Adventures Around the "Block" - Jack Block Park

During that string of sunny days last week we did a leisurely half-day, 7.6 mile loop in West Seattle, starting from our front door. We had just caught an episode of "Bird Note" on NPR about the annual return of the many Swallow species, and we wanted to head out in search of the largest of these, the Purple Martin. This bird is impressive to us partly because of the epic migration it makes, all the way up from the Amazon River Basin. Jack Block Park has a row of roomy artificial "gourds" hung high off a pier above Elliott Bay, to give these birds a place to start families after their long journey, so we decided to make the park our ultimate destination.   

Jack Block Park is a little obscure, and therefore uncrowded, which adds to the attraction. You can climb stairs and walkways to a viewing platform with 360-degree views - of ships loading at Terminal 5, the downtown skyline, and the Olympics across the Sound.

We didn't see any Purple Martins, but as always on a stairway walk, lots of cool things caught our eye. 

 

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