South of North Once More, Part I

Dear Diary,

As I told you last night, I was reconsidering the long hike I'd begun.  Today when I woke it had already rained without my noticing, and I decided it was silly to panic, so here I am at the Greenwood branch library.  This page tells you about water fountains, restrooms and other things that are probably not going to change any more before the shutdowns of next month.  Its scope is from Gas Works to Green Lake Parks, or in other words the parks of North Seattle whose addresses use "N" rather than "NE" or "NW" in their addresses and are south of 80th St:  the South of North.

Gas Works Park

Introduced June 9 in "At the Centre of the Universe, Does Gas Work?" and in more detail, with photos, June 21 in "Past Work and Gas Works".  Its men's room lacks doors and a dryer; I believe its women's room has doors but also lacks a dryer.  The restrooms have been publicly announced as open 24 hours.  I found one toilet seat in the men's room broken.  The restrooms are open year-round.

Water fountain attached to the restroom building - NOT RUNNING (as I first reported in the June 9 page).  If it were turned on now, it would be off again in a month or so anyhow.

B. F. Day Playground

Introduced in the same June 9 page.

Freestanding water fountain near the playground - ON (I'd reported in the June 9 page that it only offered a teaspoon or so).

That playground gave me considerable cognitive dissonance.  It was the first I'd encountered officially reopened:

but the Fremont Avenue entrance was still locked:

and a big sign promises improvements to the playground, to be completed next month, and unlike a similar issue with Gas Works Park, we know perfectly well where the money went - it got eaten by a virus.

Wallingford Playfield

Introduced in that same June 9 page.  I've never really noticed this park, found anything distinctive about it; my notes say its restrooms were open and the men's room "seemed OK".  (EDIT 10/19 - It has a stall door and a dryer.)  The restrooms are open year-round.

Freestanding water fountain in the playground - UNUSABLY DAMAGED (previously reported just as off)

Notice parts missing from the tap piled in the bowl.  They aren't all there.

Street water fountain in front of the Wallingford QFC - ON (as previously reported in that same June 9 page, and what a relief; I washed and filled my bottles there)

Meridian Playground

Introduced June 8 in "A Shower at Green Lake" with several photos and even videos.  Restrooms open; men's room lacks doors but does have a dryer.  These restrooms will probably close next month.

Water fountain attached to the restroom building - UNUSABLY DAMAGED (as previously reported)

This time I thought a photo from above might be clearer.

I also thought about how I probably hadn't really conveyed how much I like this park, so I took a random landscape photo from the picnic table where I ate my main meal of the day and planned that silly trip to the waterways.

Green Lake Park

Introduced in the same June 8 page, with one photo (a map mentioned below).

I actually started work on Woodland Park first, dear Diary, but most of that work and most of the photos are from today.  Technically that's also true of Green Lake Park, but much earlier in the day.

See, after leaving Woodland Park yesterday evening at 50th Street, I hiked all the way north to the Green Lake library to write in you about the silly trip to the waterways.  This took me past a wonderful spot where construction is blocking the sidewalks on both sides of the street.  Isn't full employment grand?

Anyway, finishing that page so late, I figured I was perfectly placed to settle something I'd been wondering about:  are Green Lake's restrooms 24 hours?  (In the earliest articles listed in the April 26 page "Credits, Tardily", Green Lake was repeatedly mentioned as a site with 24 hour facilities, but it wasn't clear whether restrooms or "sanicans" were meant.)  Well, I found three of the five open on a trip between 1 and 3 A.M., which suggests to me that the answer may be a qualified "Yes, some are open 24 hours."  (Even though the park, normally itself open 24 hours, is currently officially closed from 8 P.M. to 4:30 A.M.)

I haven't found any water fountains away from the restrooms, which are all near the loop path, so here goes:

Community Center restrooms (northeast; year round) closed both around 1 and around 8 A.M.  Unsurprising, since they're staffed.

Freestanding water fountain nearby - ON (previously reported off)

North restrooms (possibly year round) open both times.  The men's room has a dryer but no doors.

Water fountains attached to the restroom building - ON (previously reported off)

Freestanding water fountain nearby (previously reported off) - not seen this time, probably just because I missed it.

Bathhouse Theater restrooms (officially only open for the theatre's summer season, but listed as year round, which is why I'm qualifying those statements; northwest) closed both times.  These are buildings attached to the main theatre, women to the left, men to the right, and if you go around, there are doors to "lockers" in the back of each restroom building.

Freestanding double water fountain in front of the men's restroom - ON (previously reported off)

Water fountains attached to the women's building near the locker door - ON, though the flow in the higher is low (previously missed)

I'd been surprised at how few of my peers I saw during the night hike, and on finding a parks employee here during the morning hike asked him what had happened.  He replied "Lower Woodland".  I did see five tents, most between this stop and the next, but not any of the shell-shocked-looking wanderers who'd stuck in my mind from the previous visit.

Small Craft Center restrooms (south; possibly year round) open both times.  The men's room has a dryer, doors, and an electrical outlet; it even (EDIT 10/19) has coathooks both within and outside the stalls.

Water fountain attached to the restroom building - ON (as previously reported)

Water fountain attached to the adjacent office building - ON (as previously reported)

I drank the last bottle of street fountain water there and again washed and filled all three.  I like this place because it offered water when too many other places didn't, so chose these restrooms for the night photos to back up my claim that they were open:

Southeast restrooms (possibly year round) open both times.  The men's room has a dryer and a door.  I've never found a water fountain in this area, though there may be one.

On June 8 I accused both maps I'd seen of omitting the golf course.  Today I photographed the newer map:

which actually clearly shows it at the south end.  The older map (photo in the June 8 post) shows the same southern edge but doesn't mention a golf site.

Part II, to follow shortly, is all Woodland Park, because I did a terrible job of explaining where things are there in June.  Until then, dear Diary!