Discovery Park

GWEN'S HIKE-A-THON NO.2

Since I'm aiming for 50 miles this August for the Hike-A-Thon, I need to average 12.5 miles each weekend. Friday's hike was delightful and delicious but at only 9 miles, I needed to make some up. I had things to do in the city so I decided a trip over to Discovery Park was in order. It used to be one of my "go to" places when I lived in the city, along with Carkeek Park.

There are a myriad of trails that loop around and twist through the 534 acres of Discovery Park, the "official" ones fairly well signed and the secret ones not so much. You can wander through forests and meadows or trundle along the beach. Or, like me, you can choose all of the above.

I started out on the Loop trail clockwise from the North parking lot, but quickly got sidetracked by secret trails. What can I say, I like to explore. Said exploration ended abruptly, however, when I decided that it was not prudent to do so while wearing shorts and short sleeves as the park is absolutely riddled with stinging nettles and there's absolutely no way of avoiding them on the brushy narrow unmarked trails. So, back to the Loop.

At the junction with the South Beach trail, I descended toward the beach, looped around the lighthouse to the North Beach area, and followed that back up to rejoin the Loop and finish off at 3.9 miles.

All the trails in Discovery Park are in good shape and stairs are installed to aid in access to and from the beach. While the park may be busy on any given day (especially a weekend), it never feels crowded. In fact, some of our wilderness trails have felt more crowded to me at time (Lake 22, for instance). I like (and prefer) Wilderness like many of you, but sometimes, when you'd rather put miles on the feet instead of the car wheels, it's nice to know there's an in-city option.