Rediscovering Discovery Park

I recently visited Discovery Park and was delighted to be led on an unfamiliar trail. I guess I shouldn’t have been completely surprised since Discovery Park is the largest city park in Seattle with more than 500 acres. Unless you were familiar with all of the trails or had a map one would probably stick to the more notable and familiar trails- like I have done over so many years.

This time, however, I was shown a beautiful trail along Shilshole Bay. We walked from the North parking lot and followed some zigzagging trails until we were northwest of the parking lot in a remote picnic field. We followed some stairs that led us amongst the trees and down to the beach. From the rocky beach I could see the Shilshole Marina and Golden Garden Park. We had an unobscured view of the Puget Sound along the trail which eventually brought us to the wetlands near the Wastewater Treatment Facility.

One of my favorite places at Discovery Park is the marsh beside the Wastewater Treatment Facility. We saw red-winged blackbirds, a turtle and heard a frog that never revealed itself to us.
I also discovered an ornithologist’s checklist for Discovery Park and hope to visit more often.