SEATTLE — If Bridle Trails State Park is the ultimate Seattle-area trail run for beginners, Redmond Watershed Preserve is the logical next step. The Washington State Parks website touts its “28 miles of well-maintained trails suitable for recreational horseback riding, walking, jogging, nature observing and general spiritual renewal.”
That might seem like overblown copy, but it’s not. This is a park that meets a number of varied needs, with a network of suburb-adjacent trails that accordion well — you can connect individual trails ranging in distance from 0.7 to 2.9 miles into as short or long a route as you like, making this an ideal spot for a range of trail users. From a safe distance, I observed daytime amblers; one other trail runner; two equestrians (remember to yield to horses); walkers clad in neon ponchos; and a handful of cheerful cyclists, including one who shouted pleasantly from his fat-tire perch as he sped past. “Do you think it’s going to rain?” he asked.
We were drenched. In previous years, I’ve logged a lot of wintertime miles on a treadmill, but in 2020, running in the rain has become a superior, crucial, COVID-19-necessitated replacement; as a practice, I don’t go running when it’s dark out, but a little rain won’t stop me. And so I went running at Redmond Watershed Preserve on a day so rainy and gray the most wooded sections of the park were visibly dim for midday, and I had the trail almost all to myself.
If you find low light and thin crowds spooky, run with a buddy, and keep in mind: When it comes to crowd estimates, your mileage may vary. I went on a weekday because this is my job, but if you arrive on a weekend and things look crowded-verging-on-dicey, be prepared, as always, to change your plan.