Japanese Gulch Trails and Dog Park

This is a nice place to get a little leg workout. There is so many different routes you can take which keeps it fun. There a water stream going by at the bottom that is nice and a swing on a tree which is fun to get on

Very beautiful trail. My dogs loved it here. The trail gets extremely muddy at parts. There are wooden boards that act as walking platforms (some are broken within the trail). There is a stream running through with a few small man made waterfalls. There is also the railroad that runs just 20−30ft. from sections of the trail. Lots of stinging nettles in the trail as well. I accidentally touched some and was left with a tingly sensation.

Just o.k. Maps are a necessity, as previous reviews have stated. Once you get past the Dog Park there are trails upon trails in here, making it easy to get lost. For those that prefer a simpler hike, there is a gravel access road right along side the railroad tracks. True, you do feel like you’ve escaped from the hustle and bustle of the city. But that feeling lasts only momentarily until a Boeing 747 screams overhead. Paine Field is less than a mile away.

This is a wood chip covered, fully fenced arena with a few benches and a culvert for the dogs to run through. It’s big enough for frisbee catching and a tennis ball throw. There is very little shade. The parking lot has one porta-​potty.

The trails are pretty awesome, definitely unexpected given the small town they are hidden away in. The dog park is just a flat area fenced in but my pup loved running Japanese gulch loop! The trails are very narrow in some parts so definitely watch out for bikers but it’s nothing too difficult to navigate. Looks like I found my new weekend run!

Took my pomeranian here and he loved it. Got scared a little when the bigger dogs showed up but there’s always that tube obstacle to hide in. There are also conveniently located poop bags for poop.

My dog loves the dog park area but not because there are other dogs here. She just wants to chase the ball! So, when the other dogs are obnoxiously trying to play with my dog and won’t leave her alone, even when we go to the corner and try to play alone, my dog will grumble and try to chase you away. Because it is a dog park and we can’t expect your dogs to not want to play here, we end up leaving so we aren’t labeled as «the aggressive one». I just wish the people would take notice of what is happening and at least attempt to lure your dog away to another play area or another dog who might be more willing to play. Early morning and rainy days when nobody else is around is our favorite time to play. Other than that, this area is much cleaner, flatter and better play area than Lowell.

The dog park is pretty much just a flat bark covered field. In rainier months it does turn into something of a mud pit.
Also there are a few aggressive dogs that come here and without fail when their dogs attack someone else’s dogs they will get hyper defensive and blame your dog.
Not a place I enjoy coming to at all.
The trails are nice though.

There is absolutely something for everyone in Japanese Gulch! You’ll feel like you’ve gotten away from it all after your first few steps into this amazing forest. You’ll see giant trees, old stumps from trees logged 100 years ago, song birds, mushrooms, tons of native plants, ponds and wetlands and even an owl, Great Blue Heron or shy coyote if you’re really lucky! Along 5^th Street (Mukilteo Blvd) you can enter at the new dog park and hike up the gulch. You can go across the street from the dog park to the gentle wide trails that lead to the salmon ladder or you can enter at the corner of 76^th Street and 44^th Ave and start your hike by the community garden where it’s flat for a relaxing walk. Throughout the gulch you can choose an easy route or harder hike and there are bike ramps made of earth. Plan to navigate around some muddy spots, bring you dog and kids and enjoy a day in the woods! There is even geocaching to try out!
Learn more and how you can help to preserve this forest (it’s commercially zoned and up for sale!) at

I hiked here today, it was fun. We took the easier, straighter incline up the gulch since the bike trail was full of joggers this morning. If it werent for the trains coming by it would have been quite serene and peaceful. But it wasn’t too bad, rather fun actually. It was a really awesome day for a walk in the woods, and I am most glad I had the opportunity to come here finally. I will most likely come back again to hike some other time.

These are some nice trails to roll your mountain bike on. I hopped onto the singletrack trail and dang: It was a doozie within seconds. The skinny trail almost immediately points upward. In fact, there were quite a few times, where I just had to pull my feet out of the pedals & walk a little. Overall, I probably had to walk about 10 times going uphill. But — once you turn around. The roller coaster is on!
I’m a bit of a fraidy cat, but I barreled down the trail pretty fast. I’m not a veteran of singletrack, so I had to really look out for roots, big rocks, holes, etc. — cuz I didn’t want to eat it. So it took about 20min up this trail and about 5min down. It was a workout and hella fun downhill.
There are a few ladder bridges and other types of bridges on the single track trail. If you want some serious dirt, give these trails a try.
I also took the road/​bigger trail which is at the very bottom of the gulch/​valley. This is more of a road, and it’s fairly straight and it goes up from the trailhead (paralleling the train tracks).
So, there is talk of selling off this land for development. That would be a total shame Check out the website for this area and get the lowdown on this trail system’s future. Hopefully Mukilteo will by this area and keep it as a cool place to hike and ride.