8 Kid-Friendly Hikes Just 90 Minutes (or Less) From Seattle

My family loves to hike, but we rarely travel more than a few miles from our home for our woodsy walking adventures. We are always hitting the default button by driving to our favorite local haunts, Seattle’s Discovery Park and Carkeek Park.

To expand our horizons, I decided to get us out of our comfort zone and onto trails a little farther afield, but within 90 minutes of our front door. I found eight nearby hiking trails offering fun for kids and a variety of difficulty levels.

Important note: Follow good hiking safety practices, and always check current conditions in advance — the Washington Trails Association is a great resource — especially if you are hiking outside the summer season. 

Grand Ridge Trail Park, Issaquah

Completed several years ago by tireless Washington Trails Association volunteers, Grand Ridge Park trail is a 7-mile multi-use trail overlooking the cities of Issaquah and Sammamish. Kid attractions along the way include several small bridges and a 40-foot cedar log stringer bridge built with wind-fallen trees. A 605-foot cedar-decked boardwalk spans a peat wetland surrounded by thick stands of western hemlock and Sitka spruce. Look for barred owls, pileated woodpeckers, deer, squirrels, swallows, finches and bald eagles. Cougars, black bears and bobcats are sometimes spotted in this area, too.

Length of trail/difficulty: This 7-mile trail includes some rolling terrain and a roughly 1,100-foot elevation gain. Kids ages 10 and older should be able to walk the entire network, while younger children can explore shorter loops. Hikers, bikers, horses and leashed dogs share this trail.

Getting there: You can start a hike from several trailheads. Find directions and recent trip reports with info on trail conditions at the WTA website. No parking pass required.

Bellevue Botanical Garden’s Ravine Experience

The ravine experience at Bellevue Botanical Garden is a trail featuring a 150-foot steel suspension bridge. The bridge sways as visitors walk high over a ravine amid a second-growth forest of soaring conifers. Looking for more information about the plants you see? Try out the Interactive Garden feature using your phone. Scan or tap the markers placed throughout the garden to pull up information from the plant database. Look for birds and deer on this hikers-only trail and know that there are rare coyote sightings here. The garden is open daily from dawn to dusk, but leave your pooch home for this one as dogs are not allowed.

Length of trail/difficulty: This short hike is appropriate for all ages, although some children may decline to cross this sturdy yet gently swaying bridge. Also, explore 10 acres of gardens at this free-to-the-public botanical center.

Getting there: Find directions to the garden on the website. Find overflow parking at adjacent Wilburton Hill Park, where you’ll find a fun playground.

Evans Creek Preserve, Sammamish

With short hiking trails and boardwalks completed a few years back, Evans Creek Preserve sits on the site of a former 170-acre farm on the northern border of Sammamish. Wander through wetlands, meadows and forest. Spot birds from four viewing platforms. Look for deer, find a group of bigleaf maple trees and count all of the short bridges over the wetlands.

Length of trail/difficulty: Approximately 2 miles of mostly level trails and one long boardwalk make for easy hiking for walkers of any age. This is a hiker-only area, but dogs on leashes are welcome.

Getting there: Find directions on the WTA website. Park patrons must use the designated parking lot, which is located in a residential area. No parking pass required.

Paradise Valley Conservation Area, Woodinville

Even though Paradise Valley is not far from State Route 522, hikers in this preserve are enveloped in a vast 800-acre park of woodlands, wetlands and streams, including one of the Sammamish River system’s most productive salmon streams. Look for frogs, salamanders, bald eagles, hawks, owls and deer.

Length of trail/difficulty: With 13 miles of trails, there is a hike for every level here. Some trails are designated for mountain bikers and equestrians; Cascara Trail is the area’s shortest hiker-only trail. The Washington Trails Association website notes that loops off the Mainline Trail offer vistas that include the Cascade Range.

Getting there: Find driving directions to Paradise Valley at the website. Know that the parking lot (room for approximately 40 cars) fills up quickly on weekends and on beautiful summer days. No parking pass is required.

