Paddling festival comes to Lake Sammamish, road work at Olympic National Park, and ride through Snoqualmie tunnel

Lake Sammamish host festival

The Northwest Paddling Festival returns to Lake Sammamish State Park on Friday and Saturday. The two-day event, the largest of its kind in the Northwest, includes kayak and standup paddleboard demos, kayak tours, seminars and booths featuring more than 60 paddle sports businesses.

New this year will be the Red Paddle Dragon World Series Race. The Dragon World Series is the world’s first team standup paddleboard racing competition, with events held around the world.

There will be children’s activities, including a paddling seminar, paddle boats and a climbing wall.

For a schedule and seminar descriptions, see northwestpaddlingfestival.com.

The event and seminars are free. There is a $10 fee to demo canoes, kayaks and paddleboards.

The festival will be at Sunset Beach in Lake Sammamish State Park, 2000 NW Sammamish Road, Issaquah. A Discover Pass will be necessary to enter the park.

Crews working on westside roads

Work to repair and improve the roads, parking lots and campgrounds in the western sections of Olympic National Park continues in the Quinault area.

This week’s work will include the Quinault North Shore Road, July Creek Picnic Area parking lot, and the Quinault Ranger Station. Next week, the work will be centered on the Kalaloch Information Station and Kalaloch Campground.

Intermountain Slurry Seal, Inc. of Reno, Nevada, has a $3.3 million contract to do work in the Quinault, Kalaloch, Hoh and Mora areas. The project is expected to be finished by Aug. 18.

The work is taking place only on weekdays, but delays of up to 15 minutes should be expected.

For road and travel information, see nps.gov/olym or call the park’s recorded Road and Weather Hotline at 360-565-3131.

Bike rides offers history, scenery

The Mountains to Sound Greenway is offering early registration discounts for two bike rides to take place later this summer.

On June 24, the conservation group will lead a Rails ’N’ Trails Pedaling Tour. It includes a train ride and 20 miles of bike riding through forest and farmland.

On July 8, a 20-mile ride along the John Wayne Pioneer Trail will include the 2-mile long Snoqualmie Pass tunnel.

Rails ’N Trails ride cost is $40 before May 15, and $45 afterward. The cost of the tunnel ride is $25 by May 15, and $30 afterward.

For each trip, the group covers all the logistics, including providing a shuttle to the starting point, education along the trail, map, food and a T-shirt.

For information on each trip and to register, see mtsgreenway.org.

This story was originally published May 7, 2017 at 7:23 AM with the headline "Paddling festival comes to Lake Sammamish, road work at Olympic National Park, and ride through Snoqualmie tunnel."