I checked out the Sammamish Washington skatepark this weekend. It was my second time skatign there, but hte first time I got hailed out after about 15 minutes. This weekend it was hot as hell, which may account for why the park was sparsely populated on both days. I had some reservations about the park based on the construction pictures I shot in 2006. So what’s the verdict? Find out after the jump.

Cit of Sammamish, Washington Skatepark

Here’s a shot of a kid named Jason kickflipping up the step gap. He seemed to be mildly enjoying himself.

During construction it seemed to me that there were too many features jammed in too close to each other. This shot might give you an idea of what it feels like to skate there.

What’s that on the opposite side of the skatepark? City Hall and the police station. The park is open 24 hours, and bikes and scooters are allowed.

And look, there’s even an over-vert section. Har har.

Here’s another compression shot.

The whole park funnels down to this (dead) end on the downhill side. It was a pretty big oversight not to bowl in the end of the miniramp, although I suppose “they” will claim it was left open on purpose.

This is the deepest feature of the whole park. The mini ramp in the shot above would be just out of frame on the right. I’d say this had an 8 foot tranny with a foot or more of vert where it runs up to the retaining wall for about 4-5 feet. The rest of it is metal coping. Speakin of the coping, it’s all the shiny metal type that is kind of sticky. I suppoe it could be waxed, but then again if they used the right kind there wouldn’t be a need for that.

Now it’s time for the parade of panoramas. Those two kids aren’t twins, it’s just one kid who kept moving. Don’t forget to click.

Backed up into one corner.

This might be the best shot for getting a true sense of what this park is like. It’s like they packed all the obstacles that usually run lengthwise in a park and crammed them in to force the traffic back and forth across the shortest width of the park. The result is, if you need a lot of speed for anything you are going to have a hard time lining it up, especially with a few active people riding.

This shot below is misleading. The wider angle makes it look more open than it really is.

This ditch down to the small two stair set on the left is where 70% of the skateboarding seems to take place in this park. There’s my kid in the right hand corner. Wassup rocker!

Another view from the low side.

If you came across this collection of features as part of a naturally existing landscape architecture, the spot would be legendary. But as far as a purpose-built skatepark, it’s not on par with a well thought out professional design, although the park seems to be decently constructed for the most part. I hate to fault the designer for being too imaginative, but it’s like he/they only had one chance to design a park so they stuck everything in they possibly could in a very small space. It’s like a “first timer’s” syndrome. Even though it’s not my preferred style of park I still managed to have a lot of fun. Even though they might have been better served by a simpler and more open floor plan, the locals seem to have adjusted to it well. All and all it’s not bad for a small municipality. It’s not a complete disaster. Stop by if you are in the neighborhood, but don’t go out of your way to get there.

Lastly, this being the suburbs, the local teenage delinquents have the good manners to use crayons and chalk for the most part while expressing themselves with graffiti.

And yes, I still like saying “Sammamish Mammy.”

May 19th, 2008 by: Kilwag (editor)
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File under Skate, Skateparks

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