MILL CREEK — Steve Beatty has remained steadfast in taking his soggy stroll, true to the sodden style of the Pacific Northwest.
Rain or shine, the 66-year-old has sauntered along the sinking boardwalk at North Creek Park almost every day for years.
The wooden path through the 81-acre park is supposed to float on a marsh. But, until recently, the boardwalk was sagging into the water in spots.
Snohomish County has finished $552,726 worth of repairs to the three-quarter mile pathway, south of 164th Street SE, just west of the Bothell-Everett Highway.
The boardwalk was built in 1997, giving people an panorama of a bog nestled in suburbia. But within a couple of years, some of the floats began to fail. Sections of the path started get stuck in the mud and were covered with water.
Many people, including Beatty, schlepped on, getting soaked along the way. Others turned back.
In 2011, the county started fixing the worst spots. It has since repaired 364 sections of boardwalk.
“We solved a 10-year problem and people are very excited,” Snohomish County Parks Director Tom Teigen said.
Despite the wet walkway, it remained popular.
The county estimates that 52,427 people strolled along the path in 2014. This year, more than 37,000 have hoofed it, so far.
“It’s one of the few places in the area you can walk through a wetland on a floating boardwalk with an up-close view of wildlife and plants,” county park planner Kevin Teague said. “It’s pretty special.”
The city of Mill Creek eventually wants to extend the North Creek Trail to connect with the boardwalk, Community and Economic Development Director Tom Rogers said.
The two-segment trail starts at McCollum Pioneer Park in south Everett and winds its way 2.5 miles through Mill Creek. It stops short of the boardwalk at North Creek Park, creating a break in the trail before it picks up north of Bothell.
Mill Creek is considering improvements to the north end of the path. It wants to add art, put in amenities and promote it to draw people to the nearby Town Center and other businesses, Rogers said.
Snohomish County is working to link the trail’s two segments. It is investing almost $1 million into that project, said Teigen, the parks director.
The southern section of existing trail starts north of Bothell at 214th Street SE. It stretches 5 miles south through the city.
Once the connection from Everett to Bothell is complete, it’ll hook up with a coordinated regional system with links to the Interurban, Sammamish River and Burke-Gilman trails in King and Snohomish counties.
That would provide a way for some 500,000 outdoor enthusiasts on each end of North Creek Trail to travel through the area, Teigen said.
In the meantime, Beatty’s just glad he might stay dry as he ambles along the boardwalk, taking photographs of wildlife in the wetland.
The new floats under the wooden walkway boast a hard, water-tight plastic shell to protect them. Parts of the deck and railings were also repaired after enduring years of heavy foot traffic.
The work is expected keep the boardwalk afloat for at least 15 years.
“It’s tremendously better,” Beatty said.
Amy Nile: 425-339-3192; anile@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @AmyNileReports.
Proposed trail
Take a look at where the trail from North Creek Park to Bothell would run.
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