King County Parks launched a search for the best photo taken from anywhere on the regional trail system on Saturday. The winning photo will become the cover of the “Regional Trails in King County” map when it is reprinted this September, and will remain on the cover for at least the next six months.

Whether the photos are taken while commuting along the Burke-Gilman Trail through Lake Forest Park, or rollerblading along the Cedar River Trail near Maple Valley, or during a long walk with the dog along the Snoqualmie Valley Trail outside of Carnation, submitted contest photos should convey trail users’ experiences along the King County regional trail system.

King County Parks will accept photos for the contest through July, and a panel of judges will pick the winning photo in August.

Thanks to the generous support of REI, the winning photographer will receive a new REI XT 85 pack. This backpack delivers comfort, performance and user-friendly features in a size and design that accommodate anything from a 10-day wilderness expedition to a weekend jaunt.

Enter your photo using Flickr. To submit your photos, use a Yahoo!, Google or Facebook account to log into Flickr. Then join the King County Parks RTS Map Cover Contest Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/rtsmapcovercontest. Upload the image to this group and dentify the location of photo in the photo caption. For example: “Name of trail, exact location” – Burke-Gilman Trail – near Log Boom Park (geo-location preferred).

The winning image will be evaluated by a panel of King County employees. King County Parks employees will select 10 photos for final judging by the panel. The winning image will be evaluated based on overall impact, artistic merit, and technical excellence.

Entry details can be found on the King County Parks RTS Map Cover Contest Flickr Group site: http://www.flickr.com/groups/rtsmapcovercontest. Check the website often to see photos that have been entered into the contest.