Newcastle Trails: 27 Years and Counting
Boulder Grove Bench at Newcastle Trails. Courtesy of Garry Kampen.
By Garry Kampen, President, Newcastle Trails
Newcastle was founded in 1994, and Newcastle Trails (NT) in 1995, by local residents aiming to preserve their trails and woodlands. NT cooperated closely with Bellevue. We decided they had the best trail signs around, and Newcastle adopted them with a new color and new graphics. We also adopted Bellevue’s use of urban trails, which span the city by combining nature trails with sidewalks.
Today Newcastle’s trail system is nearing completion, with shared trails that continue into Renton, Bellevue, and King County’s Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park (CMRWP). Renton has great parks and multi-use trails. But Newcastle, although ten times smaller, has ten times that of Renton’s nature trail mileage (per capita), as well as additional sidewalk miles in the urban trails that span Newcastle.
Ribbon-cutting ceremony for CrossTown Trail, with Garry Kampen and Risdon Middle School and Renton School District leadership. c. 2016. Courtesy of Garry Kampen.
Peggy Price and Garry Kampen with Scout leader Bill Burris and Scouts representing the many Scout volunteers who helped build our trails, June 5, 2010. Photo courtesy of Garry Kampen.
In Newcastle, NT has cooperated with the city’s Public Works department to build trail segments and install trail signs; we’ve worked with the planners in Community Development to get parks and trails from developers; and NT volunteers (mostly Peggy Price and the Scouts) have built miles of trails while contributing tens of thousands of community service hours.
But, after 32 years, Lake Boren Park is still incomplete! The east shore is unusable. Elsewhere, water access and views are increasingly blocked by vegetation.
NT has asked the City Council to complete the park by building the east-shore Promenade, a park path that runs north from the south shore boardwalk and ascends to the Parkway near the Aegis Living retirement facility. The Promenade will also complete the Lake Boren Trail, a potential art-history trail around the lake, with wetlands and waterfront. (See Lake Boren Promenade and Trail).
Garry Kampen enjoying time at Newcastle Trails. Courtesy of Garry Kampen.
Kelly Malleck scouting out a Newcastle Trails walk route. Courtesy of Garry Kampen.
In the 2016 Park Master Plan, the Promenade appears as a $1M project (in today’s dollars). It has now appeared in a (draft) budget for years 2027-32, for 2030-31. Priority is given to a regional sports park, budgeted at $5M for 2027-32 and $29M after that. NT would give top priority to the $1M Promenade (fund-design-build 2027-29).
One council member has an idea for sports, where Newcastle could partner with Renton, Bellevue, and/or King County. Perhaps the city could offer its unused land for sports and let the partners fund, build, and manage the sports park.
To volunteer and/or subscribe to our free newsletter, email us at info@newcastletrails.org. We need help in advocating for parks and trails and building them—but we also need a mapmaker with GIS skills. Check our NT website at www.newcastletrails.org for maps, trail guides, and other information. If you want Lake Boren Park completed ASAP with an east-shore Promenade, email CityCouncil@newcastlewa.gov—and copy Newcastle Trails.
Photo courtesy of Garry Kampen.
Current Projects. The NT website is being modernized by two of our members. NT has cooperated with the Newcastle Historical Society on improvements to the historic cemetery, which include a new fence and a new trail, and the development of a Newcastle Historical Park near the YMCA. Thanks to the Issaquah Alps Trails Club (IATC) and Save Coal Creek, Bellevue is developing a historical site on Coal Creek for public use.
Future Projects. In southeast Newcastle, the planned GreenCastle development will provide new trails into CMRWP. The planned NE Renton Park nearby will link to the May Creek Greenway, a trail route from Lake Washington to Cougar Mountain Park.
The CrossTown Trail is Newcastle’s longest trail, spanning the city from Risdon School to Cougar Mountain. This is an urban trail with sidewalks but mostly routed through forested areas and park land. It passes through Hazelwood, Donegal, and Lake Boren Park, crosses the Parkway, and continues in woodland (with views) from Beit Tikvah into Cougar Mountain Park. Next year we hope to celebrate its completion.