In A Golden Gardens State of Mind

The other day we headed north from our home in West Seattle to Golden Gardens (Chapter 3), to check out the summer scene. Golden Gardens Beach is a Seattle hotspot this time of year, but for stairway walkers like us, the best scene is found on the bluff high above. Up here the trees transform the stairways into a series of deep green tunnels all the way down to the beach. Encapsulated in this thick leafy canopy, we can feel a drug-free combination of wonder and euphoria.

After people-watching at the beach for awhile, we decided to extend the walk that's described in the book. After strolling south for a bit along the beach boardwalk, we headed across the parking lot and street to find the very beginning of the Burke-Gilman Trail. After walking south along the Trail for a mile, we reached a point just opposite the Shilshole Bay Beach Club at around NW 64th Street (the Club isn't visible, hidden to the west behind a set of unused train tracks, shrubs and Seaview Ave NW).

There we turned left, crossing a gravel driveway to take the a path leading up to and beneath the main BNSF tracks. On the other side of the tracks is a newly-refurbished stairway that provides a connection back up to the residential streets. Once we were back in the neighborhood, we followed 34th Ave NW north for 1 1/2 miles. This took us back to our starting point at the top of the Upper Bluff stairs, with a pause midway to look out over the Sound from the excellent vantage point of Sunset Hills Park.