Carkeek Park — Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025

Walked the Carkeek park trails this morning in the sunshine.  Parking is free and relatively plentiful at several lots.  Note, the pavement dates from approximately 1893 and has been full of potholes since before I was born so watch for those.  Full restrooms at the main western lot next to the playground area were open and in good condition.  All the trails are generally in good shape with a little flooding/mud right near the beaver dam area plus one large alder down on the southern ridge (easily walked over, not blocking) and one large alder that smashed a chunk of the elevated walkway in the wetlands area (again, not blocking), both appear to be new from this last weekends stormy weather.  

The big draw this time of year is the chum salmon run that spawn in Piper’s creek and its tributaries.  As of this morning there were a few fish in the lower pond area east of the railroad culvert and a few more making their way up the beach plus some jumping out in the sound along the beach but volumes are not quite here yet.  Additionally I did not see any live nor carcasses above the beaver dam area at all. The info I’ve seen online showed a pretty big run again this year and hit pretty early, so I’m thinking we are probably just starting to ramp up.  One gentleman I talked to indicated he’d seen the first just a couple days ago.  Besides the salmon there are heron, bald eagle, a bunch of gulls, one feisty little king fisher harassing a heron, very nice fall color in the big leaf maples plus some excellent views out over the water to the newly snowy Olympics.  A super nice little walk if you are in the area but maybe wait a few days if you are specifically looking for the salmon run.

Link to further info about the 2025 chum salmon run (and their effect on orca) - https://www.pugetsoundinstitute.org/experts-expect-the-recent-arrival-of-chum-salmon-to-bring-orcas-back-to-puget-sound/