Roegner Park

Location: Auburn.

Length: More than 2 miles each way.

Level of difficulty: Gentle, parallel, paved and dirt/gravel trails; short, moderate paved loop into forest.

Setting: This beautifully designed, 21-acre park is the perfect spot for a tale of two rivers and three parks. The 2.3-mile White River Trail runs between the park's grassy lawn and the gravel bars of the Stuck River to connect up with Game Farm Wilderness Park (with Game Farm Park across the river). In this area, the White River becomes the Stuck River. However, the White River originally hung a right (essentially at the current Game Farm Park parking lot) to flow north through the Kent Valley (along with its tributary, the Green River).

Highlights: During the huge 1906 flood, the White River breached the land then separating it from the Stuck River, and poured all of its flow into the Stuck's channel. To permanently keep the water in that channel for flood-control purposes in the Kent Valley, a 1,600-foot-long and 14-foot-high concrete dam was constructed alongside the river. Visit the White River Valley Museum (directions below) for fascinating details on these events, and to see a large historic map that shows the old river channels.

Facilities: Seasonal water and restrooms at this park and Game Farm Wilderness Park; playground and accessible picnic tables.

Restrictions: Leash and scoop laws in effect. Horses welcome.

Directions: From Interstate 5, take Highway 18 east to Auburn and take the Auburn Way/Enumclaw exit. From the exit ramp, turn left on Auburn Way, and in .3 mile, turn left and follow signs to the White River Valley Museum. To reach Auburn Game Farm Park, continue east again on Auburn Way South. After crossing "M" Street, bear right on Howard Road (don't cross the bridge). Turn right on "R" Street, and Game Farm Park is on your left in a half-mile. Cross the Stuck River (the entrance to Game Farm Wilderness Park is on the left), and then turn right on Oravetz Road. In .8 mile, turn right into Roegner Park.

For more information: 253-931-3043 or www.ci.auburn.wa.us or www.wrvmuseum.org.

Cathy McDonald is coauthor with Stephen Whitney of "Nature Walks In and Around Seattle," with photographs by James Hendrickson (The Mountaineers, second edition, 1997).