Seattle - Magnolia Area Beach (Discovery Park) — Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020

Some of the best walks are right under our noses.  I don't think many people realize that when the tide is low enough, you can walk all the way around Magnolia Bluff on the beach.  

After checking the tide table I set out from the Ballard Locks heading toward Discovery Park.  Under the railroad bridge I got on the beach, but soon came to a wall I could not bypass, the tide was still too high.  I went back to the road and walked up to the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center.

There is a hidden trail to the beach from here, I have seen people who are looking for a trail down walk right by it.  Behind the concrete trapezoidal monolith next to the fence behind the logs locate the muddy trail.  There are 3 necessary hand lines, you may still slip, I fall more often than not - not today!

Once on the beach, you can head back toward the Locks, and with the tide lower now I may have gotten past the wall I couldn't earlier.  That bit will have to wait until at least tomorrow. 

I turned left, south, and walked the wide beach.  Although the tide was fully out by now, I stayed on the easier to walk dry sand near the top, stocked by the eroding bluff.  The middle of the beach is mostly slippery rocks, then close to the water firm sand again.

I quickly reached and took the North Beach trail to the Lighthouse.  There weren't too many people here on this iffy-weather day,  when I came around the point the wind picked up and I realized why.  Maybe check the forecast and, if doing as a loop like I did, walk the beach section with with the wind at your back, like I didn't.

When the tide is low enough (it was as low as 2 feet today) the low-angle beach south from here is huge, a hundred yards across, with little streams and tide pools. There is a cave in the clay to get out of the wind, big enough to lay down in, with carved-out seats.

From Discovery Park, the next public access is off Perkins Lane so you could walk out from there if the water got too high.  A lady I met on the beach said if the tide is less than 5 feet you can get all the way around.  

About half of this is in front of homes, but much is below the cliffs along Magnolia Boulevard, you can't see the beach from above. In one yard is a massive wooden elk, another, a statue of a golden builder, reminiscent of the angel Moroney on the Mormon temple in Bellevue.  See what remains of the homes that were destroyed in the 1996 landslides.  

You will also want to visit the Levitating Lighthouse, for sale on the MLS right now for $45.000.  Built for the TV show Animal Planet in 2014, from what I read the city considers it illegal, and is racking up fines.  Eventually they will order it be torn down.

There was another guy there who said he had spoken to the Listing Agent, who claimed to know little.  I'm sure he just didn't want to say, you would be buying someone else's headache.  

From here, soon reach the boat launch and more dilapidated buildings, at least one occupied.  They would never let you build a house so close to the water anymore, and these show why.  I read the oceans have risen 8 inches since the late 1800's, just a few inches is feet farther up the beach.

Continue the short way to now visible Elliott Bay Marina.  There were many people enjoying their belated Valentine's Day dinner at Palisade's Restaurant.  I contemplated going back the way I came, but by now the tide was getting higher and it was most of 3 hours walk back to the Daybreak Star.  

So instead I walked through Interbay and across the Ballard Bridge, to Smart Food Service for groceries, then home.  Total trip 5 hours, probably 12 miles.
Tides are supposed to be even lower in the next few days, but later, also.  I think this would be a wonderful walk on a nice night.

I found 1 Report here for this, by Alpine Art from 2010.  I had to add it to the database, I called it the same as A.A. did.