Lake Wilderness Park and Cedar-to-Green River Trail

Lake Wilderness Park in Maple Valley offers a network of trails and a landscaped arboretum to explore. In summer, take a swim in Lake Wilderness. For more hiking, follow the Cedar-to-Green Rivers Trail, a rails-to-trails conversion, north or south.

Sparse bus service along State Route 169 makes access a bit tricky. Hopefully, service will improve in the future.

Revised 9/20/2021

Lake Wilderness Arboretum

Getting There

From Seattle, take the Metro 101 to the Renton Transit Center. Catch Metro 907 (caution: sparse schedule, weekdays only) and ride to Maple Valley. Get off at the stop at SR 169 and SE 240th, just past the Wilderness Village shopping center.

Cedar-to-Green Rivers Trail near Lake Wilderness

The Hike

From the bus stop, walk a block west on SE 240th, then turn right into a gated driveway that leads into the Wilderness Village apartment complex. Google Maps shows this drive as 225th Ave SE. Walk south through the complex until you arrive at 228th Ave SE (you could get to 228th by walking along SR 169, but that option is noisy and unpleasant).

Turn right and walk south on 228th Ave SE, a peaceful suburban street. In a quarter mile the street bends sharply left. At the bend is the gated entrance to the wooded Lake Wilderness Arboretum. Follow the gravel service road through the shady forest a short distance until it intersects the gravel-surfaced Cedar-to-Green Rivers Trail (CTGR).

Now you have a couple of choices. You can walk south in the CTGR trail. For a half mile the trail follows the shore of Lake Wilderness, a pretty stretch for a walk. After the trail crosses a driveway, it leaves vicinity of the lake and becomes less interesting. You could follow the trail for a couple miles south until it ends by SR 169 and perhaps catch a bus there.

Another option is to explore the dense network of trails inside the Arboretum. On the far side of the CTGR trail is Lake Wilderness Park with lawns, a lodge building, and a swimming area. The formal gardens of the Arboretum are located nearby.

Yet another option is to walk north on the CTGR trail. It travels along a narrow wooded greenbelt past the Wilderness Village shopping mall, underneath SR 169, and eventually merging with the Cedar River Trail about 2 miles from Lake Wilderness. You then can keep walking north on the Cedar River Trail 3/4 of a mile until it reaches the SR 18 freeway overpass and a trailhead parking area. A bus stop is located nearby on SR 169.

The final and quite reasonable option is to walk Witte Road to the Cedar Downs development, walk west on streets within the development to beautiful Cedar Creek Park. From there you can walk all the way to Timberlane Way and catch buses there to Kent. Bus service on Timberlane Way is much better than on SR 169. See the "Cedar Creek Park" chapter for more information on this walking route.

Getting Back

Catch Metro 907 (warning: sparse schedule) somewhere along SR 169 and return to Downtown Renton Transit Center. There, Metro 101 will take you back to Seattle.