Artists seek inspiration on King County’s trails
September 28, 2010
Paul Rucker performs an outdoor concert at Rattlesnake Lake, the southernmost point of the Snoqualmie Valley trail. By Heather Dwyer
As Seattle artists Stokely Towles, Susan Robb and Paul Rucker learned this summer, beauty and uniqueness can be found right in one’s very own backyard.
Since April, the three local, interdisciplinary artists have been exploring the King County trail system as inspiration for their art. Along the way, they have been learning and creating a series of artworks on the trails.
Each of them first responded to an invitation put out last December by 4Culture. The invitation called for artists who were interested in working with the parks department in creating work on the regional trail system.
“Our mission was to explore the King County trail system,” Towles said. “Each of us has different ways of doing that.”
Towles explored the system by interviewing people and using their unique reasons and stories as his inspiration.
“People have all kinds of different reasons,” he said. “One man was bipolar and his mind was always on fire. Even just walking a few hundred yards helped to calm his mind.”
County outlines plan for Lake Sammamish Trail
June 1, 2010
The plan to upgrade a King County trail snaking along Lake Sammamish from Issaquah to Redmond inched forward last week, as the county released a key environmental report for the project.
The county released the environmental impact statement May 28. The report details the effect trail development could have on water quality, nearby wetlands, fish and wildlife, and adjacent properties.
Residents can review the document at the Issaquah and Sammamish libraries. The final document will be available for 30 days.
East Lake Sammamish Trail stretches from Northwest Gilman Boulevard in Issaquah and north to Redmond. Issaquah and Redmond sections of the interim trail opened in March 2004. The interim portion through Sammamish opened in 2006. The trail meanders through a former railroad corridor along the east side of the lake.
Plans call for the county to replace the existing gravel trail with asphalt and a separated soft-surface strip for pedestrians and equestrians. Rules prohibit equestrians from using the existing trail.
Design for the Issaquah segment should be completed by October. Construction on the Redmond portion should start in late November or early December.
The upgrade should complete a missing link in a 44-mile urban regional trail corridor connected to the Burke-Gilman Trail, the Sammamish River Trail and the Issaquah High Point Trail.
Planners released a draft environmental report in late 2006. The design team then addressed questions and comments from trail users and county residents in the final environmental report.
The county prepared the final report in conjunction with the Federal Highway Administration and the state Department of Transportation in order to meet federal and state environmental requirements.
Get involved
King County planners released the final environmental impact statement for a planned redevelopment of East Lake Sammamish Trail. Read the report at the Issaquah Library, 10 W. Sunset Way, or the Sammamish Library, 825 228th Ave. N.E.
From Squak to Gilman to Olney to Issaquah
February 23, 2010
City has had multiple names in its 118-year history
Everybody wonders about the name, the jumble of vowels and consonants joined by Q-U, and almost unpronounceable to outsiders: Issaquah. But the tale behind the name — and the names Issaquah had before city fathers picked Issaquah — brings up almost as many questions.
The first white settlers reached the area now known as Issaquah in the mid-1860s. Because officials incorporated the town a few decades later — and changed the name a few years hence — questions still arise about when, exactly, Issaquah was founded.
How about 1862, when the first settlers arrived? How about 1892, when the town incorporated as Gilman? Or, why not 1895, when the Legislature approved the latest name, Issaquah?
