Drive guide
SR-18 — Auburn to Snoqualmie
53 things worth knowing along this corridor, in the order you meet them driving. Every one is sourced.
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Sal’s stories on SR-18
Along the way
historyHylebos Creek
Hylebos Creek is named after Peter Francis Hylebos, a Catholic priest born in Belgium who founded schools and hospitals in Washington Territory.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
sightLewis Lake Nature Park
Lewis Lake Nature Park, on the West Hill of Auburn, was completed in 2020 and named after former Mayor Peter B. Lewis. Its loop trail circles an approximate 2-acre lake.
Source: auburnwa.gov
developmentSouth County Recycling and Transfer Station
The South County Recycling and Transfer Station opened in 2026, replacing the neighboring 60-year-old Algona Transfer Station. The new station utilizes modern features to control light, sound and odor at the site. ... The station also features sustainable construction materials, rainwater collection systems, and solar panels that offset more than 50% of the station’s electrical needs.
Source: cdn.kingcounty.gov
sightPacific Veterans Memorials
In 2023 the City installed six (6) war memorials in three locations along Pacific’s portion of the Interurban Trail. The memorials honor veterans of the following conflicts: Roy Road World War I World War II County Line Road The Korean War The Vietnam War 3rd Ave SW The Gulf/Iraqi War The Afghanistan War
Source: pacificwa.gov
sightCentennial Viewpoint Park
The Auburn Rotary Club developed Centennial Viewpoint Park during Auburn's centennial year in 1991, and the small overlook looks across the Green River Valley toward Mount Rainier.
Source: auburnwa.gov
institutionAlgona-Pacific Library
Algona's first library was on the second floor of Milligan Hall, and Pacific's opened in 1947. Voters in both cities annexed their libraries to the King County Library System in 1990, and a new 5,250-square-foot Algona-Pacific Library opened on Ellingson Road on July 19, 1994.
Source: historylink.org
quirkGaines Park
Gaines Park was dedicated in May 1999 and named for former Auburn Mayor Robert E. "Bob" Gaines. It was a joint project between the Storm Water Division and Parks and Recreation and includes a Storm Retention Pond.
Source: auburnwa.gov
quirkJunkins' Grocery
Junkins' Grocery was located on the corner of Third and Milwaukee Boulevard. This was the building that was leased to Richard Gius when he opened his store in 1934. ... The building was sold to the Methodist Church to be used as a parsonage. ... Jeff Smith (1939-2004), who later gained fame as TV's "frugal gourmet," was one of the pastors who occupied the parsonage as a young student minister at the church.
Source: historylink.org
historyGius' Market
Gius' Market opened in the spring of 1934 kitty-corner from its 2015 location (300 Milwaukee Blvd. S) in a leased building owned by Charles Allen (1885-1945) and Cora (1882-1973) Junkins. Richard Gius had taken over the post office one year earlier. ... His father Amadio Gius (1875-1958) built the new store himself in less than a month. Richard and his wife Angie moved across the street, post office and all, in 1936. The building has been remodeled several times over the years with four generations serving the community.
Source: historylink.org
quirkAlgona Community News
The Algona Community News was the town's only newspaper, and its first issue was distributed on October 26, 1926. Only one copy of that issue exists.
Source: historylink.org
historyAlgona
The name Valley City was changed after a post office was opened in 1909, to avoid confusion with a similarly named post office in eastern Washington.
Source: historylink.org
historyWest Valley Highway
County engineers chose an alignment on the west side of the White (now Green) River Valley in 1909, and the West Valley Highway was built in the early 1910s.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyMill Creek
More than 100 years ago, valley farmers straightened the original creek bed of Mill Creek, turning it into a ditch that drains to the Green River.
Source: auburn-reporter.com
developmentAuburn Environmental Park
Auburn Environmental Park was assembled through land acquisitions between 1996 and 2014, creating a permanently protected area 207 acres in size.
