Jan. 10 #47 Schmitz Preserve Park

Because neither of us had any strong preferences for a walk, Amy drew a card at random, selecting #47, Schmitz Preserve Park. This walk is mostly in an old-growth forest preserve in the heart of West Seattle. Neither Amy nor I had even heard of this park, let alone been in it, so it was a fortuitous pick.

The day was cool, but clear and sunny. It was as nice as January days get in Seattle. We drove 10.2 miles from our house. We took the slow road down our hill, along the Waterfront, across Spokane Street, taking the lower bridge across the Duwamish. We then turned onto Harbor Avenue SW, drove around the point onto Alki Avenue SW, and turned onto 58th Avenue SW, parking at the end of the first block.

The start and end of this walk are about ½ a mile apart, so we parked between them in order to walk it as a loop. We walked up a hill to get to Admiralty Way SW. This afforded us a capital vista of Puget Sound and the Olympics. We then walked down to the entry to the park (first image).



It was quiet in the park, but it wasn’t completely deserted; we encountered about a half dozen other groups of people. It being quite wet in the park, we decided to stay on the main paths. We only got off-track once, when we went up a trail to, I believe, SW Hinds St. It took some concentration to retrace our steps downhill so that we stayed out of the muddy patches.

The park is quite beautiful, and is very well maintained. What the CW card says about the quiet is quite true. We enjoyed it very much. About half way into the park, I glanced up to my right and noticed a dog-sized furry four-legged creature. We are now pretty sure it was a coyote. This gave us a little start, but seeing as the animal turned around and headed away from us quickly as soon as it saw us, it was quite safe. At first I thought it was a fox, but one of the locals we talked to a little later said there was a pack of coyotes that had been living nearby for a couple of years. Amazing - in the middle of Seattle!





The remainder of the walk was mostly uneventful, ending by passing Alki Elementary School and the Alki Community Center. To complete the loop back to our car, we walked a few blocks along Alki beach. Even in the middle of winter, there were several people enjoying the beach. (But there was only one person wearing a swim suit with no shirt.)



The walk took us an hour to cover about 2.3 miles; we both gave it a “very nice”. Seattle really is a lovely city; and this park is a most pleasant surprise. I wonder which will be our next walk.