Never too old to take a hike

On a sunny Thursday afternoon, 95-year-old Margaret Quarles took a hike on a new trail though the Engstrom open space with a little help from four city employees. “We spent weeks and weeks carrying stuff through the forest,” said Justin Howell, a city trails specialist. The trail contains a few ups and downs, but otherwise is remarkably smooth.

On a sunny Thursday afternoon, 95-year-old Margaret Quarles took a hike on a new trail though the Engstrom open space with a little help from four city employees.

“We spent weeks and weeks carrying stuff through the forest,” said Justin Howell, a city trails specialist. The trail contains a few ups and downs, but otherwise is remarkably smooth.

Dressed in a periwinkle pant-suit with matching earrings, Quarles took in the sights and sounds and shared her memories of the area. In 2002 Margaret and her husband, Kenneth, transferred 1.57 acres to the city. Shortly thereafter, in 2006, the couple sold seven acres to the city — at a fraction of its market value — for $300,000.

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“I’d rather have trees than houses,” Quarles said of why she and her husband sold the land to the city.

For the past 80-plus years, Margaret has enjoyed Island life, which she recounted during Thursday’s hike. Although she’s not as agile as she once was, Margaret explored the dirt trail by wheelchair and walker.

“I don’t know how I got up here before, but I used to walk up to the top and look out at the lake,” she said. “It’s always been this way, since 1925, anyway,” she said of the year when her father, Oscar, purchased a large parcel, originally 10 acres, to use for the Engstrom family’s summer home.

Margaret officially grew up on Queen Anne Hill, but she spent most of her summers along the Mercer Island waterfront. In 1955 her father built a year-round home on the Island.

Old memories were just part of the conversation. Margaret, who’s still as sharp as a tack, also talked city politics and Seattle sports.

Parks Director Bruce Fletcher, Parks Natural Resource Coordinator Paul West, Restoration Specialist Alaine Sommargren and parks employee Jon Ehrenfeld also joined the hike.