Source: auburnwa.gov
quirkPuget Sound Electric Railway
The Puget Sound Electric Railway, which paralleled the path of today's SR 167 through Algona, Auburn and Kent, drew power from overhead wire in urban areas and a third rail in rural areas. Its final trains ran on December 30, 1928.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
institutionEmerald Downs
Emerald Downs first opened its doors to race fans on June 20, 1996, with the inaugural 100-day meet running through November 4. It replaced Longacres Racetrack, which closed in September 1992 after sixty seasons of racing. In 2002, the land where Emerald Downs is situated was purchased by the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe for roughly $70 million.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyAuburn Station
Auburn, initially named Slaughter, received its first staffed train station in October 1889 on the Puget Sound Shore Railroad, part of the Northern Pacific Railway. A large station was built in 1902, near the intersection of C Street and Main Street to the north of the current Sounder platforms. Despite discussions with local business groups to preserve the building by moving it to another site, Burlington Northern demolished the depot in February 1979.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
developmentAuburn City Hall
The Auburn City Hall was completed in 1978-1979 and designed by the Seattle architectural firm of Streeter/Dermanis and Associates. Auburn tried and failed four times to get voters to approve funds for a new City Hall. Then early in 1977 the city of 24,750 residents received a $3.8 million E.D.A. grant.
Source: pcad.lib.washington.edu
historySlaughter renamed Auburn
Slaughter was incorporated on June 13, 1891, but its name was changed two years later to Auburn on February 21, 1893, by an action of the state legislature. The name Auburn was chosen in honor of Auburn, New York, for the areas' shared reliance on hops farming.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
quirkDowntown Plaza
The Downtown Plaza, across the street from City Hall in Auburn, was completed in 2023 and is located atop a regional stormwater facility in an underground vault.
Source: auburnwa.gov
historyAuburn Avenue Theater
The former Auburn Avenue Theater was built in 1926 as a bus depot and later served as a movie theater and a playhouse. A new Auburn Avenue Theater on the site is due to wrap by early 2027.
Source: auburn-reporter.com
historyAuburn Carnegie Library
On February 20, 1914, residents of Auburn celebrated the opening of the city's new Carnegie Library. Located on the corner of 3rd Street NE and Auburn Avenue, the handsome brick building, designed by architect David J. Myers and constructed by contractor Fredrick L. Berner, was funded by a $9,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The Carnegie Library served Auburn for 50 years before the city built a new, larger library in 1964.
Source: historylink.org
historyAuburn Municipal Airport
The airport is referred to as Dick Scobee Field, after Francis "Dick" Scobee, an Auburn and Washington native who was the commander astronaut for the Space Shuttle Challenger. Scobee was killed in the 1986 Challenger disaster.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
institutionCovington Library
The Covington Library at 27100 164th Avenue SE opened on April 1, 1993. It outgrew its 15,000-square-foot space in less than a decade, and a large expansion in 2008 added space by half.
Source: historylink.org
institutionKentwood High School
The main access drive to Kentwood High School was officially named Conqueror Avenue, after the school's nickname, the Conquerors. A student-led initiative, run with the city's Youth Council, produced the name and a street sign at 25800 164th Avenue SE.
Source: kentreporter.com
developmentFounders Park
Founders Park, at 17081 SE Wax Road, was previously named SoCo Park. Its master plan was adopted in 2022, and the park was named Founders Park on March 28, 2023.
Source: covingtonwa.gov
sightJenkins Creek Park
Jenkins Creek Park is a 22-acre park with trails through remnants of oak prairie, Jenkins Creek and Spring Pond. It was known for years as a "secret" park, and a new entrance off Wax Road made it easier to find.
Source: covingtonwa.gov
developmentLakePointe Urban Village
LakePointe Urban Village is a 214-acre mixed-use project in Covington, to be built on a former gravel excavation operation site and zoned for up to 1,750 residences. Oakpointe Communities was the initial developer, and Brookfield Properties and Toll Brothers took over the project in 2022.
Source: kentreporter.com
historyW.D. Gibbon General Store
The W.D. Gibbon General Store began in 1894 as an addition to Maple Valley's first general store, which W. D. Gibbon bought in 1891. Its building was moved across the road in 1906 when the Milwaukee Railroad was planned through the property, donated to the Maple Valley Historical Society in 1999 and declared a landmark in 2020.
Source: america250wa.org
institutionFire Engine Museum
The Maple Valley Historical Society found a home in 1974 for Maple Valley's first fire engine, a 1926 Howard Cooper that was sold in 1955 and repurchased in 1968 for restoration. The Fire Engine Museum held its dedication and reopening in 2000 with the engine on display.
Source: maplevalleyhistorical.com
sightCedar River Trail
The Cedar River Trail is a partially paved 17.3-mile rail trail on the former mainline of the Milwaukee Road. It connects Renton to Maple Valley and parallels State Route 169 for much of its length.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyCedar Grange Hall
William David Gibbon built the hall in the first decade of the twentieth century, and it was first known as Gibbon's Hall. Cedar Grange No. 534 formed in 1913, bought the building in 1929 and named it Cedar Grange Hall, and the first Maple Valley Library opened there in 1947.
Source: historylink.org
historyMaple Valley Highway
SR 169, also known as the Maple Valley Highway, began as the Enumclaw and Black Diamond highway built in 1914, with an extension through Maple Valley to Renton. It became a branch of Primary State Highway 5 in 1937 and was renumbered SR 169 in 1964.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
institutionMaple Valley School
In 1920, the Maple Valley School District opened a new brick two-story school on a knoll above Maple Valley's commercial center. It was built for students who had attended small community schools, as small rural districts consolidated into the Maple Valley District.
Source: historylink.org
historyOlof and Mathilda Olson House
Olof and Mathilda Olson bought an 80-acre parcel in 1898 and built a poured concrete house, influenced by Olof's work as a railroad tunnel contractor. Its 1909 barn is one of the few historic barrel-vault barns in King County, and the pastures became a golf course in the early 1990s.
Source: historylink.org
institutionTahoma Elementary School
The Tahoma School District built the three-story TaHoMa High School in Hobart in 1927. The building was renovated in 1977 as a junior high school, in 2004 as Tahoma Middle School and in 2017 as Tahoma Elementary School.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
quirkTiger Mountain Trail
Rustic signs on the Tiger Mountain Trail carry names such as Joe's Hollow, Manning's Reach and Ruth's Cove as a tribute to the volunteers who built the trail in the 1970s. The trail runs more than fifteen miles north from its southern end, and many of the signs have disappeared in recent years.
Source: wta.org
quirkTaylor Mountain Forest
A 1930s stump house, created inside a hollow cedar stump with a sheet metal roof and equipped with pots, pans and dishes on the table, was discovered on the Taylor Mountain Forest property in 1969. The artifacts were subsequently removed.
Source: kingcounty.gov
quirkSouth Tiger Traverse
A large stump known for its signature smile stands along the South Tiger Traverse Trail, a remnant from logging a century ago. A sign says the Back Country Horsemen of Washington donated a bridge on the trail in May 2010.
Source: wta.org
historyIverson Railroad Trail
The Wood & Iverson Co. bought timber acreage near Hobart in 1905 and had opened a large sawmill by 1915. Hobart grew into a company town served by about 15 miles of company railroad track, and the company was dissolved in 1945.
Source: wta.org
developmentTiger Summit Trailhead
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources closed the Tiger Summit Trailhead in June 2025 to expand a parking lot built more than 30 years earlier, and reopened it to the public in March 2026 with space for about 170 vehicles. The renovation was also needed because of Highway 18 construction by the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Source: dnr.wa.gov
institutionWest Tiger Mountain Natural Resources Conservation Area
West Tiger Mountain Natural Resources Conservation Area was established in 1989 and covers 3,916 acres, protecting old-growth Douglas-fir forests and talus caves.
Source: dnr.wa.gov
institutionTiger Mountain State Forest
In 1981 the Washington State Department of Natural Resources proposed a 13,500-acre Tiger Mountain State Forest, which the Issaquah Alps Trails Club had advocated for years. The department then set up the Tiger Mountain State Forest Advisory Committee to guide the process.
Source: issaquahalps.org
institutionCedar River watershed
The Cedar River watershed, more than 90,000 acres, has been closed to the public since 1989, when logging was halted to protect the water that forms the headwaters of the Cedar River.
Source: valleyrecord.com
institutionEcho Glen Children's Center
Echo Glen opened Jan. 4, 1967, replacing facilities of the old Martha Washington and Luther Burbank schools in Seattle. According to a Tacoma News Tribune article from 1966, when its doors opened, there was space for 208 children, among 13 “cottage type living units,” each holding 16 children.
Source: kiro7.com
historyRaging River
As the ice age ended, the Raging River carried meltwater into what is now East Fork Issaquah Creek and the Lake Sammamish watershed, until headcutting erosion diverted it into the Snoqualmie basin.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
historyRaging River State Forest
In 2009, 11,200 acres including Rattlesnake Mountain became Raging River State Forest, a working state forest managed by DNR.
Source: dnr.wa.gov
institutionSnoqualmie Valley Hospital
Snoqualmie Valley Hospital moved into a new 25-bed facility on Snoqualmie Ridge, about two miles from its old building, which it sold to the Snoqualmie Tribe.
Source: valleyrecord.com
developmentDeep Creek and Lake Creek
WSDOT built new SR 18 bridges at Deep Creek and Lake Creek that let fish pass under the highway, restoring access to 13 miles of stream habitat for salmon and steelhead.
Source: wsdot.wa.gov
sightMount Si ahead
In 1862 Josiah Merritt, known in North Bend as Uncle Si, built a homestead cabin at the base of Mount Si, where he grew vegetables, planted an orchard and raised pigs. Townspeople called the peak Uncle Si's Mountain, later shortened to Mount Si.
Source: livingsnoqualmie.com
developmentI-90/SR 18 diverging diamond interchange
In July 2025, WSDOT opened the I-90/SR 18 diverging diamond interchange near Snoqualmie, the second diverging diamond interchange in the state of Washington.
Source: wsdot.wa.gov
historyJeanne Hansen Community Park
Construction of the 16-acre Jeanne Hansen Community Park on Snoqualmie Ridge started in 2013; it is named for former Snoqualmie Mayor Jeanne Hansen, who served from 1988 through 1995.
Source: valleyrecord.com
developmentSnoqualmie Ridge
Snoqualmie Ridge was built on 1,300 acres annexed by Snoqualmie in the 1990s, with first residents in 1998 and the TPC Snoqualmie Ridge golf course; the city's population jumped from 2,150 in 2000 to 10,670 in 2010.
Source: seattletimes.com
Landscape you can see from the road
| Feature | Type |
|---|---|
| Big Soos Creek | Stream |
| Bingaman Pond | Lake |
| Bowman Lake | Lake |
| Brook Lake | Lake |
| Canyon Creek | Stream |
| Carey Creek | Stream |
| Covington Creek | Stream |
| Cranmar Creek | Stream |
| Deep Creek | Stream |
| Fivemile Lake | Lake |
| Francis Lake | Lake |
| Ham Lake | Lake |
Stops along this corridor
| Kind | Count |
|---|---|
| restaurant | 334 |
| park | 313 |
| fast food | 153 |
| grocery | 146 |
| coffee | 116 |
| bar | 69 |
| memorial | 15 |
| museum | 6 |
| attraction | 5 |
| viewpoint | 4 |
| peak | 3 |
| monument | 1 |
Where to eat along this corridor
Town by town, what is actually within a short detour of the highway.
- Auburn — 33 places to eat
- Covington — 21 places to eat
- Federal Way — 21 places to eat
Coverage
withby narrates 16 map cells on this corridor today.
Sal rides this road with you
In the car now? Start drivingSend this drive to my phoneNo account needed
Driving later? Keep Sal for the drive
No account needed