Norkirk resident Brian Scott has been walking the paths and trails in Kirkland his whole life. He called the treacherous steps in Cotton Hill Park “the clunky stairs.”

Thanks to a dedicated group of volunteers, Rick and Lisa Altig (who chose to fund the stair project in lieu of building a sidewalk in front of their house), and city support, the stairs are clunky no more.

The steep, slippery trails on the south side of Crestwoods Park and the north side of Cotton Hill Park were replaced with real stairs. School kids, walkers and joggers will now be able to safely use the trails year-round.

(Crestwoods stair runners take note: you can now run a series of three stairways instead of one. See a suggested route at the end of this article.)

More than a dozen volunteers from five Kirkland neighborhoods worked on the 10-week project, often putting in six- to eight-hour days digging and drilling, hauling timbers and gravel, pounding rebar and cutting brush.

The Crestwoods stairs were completed on July 17. On Sept. 11, volunteers pounded the final piece of rebar in the Cotton Hill Park stairs.

The new stairs provide missing links connecting Crestwoods and Cotton Hill Parks to the Cross Kirkand Corridor and other nearby parks, allowing residents to walk for miles through nearly-uninterrupted green spaces.

A huge thank you to the volunteers who helped with the project (please forgive me if I’ve inadvertently left anyone out):

Dave Kreul

Doug Murray

Trudy Loder

Karen Story

John Poulson

John Janssen

Craig Smith

Brian Scott

Robert Moreno

Essie Swanson

Kudos Kirkland Folks:

Michelle Sailor

Penny Sweet

Tim O’Brian

George Noble

Jon Carter

Suggested stair running route

Run up the south Crestwoods stairs from Forbes Creek Drive

Run north across Crestwoods Park

Run east down the new Crestwoods stairs, across the Cross Kirkland Corrider, and up the new Cotton Hill Park stairs

Turn around and retrace your steps, OR

Turn left (north) and run to the bottom of 111th Ave NE to the Cross Kirkland Corridor

Run south on the Cross Kirkland corridor and back up the Crestwoods Park stairs

Karen Story is the volunteer steward for Cotton Hill Park, chair of the Highlands Neighborhood Association and Kirkland’s Summer Concert Series, a writer and a singer in a bluegrass and swing band.