Scriber Creek Trail in Lynnwood: A New Fall on the Boardwalk

When did you last walk the Scriber Creek Trail in November? If the answer is never, you have plenty of company. The trail first went in back in 1991. Before the rebuild, it flooded every year and was closed for much of fall and winter. On September 8, 2026, the City of Lynnwood cut the ribbon on Phase 3, the last piece of the redevelopment. The ceremony took place in late-summer weather. The real test starts now, as Lynnwood heads into its first rainy season with an elevated trail.

That test also brings a payoff. The ducks at Sprague's Pond, the quiet on Scriber Lake and the monthly volunteer work parties all peak in the months when the old trail was closed. For decades the corridor was at its most interesting exactly when it was hardest to reach.

What the water used to do

The old path ran about a mile through a peat-fen and bog wetland and crossed Scriber Creek twice. It changed surface along the way from wood chips to asphalt to wooden bridges. Its width ran anywhere from 4 to 8 feet, with sharp 90-degree turns. The city's project page lists the damage too: seasonal flooding, settling soil and tree roots heaving the surface. The city also counted more than 60 accessibility barriers.

At the ribbon cutting, Lynnwood Parks and Recreation Board member Quinn Van Order put it more simply. He lives a short walk from the trail and calls it "his park."

He bought his first pair of hiking boots after moving to the area because walking through Scriber Creek meant mud up to his ankles.

The new trail is a consistent 14 feet wide. Where it crosses wetland, it runs on raised boardwalks. It has new pedestrian bridges over Scriber Creek and solar-powered lighting. The boardwalk decking is fiberglass open-mesh grating, which lets filtered sunlight and rain reach the wetland underneath. According to the city, the result is year-round access for people of all ages and abilities. Phase 3 construction started in May 2025, so October through March of this season is the first stretch of rainy months the finished trail has faced.

One housekeeping note: the city's Scriber Lake Park page still shows an older "Temporary Closure" notice next to a construction photo dated January 2025. The September 9 completion announcement and the project page both say the trail is open.

The mile, south to north

The finished route is a one-mile Class I shared-use path. It links 200th Street SW, Scriber Lake Park, 196th Street SW and Wilcox Park, and it ties into the Interurban Trail, Lynnwood Transit Center and City Center. Here's how it unfolds if you start at the transit end:

1. Lynnwood Transit Center. Phase 1 connected the Interurban Trail to Scriber Creek Park along the edge of the light rail station. Phase 2 continued from the transit center's southwest corner to just north of 200th Street SW. Ciao Caffé opened at the transit center in August 2025, serving coffee, matcha, sandwiches and Macrina Bakery pastries. We haven't been able to confirm its current hours, so check before you plan around it.
2. Sprague's Pond Mini Park, 5200 200th St SW. This one is an overlook with no public water access. It has a playground, picnic tables, barbecues, benches and parking. The pond's main draw is waterfowl, which is why it shows up again in the birding section below.
3. Scriber Lake Park, 5322 198th St SW. The lake and its wetlands sit inside an urban forest in the middle of the city. A floating boardwalk replaced the original 1981 dock. It has welded-steel benches and stools by artist Michele Van Slyke.
4. The 196th Street SW crossing. The project improved the crossing at 196th Street SW and 52nd Avenue West. Before this, getting from the lake to the north end meant crossing a busy arterial at a spot built for cars.
5. Wilcox Park, 5215 196th St SW. Locals know it as Flag Park for its 27 U.S. flags, first installed in 1976. Ordinarily the flags go up before Memorial Day and stay up until after Labor Day, so a fall visit usually finds the poles bare. You walk into the park over the Scriber Creek Bridge, a former two-lane road bridge that now carries pedestrians. The park has restrooms, a picnic shelter, a gazebo and a playground.

Mayor George Hurst called the corridor "our own little Central Park." Walked in order, it moves from rail platform to pond to lake to flag lawn in about a mile.

The birds show up when the trail used to close

The best case for walking this route in late fall comes from a Pilchuck Audubon walk on December 6, 2025, in the same wet months that used to close the old trail. At Sprague's Pond, the group logged Canada Geese, Buffleheads, a Double-crested Cormorant and a Pied-billed Grebe. Near the transit-center end, they found Gadwall, American Wigeon and Mallards on the water. In the woods around Scriber Lake Park, they recorded robins, chickadees, Bushtits, woodpeckers and Anna's Hummingbirds.

That list is one December morning, not a full fall survey. It's still a good guide to what you might see as the season goes on. A 2024 Lynnwood Times feature also reported osprey, river otter and a resident beaver at Scriber Lake, with bass and perch in the water.

People often ask about salmon. The city's watershed inventory lists coho, fall Chinook and resident cutthroat in the Scriber Creek basin. Snohomish County's 2023 sampling found steelhead trout, Chinook and coho in the creek. An older habitat assessment describes spawning habitat between I-5 and Scriber Lake as poor, so spotting a fish from the boardwalk is a bonus, not something to count on. The county also notes that in summer and fall the creek can be warmer and carry nutrient, E. coli and sediment pollution. Leash up dogs that like to wade.

Three Saturdays on the calendar

Stewards of South Lynnwood Parks, one of the community partners named at the ribbon cutting, holds monthly work parties to pull invasive plants, put in restoration plantings and pick up litter. The parties normally fall on the third weekend and rotate among Scriber Lake Park, Sprague's Pond, Scriber Creek Park and South Lynnwood Neighborhood Park. All three fall dates are at Scriber Lake:

The events go ahead rain or shine. They can be canceled or moved for high winds, flooding, snow, lightning or smoke. Until this year, a soggy third Saturday at Scriber Lake meant reaching the work site on the same soft ground the volunteers were there to restore. This season, they can get there on the boardwalk.

Whether the rain test gets measured

Lynnwood has a way to tell whether the first wet season goes the way the city expects. Before the rebuild, cell phone data the city acquired showed nearly 200,000 trips a year on the trail. The city expects that number to double, and it has installed two trail counters to track actual use. No counter readings have been published yet. The old 200,000 figure covered years when the trail was closed for much of fall and winter, so whatever the counters record from October through March will be the first winter totals the trail has ever had.

The project cost $7,550,297, which came in under budget. Funding came from state, regional and federal sources plus local park impact fees and real estate excise taxes. The city's project page also points out that the trail links the City Center, the Lynnwood Link light rail station and the Swift bus rapid transit routes on 196th Street SW. That means a winter commute on foot from 200th Street SW to the train no longer depends on how much it rained the week before.

If you want a warm stop on the south side after a December loop, Haven Café at 19921 68th Ave. W., near 200th Street, was listed in a February 2026 roundup for coffee, boba and food. Check current hours before you go.

New trail links like this one are part of how Aimee Zhang looks at a home's value in Lynnwood. If you'd like to know how the Scriber Creek corridor affects your property, ask for a free home valuation or set up a consultation, available in English or Mandarin.