Walkabout: Van Doren's Landing Park trails
Length: Several miles of trails (part of the Green River Trail).
Level of difficulty: Level, paved walking/biking path.
Setting: This quiet location along the Green River is steeped in 19th-century history. Located here were two small villages of the St-kah-mish people — Stokk, meaning "a log jam," and Tcutapaltu, meaning "Flea's house." This tribe was one of the bands along the White and Green Rivers that was later relocated to the Muckleshoot Reservation after the Indian War of 1855-56, and their descendants are part of the present-day Muckleshoot Tribe.
As settlers moved into the area, rivers were the main highways in this densely forested land. The park's location was the site of a ferry landing and store from the 1860s into the 1880s, named after Cornelius Van Doren, where people and goods were barged across the White River (the Green River, a former tributary of the White River, now flows in the present river channel). At a time when there were too few settlers for towns, ferry landings were important crossroads, functioning as trading posts for the area.
Highlights: The Green River Trail extends north and south of the park. Thickets of blackberries along the trail are already bearing fruit and offer a welcome snack. About 15 blocks south of the park, visit the Neely Soames Historical House, built in 1885, with lovely grounds maintained by volunteers, including a heritage kitchen garden.
Facilities: Restrooms and water.
Restrictions: Leash and scoop laws in effect.
Directions: From Interstate 5 take Exit 152 (heading south, take the left branch of the exit and turn left on Orillia Road; heading north, at the end of the exit ramp, turn right on Orillia Road). Head down the hill about two miles, and immediately after crossing the Green River, take a sharp right on Russell Road. Van Doren's Landing Park is on the right in about a half-mile.
For more information: 253-856-5100, www.ci.kent.wa.us/ParksRecreation or www.cyberkent.com/kenthistoric/museum/history1900.htm. Free cycling and walking guides of Kent are available upon request.
Cathy McDonald is coauthor with Stephen Whitney of "Nature Walks In and Around Seattle," with photographs by James Hendrickson (The Mountaineers, second edition, 1997).