Wish you could spend a day at the beach close to Seattle? Lake Sammamish State Park is the place to go! With two beaches on the lake and trails through deciduous forest and wetlands, this park is a great place for families to enjoy the outdoors. You might even have to share your space with a nesting great blue heron or bald eagle.
Don’t have a kayak or board but love water sports? No problem! Tibbetts Beach has places to rent. Keep your feet or wheels on the ground instead? Bring your bikes, walking sticks, binoculars, and bird books, or bring your GPS unit and go geocaching on the trails.
Would the kids rather have no plans? Let them play on the brand-new playground with the latest equipment while you sit back and relax.
Lake Sammamish State Park is a lot of fun in its own right, but it also hosts community events all year long. There are nature, bird, and dog walks, stewardship projects, paddling and cycling events, kids’ obstacle courses, summer concerts, holiday boat parades, and the annual summer Parkadilly Fair.
Lake Sammamish State Park is a great place to picnic, play, and make memories, whether you live in the Emerald City or are just visiting.
Lake Sammamish State Park
Lake Sammamish State Park has a beach, forests, wetlands, and the chance to see wildlife. It has it all. People have liked what the area has to offer for a long time. The land around the lake is important to several Native American tribes because it was a place where they could meet.
Homestead and Issaquah Creek are two wooded trails in the northeast corner of the park where you can find peace. When the salmon are spawning in the fall, this salmon-bearing creek can be a fun (if smelly) way to learn.
Or, drive around the Orchard Loop and see the soccer fields. A half mile of the Tibbetts Creek trail leads to Tibbetts Beach, and the Joggers Loop goes around the softball field near I-90.
Because the park is close to the cities on Puget Sound, it’s a good place to go when you want to get out but don’t have a full day. That also means there will be a lot of other people on the trail.
If you and your family want to do something else while you’re there, you can rent kayaks or paddleboards, go bird watching, or geocache. If you want to hike more, you could go to the Beaver Lake Preserve next door, where WTA volunteers have worked on trails in the past.
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Before you leave,
WTA Pro Tip: Before you leave, save a copy of our directions! When you’re driving to the trailhead, app-based directions may not always be right, and your data connection may not always work.
How to Get There
Take exit 13 off of I-90 and head towards W. Lake Sammamish Lakemont Bvd. S.E. and S.E. Newport Way. Continue for about 0.2 miles, then turn left onto W. Lake Sammamish Parkway S.E. and merge onto 180th Ave. SE/Lakemont Blvd. SE. After about a mile, go to the traffic circle and take the first exit onto W Lake Sammamish Pkwy SE. Sammamish State Park will be on the left after about 2 miles.
PARK FEATURES
Sammamish State Park is a 531-acre park that is open during the day and has 6,858 feet of Lake Sammamish shoreline. Native American tribes from at least four different groups used the area around the lake as a meeting place.
Recreation will keep the whole family busy, but a salmon-bearing creek and a great blue heron rookery are also great places to watch birds and other animals.
Automated pay station: This park has an automated pay station where people can buy a one-day Discover Pass or an annual pass.
Trailer dump station: The public can use the trailer dump at Sammamish State Park. Visitors don’t need a Discover Pass if they only want to use the dump station. Trailer dump fees can be paid for with cash or a check at the dump station or with a credit card at the park office.
Note That: Staff at Lake Sammamish State Park would like to remind visitors that dogs are allowed in state parks as long as they are always on a leash and under physical control. On beaches where people can swim, dogs are not allowed. The staff wants to make sure that all visitors are safe, comfortable, and have fun. They also want to protect the park’s wildlife and natural resources. Keep your dog on a leash and clean up after it.
PICNIC & DAY-USE FACILITIES
The Kitchen Shelter can be reserved and has a covered area with a counter in the middle that has power outlets. There’s a big grassy area and a volleyball court made of sand. The shelter can hold as many as 400 people.
The Creek Shelter can be reserved and has a small covered area with a counter with electrical outlets, 10 picnic tables inside, many tables outside, and a sandy volleyball court. The shelter can hold up to 200 people at once.
