Spotlight on Wilburton Hill Park in Bellevue, WA, on a Snowy Day

Since we moved to the Glendale neighborhood a few years ago, and particularly since we got our puppy this spring,  we've been enjoying Wilburton Hill Park, a short distance from our home. The park is the largest upland park in the City Park system, encompassing 105 acres total, and serves as a major link in the Greenway System and Lake to Lake trails system. It has turned into our favorite park destination in Bellevue, with all it has to offer.

Wilburton Hill Park has so much to offer with its two baseball diamonds, a brand new artificial turf soccer field, children's play area, various trail walks through the woods, and the Bellevue Botanical Gardens at the crown of Wilburton Hill.  This crown jewel of the Parks system features the most beautiful gardens in the City, attended to by both staff and volunteer master gardeners. Annually it attracts over 400,000 visitors.  Bellevue Parks Department does a phenomenal job of keeping their parks clean, trails cleared, lawns mowed, and restrooms clean.  Their efforts are aided by a respectful public that really appreciates this outstanding neighborhood amenity.   

You can get in a two-mile walk on the trails here without leaving Wilburton Hill Park and without repeating your route.  Dogs are to be kept on leash, but in the woods early morning exceptions are taken for granted.  You will find the mature forest containing conifers interspersed with the deciduous maple trees, so the experience of leaves underfoot, barked or graveled paths, winding through this woods up and down the sloping terrain is both beautiful and serene.  This is such a natural experience, and a true gift given the proximity of this park to Downtown Bellevue just across the I-405 freeway.

During the approaching holidays, Bellevue's Botanical Gardens will feature a widely popular annual event called Garden Delights, where for a month prior voluteers and staff are working creatively to decorate the park with an artificial lighted landscape winding through portions of this incredible landscape in Bellevue Botanical Gardens.