What: With all those mountain roads and trails washed out or still melting out, try an urban hike in one of the largest city parks in the United States.
Where: Take I-5 to Tacoma, exit to Highway 16 (to Bremerton), exit on Pearl Street and follow it north to the park.
Length: However far you’d like to walk. Up to 15 miles of trails loop around and through the park.
Difficulty: Easy, unless you try to take one of the paths beaten up and down the bluffs to the beach. Some of them are dangerous, and park officials advise against using them.
Elevation: You’re pretty much at sea level or a few hundred feet up.
Restrictions: No permits or admission. Dogs on a leash OK.
Maps: Pick up one at park headquarters.
Notes: So it’s in the middle of a city. You can still get a workout and see a variety of scenery, from seashore to second-growth forest in the middle of the park. Once you get past the main gathering areas (zoo, rhody garden, boathouse, picnic grounds) at the southeast end of the park, things quiet down a bit, especially mid-week. The Square Trail Outer Loop circles the park near the bluffs for about 4 miles, with viewpoints of Vashon Island, Dalco Passage, Gig Harbor and the Narrows Bridge. At any number of points you can cut back across Five-Mile Drive and take loops through the woods. The Spine Trail runs through the middle of the park between the Gig Harbor viewpoint and the Rhododendron Garden, a little over a mile. Birds are abundant in the park, and I have on occasion seen fox and deer wandering though the interior. If you can, schedule your trip when Five-Mile Drive is closed to vehicular traffic, from dawn to 1 p.m. each Saturday. It is especially pleasant then. On a recent trip a friend and I did about six miles on the trails, including an aerobic scramble up from the beach. When we cleared the woods, we were mere steps from a cold drink at Anthony’s. Try that in the North Cascades.
Ron Ramey
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