Green River Natural Area

This is a King County Park with 1,200 acres of forest surrounding a scenic stretch of the Green River. The natural area has trails for hiking and horseback riding. This specific section of the Green River provides critical spawning and rearing habitat for coho, chum, Chinook salmon and steelhead. During my visit in December, the shoreline was full of dead salmon and eagles were everywhere above perched in trees. To reach the Green River from the O’Grady trailhead is 2.6 miles one way, mostly downhill.

At the turn of the century, Alice and Mathew O’Grady lived in on the site, they were leasing the land from the Postwaite family. They had 5 children but Mathew died in 1907. In 1926, Alice purchased the property from the Postwaite family. The O’Grady’s primarily grew and harvested hops used in beer production. They also had roughly 85 orchard trees, cows, horses and some hogs. In time, the property changed hands several more times until owned by the Commonwealth Investors Group. They traded the farm and some cash for property in Seattle owned by King County. In 1995, King County council member Gary Chan proposed the farm transfer to the King County Parks Department. The transfer was supported by many groups and by the end of the year the transfer happened.

The Green River Natural Area is comprised of the former Metzler, O'Grady, and Green River Parks all adjacent to the Green River. The King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks (DNRP) acquired these parcels between 1973 and 2003 to protect critical salmon habitat protection with funds from a variety of sources including Waterways 2000 and Washington State Salmon Recovery Funds.

In 2021, King County removed the former Cakwab Levee and installed a new flood facility to improve salmon and wildlife habitat while providing continued flood and erosion protection to farmlands and homes.

There are three trailheads but the biggest with the most trails is on the south side of the river on the Enumclaw Plateau. It is located about 500 feet north of the intersection at SE 373 St and 188 Ave SE.