A Big Stairway Loss - Eagle Landing, Burien

The centerpiece stairway in Chapter 23, "Burien: Eagle Landing Stairs," has been closed indefinitely, for safety reasons. Quiet, lovely Eagle Landing Park is still accessible, and well worth a visit. But stairway walkers can no longer descend the spectacular zig-zag steel treads at the end of the park's single trail.

This stairway was designed to "float" above the landscape, in hopes that it could withstand the slow movement of the steep slope beneath it. However Burien city engineers recently shut it down, finding it was no longer safe for pedestrians (see slides below for further explanation).

Slope movement is not the only damaging force this stairway has faced. High tides and strong winds have repeatedly walloped it at the base. There's no word when, or if, the stairway will reopen.

Here's some of what you'll see if you go there now. But take heart: there are lots of other stairway adventures awaiting you all over the city!

Burien: Eagle Landing Stairs

At only 0.4 miles in length, this is the shortest Seattle stairway walk, but it's a favorite of ours. The extraordinary Eagle Landing Park sits right above the Sound in a quiet, woodsy residential part of Burien. The single up-and-down trail through Eagle Landing Park has a viewing area where you can search for the eagle's nest somewhere high among the Douglas Fir trees. You'll quickly reach the one major stairway, which is the fourth-longest of all Seattle stairs. Its unique steel structure floats through the trees, above the fragile and slipping hillside.

At the bottom, battering stormwaves have mangled the last few feet of the structure, but you may be able to jump the final gap down to the cobblestone beach at low tide. If you can, you'll be treated to views of Vashon and Maury Islands across the Sound, and Three Tree Point southward down the beach. After you return up the stairs and finish the route, the revitalized old downtown area of Burien has lots of eating, drinking and strolling opportunities.

The "www" icon denotes additional pictorial content mentioned in the book. For even more views and explanation, check out the slideshow below.

 

Steel girders float above the steep, slowly shifting slope; hollow concrete structures transfer weight to steel pins anchored in the stable Vashon Till layer below

Resident eagle