Tips: This park has a skills course for mountain bike riders. Hikers are allowed on every trail, though. Keep your eyes out for both bikers and horses, and kindly step aside when you are on multi-use trails. Leashed dogs are allowed.

Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, Olympia

The Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge is a nature wonderland just a short drive from Interstate 5. On 2 miles of trails, visitors can explore seven different types of habitat, each inhabited by a community of wildlife — Canada geese, bald eagles and American bitterns; plus otters, salmon, harbor seals and more. Don’t miss the Nisqually Estuary Boardwalk trail, a 1-mile boardwalk that traverses the Nisqually Delta and includes viewing platforms and an observation tower. At the visitor center, kids can pick up an explorer’s workbook, which they can complete to become a Junior Refuge Manager.

Length of trail/difficulty: This hiker-only destination has 2 miles of flat and well-maintained trails that are accessible and suitable for all ages. Note: There isn’t a picnic area and dogs are not allowed.

Getting there: Find driving directions on the website. There is a $3 fee that covers up to four adults in one party (children younger than 16 are free), cash or checks only.

Margaret’s Way, Issaquah

One of our region’s newer hikes is Margaret’s Way Trail on Squak Mountain. Named after a park planner, Margaret MacLeod, who helped spur the preservation of several areas in the Issaquah Alps, the trail starts at Squak Mountain Lodge and wanders along wooded hillsides and creeks, ending at Five Corners. Turn around or continue up to Debbie’s View lookout point for views of Mount Rainier.

Length of trail/difficulty: The trail is 6.5 miles round-trip, with an elevation gain of 1,500 feet.

Getting there: Find directions and recent trip reports at the WTA website. No parking pass required.

Centennial Trail, Snohomish County

The Centennial Trail is 30 miles of contiguous trails through Snohomish County that go all the way to the Skagit County line. This former Burlington Northern railway corridor has been turned into a 10-foot wide paved path perfect for hikers and bikers. There’s also a parallel natural surface path for horseback riders. One access point to the trail, the Nakashima Heritage Barn/North Trailhead was dedicated to the Nakashima family in November 2012. This family, of Japanese descent, owned the land until they were incarcerated during World War II. Consider a visit if your route allows. The trail can also be a nice bike ride for families; it’s typically less crowded than many Seattle-area trails.

Length of trail/difficulty: Pick your trailhead based on your family’s ambition and stamina level. The trail map is a useful guide. Some of the trailheads have playgrounds for youngsters, while older kids can bike the entire line in one day.

Getting there: Find directions to each trailhead at the Snohomish County website.

Tips: The Centennial Trail travels through Snohomish, Lake Stevens and Arlington, making for an easy lunch out in any of these towns. Also note that the trail hosts about a dozen events a year, so check online to plan your trips around these events. Find recent hiker trip reports on the WTA website.

Guemes Mountain, Guemes Island

So this one does not quite make our 90-minutes-from-Seattle cutoff. It’s more like two hours including the short ferry ride. But a trip that includes a ferry ride and a jaunt to the highest point on an island sounds like the perfect enticement for kids.

Guemes Mountain, located in a conservation area and protected by a unique partnership, is the highest point on Guemes Island, an island in the San Juan chain that you can access by ferry from Anacortes. The view from the top of Guemes Mountain includes the Skagit flats, Mount Baker, the Cascade mountains, Samish Island and several other San Juan Islands.

Length of trail/difficulty: This easy 2.4-mile trail (round trip) is perfect for almost any level of hiker.

Getting there: Find directions on the Skagit Land Trust site. You will need to take the Guemes Island Ferry from Anacortes, which has frequent service and crosses the channel in about five minutes. Note: There is very limited parking at the trailhead of Guemes Mountain (plus a bike rack), so consider bringing bikes onto the ferry instead of a car, and biking to the trailhead, 3 miles away. Find recent hike trip reports of Guemes Mountain at the WTA website.

Other things to do on Guemes Island: Check out our pocket guide to Guemes Island.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published several years ago and updated and fact-checked most recently in August 2024 by ParentMap’s associate editor, Kari Hanson.