Hikes 3D and 6B: Far North

Dear Diary,

It's been weeks, hasn't it?  I'm sorry.  I've been distracted by issues related to housing, by yet more big unrelated projects I've taken on, and by feeling too cold, in early March when I was unsheltered, to write.

My big news, which this time you, dear Diary, are getting before that other page, is that now I'm actually housed.  As of three days ago, I sleep in a room that I've paid for and, for the first time in nearly fifteen years in Seattle, leased.  And yes, this makes it easier to forget about parks - except that I'm still hiking a lot, so I still need places to eat and do other things while out and about, so it isn't that easy after all.

The winter may be ending - I have hopes that the current spell of lows in the 30s might be the last - which would, in the normal course of things, lead to the now-closed restrooms re-opening, and, not less important, the water fountains coming back on.

Where I left off, I'd just decoded the map claiming to show open restrooms.  So I figured I had no more surprises coming, and stopped looking at the map before each day's hike.  As a result, I got several surprises.

But the first place I went, I went to twice.  It was the last park I visited January 9, but it was full night and I didn't take any pictures.  Then I went back January 14.

Bitter Lake Playfield

This was one of the parks introduced to you late because of my phone's theft and various other delays, dear Diary, first described November 12 in "Top of the City" part III, then getting its own page, six days later, in "Hygiene Is a Luxury I Can't Afford".

I found the restrooms open, apparently and according to people I spoke with, 24 hours last June.  In October I found them locked thanks to a delayed construction project.  And in January...

The closed doors:

The "sanican"s that, as I knew by the time I took these photos, were the excuse the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation was using to claim that the restrooms were open:

On the night of the 9th, I needed to do Number Two.  But the regular-sized "sanican" on the left of that photo was out of toilet paper that night, and the ADA-sized one on the right was occupied the whole time I was there.  So I hiked the whole way back to Green Lake instead.

The restroom building:

I didn't, on these visits, explore the park much, or look for the campers whose plumbing had been reduced to those "sanican"s for months.

Bitter Lake Community Center

In February, while I was in SeaTac, this building hosted a cold weather shelter for some days.  I doubt its restrooms and water fountains have re-opened to the public since then, but it's possible.  But on January 14, this is what I found:

I think it was hosting child care.

I debated which entrance would appear in this building's postcard shot, and eventually went with the more conservative side:

but wouldn't be at all surprised if an actual postcard featured the much livelier other entrance.

Helene Madison Pool

Also introduced in "Top of the City" part III.

In that page there's a photo that's pretty much the same as this attempt at a postcard shot:

I found it, of course, closed:

So basically, dear Diary, this winter, and for some months before, there was no public place for people in the far north of Seattle to wash their hands, which is pretty much what "Hygiene Is a Luxury I Can't Afford" dramatises.

All for now, but I hope to get back to you, dear Diary, tonight.  As I said, the parks department may soon begin re-opening restrooms and turning on water fountains.  I probably will continue banging the drum about this winter beyond that point, but it would be nice to finish telling you about the hikes, at least, before they're so obviously outdated.