Field Notes: US-3216 Lake Sammamish State Park

For a while US-3216 was the closest POTA park to my home, and I’ve activated it more than two dozen times, earning a Kilo award in the process. It’s a large park (531 acres) with amenities for swimming, picnicking, with soccer fields and baseball diamonds.

I’ve activated from many different locations in the park, and my preferred spot depends on weather, time of the year, and how crowded the park is.

I’ve marked some of my favorite spots on the map.

Spot A: Parking area near boat launch

This spot offers proximity to bathrooms, a reasonable view out over the lake if you orient your gear that way, and a nice small grassy area to erect antennas. It also offers pretty good AT&T cell reception. For activating from your vehicle, this spot is great, but traffic noise from East Lake Sammamish Parkway can be bothersome if you are not inside your vehicle.

Spot B: near Sunset Beach Bathhouse

Sunset Beach offers a swimming beach, with a large bathhouse with bathrooms, a concession stand that’s open in the summer, a kid’s playground, and numerous picnic tables scattered across the area. AT&T cell reception in this part of the park is generally good but can sometimes be poor.

There are two small picnic shelters fairly close to the main pavilion and very close to parking. I’ve activated from those two shelters many, many times, and they’re both good spots, although the southernmost shelter is closer to kids play area, and thus can attract inquisitive children, so watch out for eager hands grabbing your antenna.

For all of the areas close to Sunset Beach my preference is to use self-supporting 1/4λ whip antennas like the Chelegance MC-750, because its ground footprint is small and so it’s easy to avoid creating hazards for other park users.

Close to the lake, the picnic tables will be messy with either spills from picnickers, or poo from seagulls, so it’s worth your while to bring a mat you can lay out on the table to protect your gear.

There are abundant Big Leaf Maple trees in this area, and it’s quite easy to find a picnic table which will be in the shade for a few hours. (Park rangers discourage putting lines in trees to raise antennas)

The likelihood of curious people asking you friendly questions in this area is very high.
The parking area is frequently patrolled by rangers, so make sure to hang your Discover Pass in your vehicle, and expect to have a friendly chat with a ranger if they see you. The rangers are all aware of POTA and I’ve never had an interaction with a ranger here that was not curious and friendly.

C: Picnic Shelter B near Tibbets Beach parking

In rainy weather this is my preferred spot - the picnic shelter is very large, offers good overhangs to keep the tables dry, there’s a large grassy area to erect antennas, and it’s fairly proximate to the bathrooms.

Again, this area sees a fair bit of traffic so when I work from this spot I almost always use a self-supporting 1/4λ whip antenna and try to place it and my feedline where foot traffic won’t need to get close to the antenna or cross the feedline.

Cell service (AT&T) at this spot is generally good.

D: picnic tables next to Picnic Shelter C

Cell service in this spot is generally good but the big bonus is that Shelter C blankets the picnic tables outside with free public wifi.

If the picnic shelter is not in use, this is perhaps my favorite spot, as foot traffic is sparse, the picnic tables are sited amongst trees so it’s easy to pick one that’s in the shade, and there’s abundant grassy space around the cluster of tables to put your antenna.

A definite plus is that it’s a very short walk from the closest parking to the picnic tables.

Bathrooms are located on the west end of the picnic shelter.

The shelter itself is an enclosed building with kitchen facilities. I’ve never operated from inside the building, and the shelter itself is often reserved by some group. Generally groups will use the picnic tables closest to the eastern end of the building and leave the tables I prefer empty.