Stairway Walk with Salmon

If our experience today (Friday) is any guide, you still might be able to see a salmon or two if you take the Longfellow Creek and Pigeon Point stairway walk this weekend. The Coho run is drawing to a close, but today we saw several beautiful fish in Longfellow Creek. As the video below shows, one pair moved together in close coordination, which we hope is a sign of successful spawning.

More than other salmon in our region, Coho seem especially drawn upstream during storm surges, which can work against them. Last year in Longfellow Creek, many died or simply failed to spawn when high runoff brought too many toxins into the creek.

The video below was taken under aptly-named Salmon Bone Bridge. We think these are Coho, but in the video Jake calls them "Steelhead."

Longfellow Creek and Pigeon Point

This 2 mile-long Seattle stairway walk takes place in West Seattle, atop the northern tip of Puget Ridge. From the top of this tree-covered ridge in the Pigeon Point neighborhood, you can get peek-a-boo views both east and west, Cascades and Olympics, depending on the season. The walk starts out down in the lowlands, on the incredible Longfellow Creek Legacy Trail, where you'll explore one of the nicest sections of this year-round creek. Thanks to careful design and determined restoration work largely carried out by volunteers, salmon and other native species swim here again.

The slideshow marked by the "www" icon contains additional pictorial content referenced in the book. Scroll below the slideshow for even more Seattle stairs pictures.

 The Dragonfly Pavilion, glimpsed from the Longfellow Creek Legacy Trail

The view from the Charlestown Street stairs, descending the backside of Puget Ridge, includes the industrial Duwamish channel as well as the Cascade Mountains