Home » Rainier Audubon Area Birding Locations » Soos Creek Trail
Soos Creek is an active salmon spawning stream that flows south through cattail marshes, forests, swamps, wet meadows, and willow thickets. This King County park has a long, paved trail which begins at 12500 SE 192nd St. in Kent by Meeker Middle School, and goes south approximately seven miles to just north of Lake Meridian. Good access points are Gary Grant Park at SE 208th St. and 137th St. SE, and the main Soos Creek trailhead at the maintenance yard and barn at 24810 – 148th Ave. SE, Kent.
There is a great diversity of plant life where birds such as kingfishers, herons, Virginia Rail, a variety of ducks in winter, and an occasional snipe can be found. The creek is home to muskrat and river otters, whose fresh-water mussel shells are sometimes seen on the banks. Several species of hawk hunt the meadows and fields during the day, while by night, Barn, Great Horned, Western Screech, and Northern Saw-whet owls are active and nesting. In the forests, such species as Pileated, Hairy, and Downy woodpeckers nest, as well as Red-breasted Sapsuckers, Brown Creepers, Pacific Wrens, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and Red-breasted Nuthatches. In spring and summer, Swainson’s Thrushes, several species of warbler, vireos, flycatchers, and swallows nest in the park. There is a Great Blue Heron rookery with over 20 nests in woods just south of the 148th Ave. barn. The heron nests are active in spring through early summer, and sometimes a Bald Eagle comes in to harass the herons. Western Tanagers and Black-headed Grosbeaks use the park and Evening Grosbeaks fly overhead.
Photos from Soos Creek Trail
Directions and Map
From Hwy. 18, take the 272nd St. (Covington) exit. Turn west onto SE 272nd St. Go 0.1 mile to 164th Ave. SE. Turn right. Go 1.0 mile to the traffic circle. Take the third traffic circle exit to go left onto SE 256th St. Go 1.0 mile to 148th Ave. SE. Turn right. Go .6 mile to barn and trailhead at 24810 – 148th Ave. SE at a chainlink-fenced parking lot.
From I-167, turn east at the Willis St. exit in Kent. Go east to Central, and north to James. Turn right (east) on James and go approximately four miles, as it becomes SE 240th St. Near Soos Creek, 240th dips and turns downhill. Turn right (south) on 148th Ave. SE near the bottom of the hill. Go about .3 mile to the barn and trailhead on the left at the chainlink-fenced parking lot.