916 to 1996, the lake had a bathing beach that cost a nickel for admission. The lake was a center for social life, especially during the summer. Apartment buildings now stand on the former beach site.

Description

Echo Lake Park contains popular amenities such as a beach, paved trails, a playground, and public art. Echo Lake is stocked with

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

by the

Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is a department of the government of the state of Washington, United States of America. The WDFW manages over a million acres of land, the bulk of which is generally open to the public, an ...

. The lake suffers from high nutrient levels (

eutrophication Eutrophication is a general term describing a process in which nutrients accumulate in a body of water, resulting in an increased growth of organisms that may deplete the oxygen in the water; ie. the process of too many plants growing on the s ...

), causing algal growth and impacting water quality. In April 2021, these conditions led to algal blooms containing anatoxin, a highly toxic chemical. This led to a temporary lake closure.

References

{{reflist Geography of Shoreline, Washington Parks in Shoreline, Washington Lakes of King County, Washington Lakes of Washington (state)