The Rotunda Shelter is a unique hexagonal building that can be reserved. It has a fireplace in the middle, six picnic tables inside, 12 tables outside, and a volleyball court made of sand. A group of up to 100 people can stay at the shelter.
You can make reservations for all day-use facilities by going online or calling (888) CAMPOUT or (888) 226-7688. The park also has one picnic table with a roof, 475 picnic tables without roofs, and 80 barbecue grills on stands.
Note that : groups that want to do more than just meet (like use a bounce house or bring in outside vendors) must call the park at (425) 649-4275 to get a special activity permit. If you don’t do this, the event might have to be cancelled.
CTIVITIES
TRAILS
- 1.5 miles of biking trails
- 1.5 miles of hiking trails
WATER ACTIVITIES & FEATURES
- Boating
- Fishing (freshwater)
- Kayak and paddleboard rentals
- Personal watercraft use
- Swimming
- Watercraft launches (9)
- Waterskiing
OTHER ACTIVITIES & FEATURES
- Baseball/ softball fields (2)
- Wildlife viewing
- Bird watching
Exemptions
- New in 2023! The Sunset Beach Cafe is glad to be at Lake Sammamish! They have a great selection of food and snacks at Sunset Beach, including Zeek’s Pizza, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, hot dogs, soda, snacks, and espresso and Italian sodas made to order. The Sunset Beach Cafe is only open on weekends in May and September. From mid-June to Labor Day, it is open every day. On Instagram and Facebook, you can also find them.
- At the Tibbets Beach swim area, Issaquah Paddle Sports rents out kayaks, paddle boards, and pedal boats. In May and September, they are only open on the weekends, but from mid-June to Labor Day, they are open every day. The hours are from noon to six, but they can change depending on the weather. Go to their website for more information and prices.
Extra Info
- The park has paved walking paths and dirt and gravel trails that can be used for both biking and walking.
- During the summer, you can rent kayaks and stand up paddleboards from Issaquah Paddle Sports.
- There are volleyball courts made of sand, but many people put nets up anywhere on the beach.
- There’s a bathhouse with changing rooms and three play areas for kids with big toys.
- In Washington state parks, you need a recreational licence to fish and collect shellfish. Visit the Washington
- Department of Fish and Wildlife to find out about rules, fishing seasons, or to buy a recreational licence.
Safety for all
Most of the time, it’s safe to go to the park. Park Rangers, who are licenced police officers, and local police officers walk around the park and make sure that state laws and park rules are followed. Eastside Fire and Rescue helps with medical emergencies and keeps fires from happening.
But over the years, there have been a number of accidents in the park, some of which have been fatal. People have drowned in the water, which is between 50 and 55 °F (10 and 13 °C) in the winter and between 70 and 75 °F (21 and 24 °C) in the summer.
Injuries and damage to property have been cause by boating accidents. On July 17, 2010, around 9 p.m., when the park was full of people enjoying the summer weather, someone open fire.
Police came and lock down the park while firefighters and paramedics came to help the people who were hurt. Two of the men die at the scene, and the other four were taken to the hospital.
The park is also well-known because of serial killer Ted Bundy. On July 14, 1974, he kidnap Janice Ott and Denise Naslund there, four hours apart, in broad daylight.
A few months later, their bones were found on the side of a road two miles (3 km) away near Issaquah, which is the closest town to the park.
Natural history
The area that is now the state park and the city of Issaquah has been use by people for a long time, ever since the first native tribes settle there.
The Snoqualmie, Sammamish, and Duwamish people’s descendants fished, hunted, and gathered plants like camas from the mixed prairie and old-growth coniferous forest in the Issaquah creek valley.
The old-growth forest went all the way to the edge of Lake Sammamish’s southern shores.
In the 1860s, hunters, miners, and settlers from other countries started coming over the hill from what is now Bellevue and up the Sammamish River valley to the fertile open areas between Kenmore, Bothell, and Redmond.
Archeological studies have found trees on the bottom of Lake Sammamish that are more than a thousand years old and got there because of earthquakes and land slides.
At about the same time, slides like these happened in Lake Washington. From the time of the land slides until the late 1800s, when European and American explorers found the valley, the lake and the forest around it probably didn’t change much.
