Honoring Outdoor Environments

Project Leads: Wendy Ceccherelli and Suveg Pandey

Seattle is blessed with a beautiful lake in our backyard and nearby mountains with gorgeous hiking trails. We also are part of a large urban environment and contend with large city issues, trash and graffiti. SAKE members appreciate the outdoors and work to keep Lake Washington free from plastics and human-originated debris. We recognize that we can do more to protect and maintain our beautiful Pacific Northwest.

Here are projects in the works for this focus:

April 26 - Celebrate Earth Day by giving back to our beautiful Lake Washington waterfront! On Saturday, April 26, from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM, we’re rallying volunteers to help clean up the "String of Pearls" street-end parks between Leschi and Lakewood marinas. Bring garden gloves if you have them. This community-driven event is a collaboration between Seattle SAKE Paddling Club, Leschi Community Council, Washington Water Trails Association, Seattle Public Utilities, and Seattle Parks and Recreation. We'll kick things off with brief remarks from our partners before diving into the cleanup. Let’s make a difference together! Sign up, mark your calendar, bring a friend, and help keep our parks and water access pristine.

Trail Projects - SAKE has members who spend additional time outdoors with feet on solid ground, and many do trail maintenance with the WTA (Washington Trails Association) - This volunteer organization helps build and maintain hiking trails throughout Washington State. Work parties are available throughout the year, and fill up quickly once sign-ups open. Watch for announcements about these opportunities, or contact Lesley Blyth to let her know you are interested.

If you are ever in awe of that mountain to our southeast, there will be an opportunity in trail maintenance with the National Park Service in Mt. Rainiier National Park. This will be a Friday/Saturday project in August (dates tbd, and you can do just one day), with free camping available in the volunteer campground at Longmire. Point of contact is Lesley Blyth.

Lesley Blyth and Jan Fitzpatrick on Tiger Mountain with the WTA