Lake Sammamish is a freshwater lake in King County, Washington.
Geography[]
Bellevue takes up the lake's western shore while Redmond is to the north. Sammamish is east and Issaquah to the south.
The lake is 7 miles (11 km) long and 1.5 miles (2 km) wide, with a maximum depth of 105 feet (32 m) and a surface area of 8 sq mi (21 km2). It lies east of Lake Washington and west of the Sammamish Plateau, and stretches from Issaquah in the south to Redmond in the north. At Issaquah it is fed by Issaquah Creek, and at Redmond it drains to Lake Washington via the Sammamish River.
The 98 sq mi (250 km2) Lake Sammamish watershed stretches from Redmond through Bellevue, and Issaquah to Preston and Hobart, and consists of numerous creeks which flow into the lake. Issaquah Creek is the largest tributary, furnishing over 70% of the lake's inflow.
Parks and Recreation[]
Lake Sammamish is bordered by Marymoor Park at the lake's north end, Lake Sammamish State Park at its south end and East Lake Sammamish Trail. The main leisure activities include rowing, waterskiing, wakeboarding, wakesurfing, tubing, and jet skiing.
There is a public slalom course for waterskiing at the far north end of the lake, running from the west to the east.
Trivia[]
- In the mid-1980s, local radio personality Pat O'Day proposed that the Seafair Cup hydroplane races be moved to Lake Sammamish from Lake Washington, an effort that was unsuccessful.