In the 1860s, Lake Washington was 11 feet (3.4 m) higher than it is now, and Lake Sammamish was 2–4 feet (0.6–1.2 m) lower than it is now. This meant that a steamer could slowly make its way from Lake Washington to Lake Sammamish along the winding Sammamish River.
Lake Washington’s northeast end went all the way to the Bothell/Woodinville area. Early attempts to use this passage between Issaquah and Lake Washington for business, mostly to ship coal from Issaquah mines, failed because it was slow, shallow, and winding.
Things To Do In Lake Sammamish State Park
Hiking
Through natural areas, there are easy-to-use paved and packed dirt trails for walking, biking, and mountain biking. There are 1.5 miles of bike paths and 1.5 miles of walking paths in the park.
Picnicking
A picnic is a great thing to do at Lake Sammamish State Park. There are three shelters for picnics, and one of them is a rotunda. There are picnic tables and grills all over the park to make things easier for you.
The Kitchen Shelter has a centre counter with electrical outlets and two sinks. The shelter can hold up to 400 people at once.
The unique hexagonal Rotunda Shelter can also be reserved. It has a central fireplace, six picnic tables inside, 12 tables outside, and a volleyball court made of sand.
A group of up to 100 people can stay at the shelter. To book a shelter, you can call (888) CAMPOUT or book online.
PLAYING
In 2016, the park opened a playground for everyone. Rubber flooring makes sure that everyone can get around, even in strollers and wheelchairs. The playground is for kids ages 2 to 12 and has a geodesic dome, a zip line, swings, slides, and a net that turns. The Eastside’s best playground!
LEARNING
All summer long, on Saturdays and Sundays, there are events for Junior Rangers. Children are welcome to meet our park rangers and learn about native animals, protecting the environment, and conservation.
Camping
East of the lake, across E Sammamish Parkway SE, is the Hans Jensen Youth Camp. The Park is on the other side of the road. The Camp can fit up to 40 cars and up to 100 people. There are 36 picnic tables and a shelter with a roof for a picnic. You can call 800-CAMPOUT or book online to make a reservation.
Boating
With 6,858 feet of water, Lake Sammamish State Park is a great place to go boating. As one of the few public launch sites on the lake, the park is a popular place to start. There are nine launches with very nice docks and 250 parking spots for vehicles with trailers. Boaters also have access to a bathroom. It costs $7 to launch with a Discover Pass, $10 with a Daily Access Permit and $7 to launch, or nothing with a Natural Investment Permit. There is a machine that lets you pay with cash or a card.
Paddling
Don’t have a kayak or board but love water sports? No problem! Tibbetts Beach has places to rent. Issaquah Paddle Sports rents out kayaks and stand-up paddle boards in the summer.
Swimming
Lake Sammamish State Park has two beaches with swimming areas that are fenced in and a Bath House that has been completely remodelled. Sunset Beach was fixed up in 2016. Check out the new shape of the beach, the “buried” bronze animals, and the ramp that people with disabilities can use. From the beaches, it’s easy to get to the playground and snack bar.
Fishing
Lake Sammamish State Park is the best place in Western Washington to catch small-mouth bass. In Washington state parks, you need a recreational licence to fish and collect shellfish. Visit the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to find out about rules, fishing seasons, or to buy a recreational licence. Cutthroat and Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth and Largemouth Bass, Yellow Perch, Brown Bullhead Catfish, Black Crappie, Chinook Salmon, Kokanee, and Steelhead are among the species that can be caught.
Birdwatching
Visitors can enjoy the park’s deciduous forest and wetland plants, as well as a large rookery of great blue herons. In its many ecosystems, this urban park has a wide range of birds and places for them to live.
Crows, Pigeons, Waterfowl (Eurasian Wigeon, American Wigeon, Mallard, Bufflehead, Green-winged Teal, Ruddy Duck, Common Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser, and Coots), Kinglets, Cedar Waxwings, different Sparrows, Geese, Gulls (Mew, Ring-billed, California, Herring, and Glaucous-winged), Bald Eagles,
The Eastside Audubon Society leads bird walks in the park once a month. For more information, please look at the Eastside Audubon Calendar.