Biking And Land Paddling Around Lake Union In Seattle

Seattle is an outdoor lovers paradise ! Just the fact that the ( unofficial ) "symbol" of the Pacific Northwest great outdoors - REI - is located in Seattle downtown, tells how much Seattleites love playing in the great outdoors !

Seattle is one of few cities around US that offers an abundance of outdoor activities in and around its downtown, with bicycling being, perhaps, Seattleites' most favorite one.

Urban trails include shared use paths, bike lanes, signed bike routes, arterials with wide shoulders, and pedestrian pathways. And a great thing about bike lanes/trails, is that they can be used by land paddlers as well.

One of these popular bike trails is a 6 mile loop around Lake Union.

The City and the Seattle Parks Foundation created a multi-use loop around Lake Union for people to enjoy lakefront parks, celebrate the lake’s historic working waterfront, and to reveal the unique character and quality of the lake itself.

The loop creates safe and attractive access to the lake for all Seattlites - connecting Gasworks and Lake Union Parks, linking more than 35 pocket parks, street ends and waterways that ring the lake, and provide access to/from adjacent neighborhoods, downtown, and the University of Washington. This loop celebrates the rich and varied history of Lake Union and its ties to Seattle’s maritime and industrial past, present and future.

Whether you're doing the loop by bike or on a longboard, I recommend to start with the Center for Wooden Boats and Museum of History and Industry. 

The center rents row boats, sailboats, kayak, and canoes to explore the lake. The Center for Wooden Boats is a place where history becomes something you can touch, build, and sail. The nearby Museum of History and Industry has a collection of some four million objects, and now features some 50,000 square feet of exhibits that chronicle, dissect, criticize and honor Seattle’s past and future.

Then head out towards Fremont - an official Center Of Universe. Fremont is famous for such cultural landmarks as Statue of Lenin, the Fremont Troll, the outdoor sculpture "Waiting for the Interurban " and an old rocket fuselage. There the loop connects with another famous and popular Burke-Gilman bike trail that can take you as far as Kenmore, Wa, and offers you to see even more local landmarks.

A great place to have lunch/picnic while land paddling or biking, is Gas Works park, the old gasification plant has been reconditioned, painted, and incorporated into a "play barn" structure. The park offers a panoramic view of the Seattle skyline, Lake Union and snowcapped mountains.

From this point, you can choose to turn around, or finish the loop, and take one of Kenmore seaplanes to see our beloved city from the sky !

Learn more about Land Paddling at - www.SeattleLandPaddling.com