Discovery Park is Seattle au naturel
Located at the northwest tip of the Magnolia neighborhood, 534-acre Discovery Park reveals Seattle as it once was — a densely lush, green wilderness, peaceful and serene.
Donated to the city by the U.S. Army in 1971, Discovery feels more like a wilderness preserve than a park; manmade elements are limited to the occasional bench or footbridge. Everything else in this city park is just as time and the elements have made it. Walk just a few hundred feet away from your parked car, and you'll feel like you're a hundred miles from anywhere.
There is much to see and hear and touch along the park's almost 12 miles of hiking trails. A variety of trees — bigleaf maple, Douglas fir, western red cedar and others — provides a heavy green canopy under which lives an extraordinary assortment of wild birds, from marsh wrens to white-throated sparrows to northern mockingbirds. Even bald eagles can be spotted from time to time.
At the bottom of precipitous cliffs at park's southern and northern edges, you'll find natural tidal beaches, stormswept and beautiful. Giant pieces of driftwood provide fine improvised benches to watch the never-ending activity on Puget Sound — giant cargo and cruise ships leaving the Port of Seattle, loons and ducks darting in and out of the lapping waves, and even the occasional sea lion or harbor seal.
As befits a nature preserve with several different ecosystems, Discovery Park offers tours and educational opportunities year-round. Contact the visitor's center at (206) 386-4236 for more information.
Posted by Geoff Carter
