From lush Douglas fir forests to sweeping views of Mount Rainier and the Cascades, King County’s 180 miles of backcountry trails offer diverse outdoor experiences in nearby settings, including hiking, walking, trail running, horseback riding, and mountain biking in parks and natural areas throughout the county.

King County Parks and its community partners offer a range of activities this weekend to commemorate American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day, including:

·Evergreen Mountain Bike Festival at Duthie Hill Park, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. This family-friendly festival features bike demos, raffles, food vendors, a special kids’ event, mini-clinics, and a beer garden courtesy of Bellevue Brewing Company. Trails will be open to ride all day.

·Trail-running rally with The North Face Bellevue, 9:30 a.m.- 1 p.m. Start at The North Face Bellevue store for a training run and free breakfast conversation with The North Face ultra-runner Kami Semick in the morning, and then head to the Seattle Running Club’s volunteer trail building work party at the Sky Country trailhead on Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park.

·Grand opening of the new Black Diamond Open Space parking lot, all day.  This 1,100-acre property features trails through second-growth forest and rocky clearings popular with mountain bikers. The new parking lot, which has capacity for 25 cars and five horse trailers, is located on the east side of State Route 169 near the intersection with Southeast 288th Street.

·Seattle Works Day with Friends of the Cedar River Watershed at Taylor Mountain Forest, noon – 3:30 p.m. Volunteers will build and repair trails at the 1,800-acre forest near Hobart.

·Baby herons and Birdloop Trail work party with Eastside Audubon at Marymoor Park, 9 a.m. – noon. Volunteers will restore native habitat along the Birdloop Trail, and Eastside Audubon members will have high-powered spotting scopes set up from 9-11 a.m. to view the nesting herons.

American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day is a nationally recognized trail awareness program that occurs annually on the first Saturday of June and inspires the public to discover, learn about, and celebrate trails while participating in outdoor activities, clinics, and trail stewardship projects.  For more information, visit www.americanhiking.org/national-trails-day/.