South Ship Canal Trail

We stopped to check out some new Tibetan prayer flags by our secret train tracks (along the access road by Westlake, under the Aurora Bridge) and explored the area on foot for the first time–it’s usually enough just to bike by and say “Secret train tracks!” In addition to the prayer flags, we found lots of blackberries and a toy dinosaur garden.

Feeling adventurous, we stayed down on the access road to connect west with the South Ship Canal Trail. We can see it from the Burke-Gilman Trail on the north side of the ship canal and I’ve been meaning to check it out. It’s great! Currently it can easily be accessed by a ramp from 3rd Ave North and heads a mile west, I think 12th Avenue West, although Google Maps only shows it extending to 11th. The street up to Nickerson was kind of steep so I wasn’t motivated to explore all the way up to the street sign. So it’s not extremely useful for us right now, but when they complete it by the end of the year, it’ll be great! I like avoiding the Ballard Bridge and taking the scenic route through the locks, but it’s time consuming and includes the Missing Link.

Parts of the path are pretty–we checked out West Ewing Mini Park and cruised down a ramp to the water for a unfamiliar view of the Burke-Gilman. But most of it is pretty industrial. Of course, that’s exciting for little boys.

Once our exploring was done, we headed back over the Fremont Bridge to check out the PARK(ing) Day spot at Hub and Bespoke where I pedaled us some bike-blender watermelon slushies. Next year I’d like to check out the downtown PARK(ing) spots to see what they’re like, since they’re so many of them close together, but I have a feeling they won’t be as fancy as Hub and Bespoke’s was.