West Seattle Ups and Downs

Eric is out of town, and will continue the round-the-lake series in December. Let's sneak in some hills and stairs, and where better than West Seattle, home of the highest point in Seattle...

We'll start at Lincoln Park, up the Thistle St Stairs, Orchard St Ravine, Myrtle stairs. We'll check on a spot in Riverview Park that used to have a stand of poison hemlock -- if it's still there, I'll show how to distinguish it from the innocuous Queen Anne's Lace. Then we'll head north on the West Duwamish Greenbelt trails, and use an unofficial trail to get to the South Seattle College Arboretum, where we'll stop to have lunch.

Note we may have to detour here, as the Seattle Chinese Garden is currently hosting the Astra Lumina lights exhibit, so the area around it is likely fenced off, and the Arboretum is just west of the Chinese Garden.

After lunch, if it's not blocked off for Astra Lumina, we'll check whether a second stand of poison hemlock is still present just north of the Chinese Garden. (If we find either of these, we can try to report them -- they should be removed, especially since one of them is in a playfield.)

Then we'll head back to Lincoln Park by way of the Longfellow Greenbelt and Solstice Park. Google Maps has a marker along the way that says "Giant Sequoia".

This is about 9 miles (5 miles before lunch, 4 miles after), 1500 ft elevation gain.

The light fades quite early now that we're in the Big Dark, so folks might consider seeing if tickets are available for Astra Lumina that afternoon or evening -- it's an outdoor light show, so needs dark. There is more information about Astra Lumina here:

https://www.seattlechinesegarden.org/events
https://astralumina.com/seattle/

If folks would like to arrange a group to go together, or would like to get dinner after the hike / before Astra Lumina, please feel free to use comments to plan.

If any West Seattle residents, or folks who have already gone to Astra Lumina, know how much of the Chinese Garden is blocked off, and whether some of the Arboretum is as well, please let us know in the comments. I likely will not get a chance to check this out before the hike.

Logistics:

There is a chance of sprinkles. Although part of this is on stairs and streets, there are actual trails, which may be muddy. Bring water, lunch, snacks. You might want to bring a flashlight as it may be getting dark while you're heading home.

Meet at 9:30am at the information kiosk at the midpoint of "parking lot #1" in Lincoln Park, near SW Rose St.

Bus riders: The C Line has a stop on Fauntleroy at SW Rose St. There is a southbound run that arrives at 9:14am.

Drivers: There are entrances to the parking lot both north and south of SW Rose St. There is more parking at the south parking lot, but usually, the lot near Rose St is less full.

Use comments to coordinate.