Rock Creek Natural Area Traditional Cache
King County Parks: We are permanently disabling this one.
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Beautiful, wild Rock Creek is a hidden gem among King County natural areas. Protected from development to preserve high quality salmon habitat, the King County biologist who led the technical work is a popular professional opera singer, Gino Luccheti. See Seattle Times story on our website.
The 143-acre Rock Creek Natural Area is located just east of Maple Valley. The site also includes three acres at the confluence of Rock Creek with the Cedar River. THERE ARE NO TRAIL CONNECTIONS ACROSS ROCK CREEK.
Most of the site was purchased through the Waterways 2000 effort to help preserve water and habitat quality in the Cedar River Watershed; Conservation Futures and Cedar River Legacy program purchased other portions of property.
Most of Rock Creek Natural Area contains mature coniferous or mixed coniferous-deciduous forest. Connected toh hundreds of acres of forest land to the east, Rock Creek Natural Area supports extensive wildlife use including large mammals such as deer and elk. Rock Creek is recognized for its exceptional value as Cedar River tributary habitat for chinook, sockeye and coho salmon, and steelhead and cutthroat trout.
The site's high-quality mature forest along the creek provides important benefits such as shading and organic material input. Rock Creek Natural Area is appropriate for low-impact public use on the trail system, primarily for walking and nature observation.
Trails on the east side of the site extend between the Cedar River Trail and Seattle's Pipeline Road, through the east side of Rock Creek Natural Area, and onto Danville/Georgetown (Maple Ridge Highlands) Open Space just to the east.
The west side has a small trail system which is accessible at the SE 252nd Street terminus off of 238th Ave SE in Maple Valley. The Friends of Rock Creek Valley (FRCV) volunteers help maintain the natural area.
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