We went for a nice long walk on labor day. We had an errand to run, which took us out of our immediate neighborhood, so we decided to use the errand as a launching pad.
Parking at the Ballard Locks, which was closed, we headed north. Our initial destination was Sunset Hill Park. The locks are essentially at sea level, and Sunset Hill is, well, near the top of a hill. This part of the walk was all uphill. Some inclines, some steep, but all up.
Zoom in on the right side of the picture to read about the park
The next segment was fairly level as we continued north to a staircase and path. Which led to the western, very much downhill, segment.
300 actual stairs plus some dirt switchbacks. We went down. There was an alternative to follow the curvy road down. I would not normally choose the road because – cars on a very windy road with no sidewalks. Seattle has closed a handful of roads to traffic to give the Covid walkers and bicyclists more room to socially distance while getting out of their houses. This road is one of those.
Reaching Golden Gardens Park at the bottom, we turned south to follow the waterfront back to the locks.
On this normally quiet few miles we encountered a small protest group. Small, but effectively blocking vehicular access into and out of the marina and Golden Gardens park area. One man trying to exit was loudly trying to explain that he needed to get out to get to his wife. Normally there are two access routes. See prior note on road closures.
This protest did not make the news that I saw. Possibly because there were other, larger events to follow.
We finally were approaching the locks and pulled over to order lunch.
When we parked we noticed the Red Mill Totem House restaurant. They make a great bacon burger. I’ll just have your cubic foot of stacked bacon please. But they were closed for Labor Day, and the people we saw working were just doing a deep clean.
Back home we managed our own lunch, and a lazy afternoon.
Raincharm's Weblog 
September 9, 2020 at 7:46 pm |
It sounds like a strenuous walk, and seems familiar. Lots of steps? (or do you track them?) I did a lot of walking with Ashley when she lived in Seattle. Glad you got out while the sky was blue and not smoky.
September 9, 2020 at 8:00 pm |
I think it was a 10,000 plus step walk. I have a Garmin wristband that tracks for me. Carl counts, and told me the steps count.
It was a nice walk because we were early enough that it wasn’t too hot. And it was windy! Of course we were near the Sound.