Sammamish, Wa. skatepark

Sammamish Mammy part II

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.

Jason at Sammamish Washington skatepark

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.

Sammamish, Washington skatepark

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.
Sammamish, Washington skatepark

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

Here’s another compression shot.
Sammamish, Washington skatepark

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.
Sammamish, Washington skatepark

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.
Sammamish, Washington skatepark

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.
Sammamish, Washington skatepark panorama

Backed up into one corner.
Sammamish, Washington skatepark panorama

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.
Sammamish, Washington skatepark panorama

This shot below is misleading. The wider angle makes it look more open than it really is.
Sammamish, Washington skatepark panorama

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!
Sammamish, Washington skatepark panorama

Another view from the low side.
Sammamish, Washington skatepark panorama

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. 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.
Sammamish, Washington skatepark

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

Discussion

6 thoughts on “Sammamish Mammy part II

  1. that place is weird.I got pissed at some bikers they kept
    riding into the park at high speeds from the outside and almost nailed my buddy.I warned them not to come near me on the mini ramp and when one did I kicked my board at him to try and knock him off his bike.pretty childish..never again

  2. Interesting report, thanks!

  3. cooterkiller on June 20, 2009 - Reply

    Too many little kids, cooter kids,fruit booters,and wack ass bikers the park is sick if its just a few kids, They had so much room to build on and they crambed the park in a tiny little spot right next to a gravel pit. for the people that dont know anything about skating(the people who designed it) little rocks are like having nails and screws all over the road when your driving.

  4. Park was cool except all the little kids sitting where I wanted to skate, too much congestion with not alot of people that knwo who to skate, not enough to grind except for little nooner ledges and a short dumb rail. Also way too many boarders, place needs variety, I think us as boarders sometimes try and throw our ego’s around and think that everyother hobby besides Boarding is wack. If I see a dope Scooter kid killing it then I’ll give him props, as do I inline skates and Bikers. Really boarding is starting to get polluted with mainstream suburban park rats that know nothing of what real skating is. I hate zumiez skaters and the minivans they ride in on. Sorry for the rant.

  5. I know how you say everything is crowded and such, which makes the park much worse, but man I think this park is great!! I’m from New England and the parks there are the worst. When I went out to visit family in WA I took a stop at this park, and it was heaven compared to what I’m used to! Fun stuff at that park.

  6. ok so every @#$@ day there are lil kids thinking there bad fricking ass at scootering…everying is scooters down there but evryday i can i have to go up there at night to get the best time when no one is there…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *