Ballinger Park — Attraction in Edmonds

Love this little neighborhood park and the easy lake access. I've visited to kayak and fish many times, and am always happy when I hit the water. The lake is just big enough that you feel like you can get away from the crowd on the beach and get decent exercise, but not so big that it isn't easy to navigate with small self-powered watercraft. Decent amount of wildlife, I see the eagle, crows, and turtles every time I visit.

Fishing-wise, the lake gets stocked with rainbow trout around March and gets fished out fast. It's an all-year fishing lake, so my advice is to hit the water in mid- or late-march and not to wait for the usual lowland trout opening day in late april. If you wait until then, there's probably not much good fishing opportunity left.

Now for the minor downsides: restrooms are not always available and there's a crowd of folks that I'm fairly certain just live at the lake's tiny parking area by the boat ramp, permanently taking up those parking spaces. Never seems to cause issues though, so good for them getting some...

Great place to chill, swim, paddleboard or canoe. I have been swimming in the lake for several years now. It's a great open space and I just talked with the person who monitors the water quality of the lake. And she said right now it's one of the best lakes in the county for water control. But she said later in the summer when it gets hotter is when you need to look out for bad algae growth, but if you stay swimming near the inlet of the water you should be fine. The inlet side for the lake is near the public access side of the lake. But I love that this is such an accessible lake and the people are...

Lovely park and great swim area. We used to swim here in 2020 and were excited about all the changes they made (restroom facilities, new docks). We love swimming and SUPing here.

4 stars instead of 5 because this beach was definitely originally intended just for fishing (it's a stocked lake) and the fishers are not good at sharing the beach. Multiple times I have witnessed fishing lines and hooks mere feet from where children are swimming (and gotten into arguments with a few).

The city needs to seperate the two better, I suggest marking everything from the willow tree to the boat launch as just...