User:Huskyhero/Bridle Trails State Park

Bridle Trails State Park is a 489 acre state park in the Bridle Trails neighborhood in an unincorporated part of the Eastside area of King County, Washington. Established in 1932 and developed in 1933 by the Civil Works Administration, primary features of the park include a forested trail system shared by pedestrians and equestrians and an outdoor arena used for equestrian purposes. As one of the first established state parks in Washington state, the area has been known as a region for people in urban King County to experience the semi-rural nature, and to get a feel of how things were before industrialization.

Description
Just outside the city of Redmond, Bridle Trails State Park is a state park that borders the Eastside cities of Kirkland to the north and west and Bellevue to the south and east. It is bounded by 116th Avenue NE and I-405 to the west, NE 60th Street to the north, 132nd Avenue NE to the east, and suburban housing to the south. The primary entry point to the park is off of 116th Avenue NE, where a parking lot for Discover Pass holders allows access to the park's trailhead for drivers.

The park offers an unpaved 28 mi trail system for horseback riding and hiking through thick forests, contrasting the suburban setting immediately surrounding the park and the dense urban setting of nearby Downtown Bellevue. Specifically this park is a lowland forest, with the majority of trees being Douglas-firs and western hemlocks. The main pathways of Bridle Trails include the 3.7 mi Coyote Trail that forms a loop around the park, the 0.97 mi Raven Trail, and the 1.16 mi Trillium Trail. The 2.13 mi Bridle Crest Trail provides bicycle and pedestrian access between the park and Marymoor Park, the trailhead for the Sammamish River Trail in Redmond. This connection to Marymoor Park links Bridle Trails State Park to other parks included in the Mountains to Sound Greenway. Four outdoor arenas are used for equestrian shows. The park has an area with tables, a restroom, a water fountain, and a barbeque for usage as a place for picnics and social gatherings.

Restrictions
Cycling, camping, and off-leash dogs are not permitted within the park. Pedestrians are required to yield just off of the trail to passing equestrian traffic. The park is closed after dusk and opens at 6:30 a.m. most of the year. During the winter, most of the park opens at 8:00 a.m., but some areas close entirely for the season. Residents have reported sightings of a black bear leaving the state park annually during the summer season. Park goers are suggested to watch out for their safety by bringing bear spray with them during the warmer months, as encounters with the bear around the neighborhood are becoming increasingly more common.

History
The first inhabitants of the region consisted of multiple Native American tribes. The most known from the region was the Duwamish ethnic-group. A small branch of that group were known as "the lake people" (properly known as: "Tabtabiux"), who lived all around the cities of Kirkland, Bellevue, and Redmond, WA. Much of the land included in the park was set aside "for the purpose of being applied to common schools" when Washington Territory was created in 1853. Initially, timber sales were used from the park in order to support local public schools. That land became a state park in 1932 after efforts of local advocates. These local advocates consisted of primarily different equestrian communities who wanted a safe place to ride their horses. During this time there were around 3,500 horses in the region then known as the "Greater Bellevue" area. This even led to the creation of a formal horse-riding group called the Lake Washington Saddle Club. Workers with the Civil Works Administration cleared brush, burned logging debris, built trails and fences, and other efforts in initial park development. The Bridle Trails Park Foundation was established in 2002 to pay half the cost of park operations after funding from the state was reduced. This payment was in agreement with the state government, that the state will guarantee to keep the park open and untouched for 40 years starting in 2003. Many volunteer events that involve environmental stewardship occur at the park throughout the year, and almost always on Earth Day.

Originally the park was surrounded by properties dedicated to the ownership of horses, but successive waves of redevelopment have decreased the number of horse owners who live nearby and increased the density of residential housing. An all-women group known as the "Gallop'n Gerties" formed in the mid-1900's, where they would have weekly horse rides, community parties for holiday's such as Christmas, and even local drill team events. The majority of the original non-Indigenous settlers of the land all had barns on their house properties as owning a horse was a common part of society in this region at that time. The change in the makeup of the surrounding community has created some conflict between pedestrians, particularly those accompanied by off-leash dogs, and horse riders within the park, including a 2015 incident in which a spooked horse ran from the trail and was struck by a motor vehicle, resulting in the animal's euthanization.