While Strolling in the Parks One Day, part II

Dear Diary,

This is the second of, I hope, four pages about my hike today.  This one covers two parks on Wallingford's Lake Union coast, plus one waterway (a state-owned property explained in detail October 8 in "Lake Union's North Shore").  This hike was primarily about:  1) whether restrooms were open or closed; 2) whether water fountains were running or not running; 3) taking lots of photos; 4) in particular, looking for any hint that water fountains or restrooms had been added to any park I hadn't visited since last spring, and taking photos meant to document that they hadn't.

EDIT 5/11 Map:

Gas Works Park

My January visit to this park is described in "Hike 8A" from March 21, which also gives reference to previous pages relevant to this smallest of North Seattle's famous parks.  In general, I've avoided taking any but purely functional photos of this and the other famous parks, so I started by taking some clearly non-functional ones today:

Much of Gas Works Park's land area actually consists of rolling, grassy hills pretty much like this.  The things it's famous for are concentrated in the park's eastern half:

That said, I also took functional photos.  This park was publicly announced last year as offering 24 hour restroom availability.  By my standards it's deficient in privacy and service - soap and drying capacity, in particular - compared to most of the other 24-hour park restrooms in North Seattle, so I've basically taken for granted that the city followed through on this announcement, because it would be far too easy to embarrass them if they hadn't, and avoided visiting it personally at night.  But anyway, today the restrooms were open, as expected:

And the men's room lacked privacy, soap, and a dryer, as expected.

Also as expected, the water fountain isn't running.  It wasn't last October, either.  Note, please:  The many water fountains across North Seattle in this situation haven't provided water at least since November 2019.  A year and a half ago now.  Is it any wonder many have been vandalised?

Waterway 19

As mentioned above, the state Department of Natural Resources controls the Lake Union waterways, of which at least ten, and probably at most eleven, are on the northern shores.  It licenses various entities to occupy them.  Waterway 19 is the only one the Seattle parks department has licensed and operates as a more or less regular Seattle park in its own right.  (Others have been incorporated into the Burke-Gilman Trail, and part of waterway 14 is incorporated into Northlake Park.)  Waterway 19 would be called a "Natural Area" except that in North Seattle only politically well-connected creek valleys get that name, so it just retains its previous name, but what it fundamentally is, is a Natural Area on Lake Union's shore.  Examples:

It's adjacent to Gas Works Park, to the east, and I've mentioned it to you, dear Diary, June 9 in "At the Centre of the Universe, Does Gas Work?" and October 8 in "Lake Union's North Shore", but the only previous photos I've shown you were in "Past Work and Gas Works" June 21.

Waterway 21

This is a small, pleasant viewpoint with benches not far from Stone Way N.  It had started raining - not mist or drizzle, but actual raindrops, though rather infrequent - while I was in Gas Works Park, and I needed to plan the rest of my trip in a less crowded place.  So even though it's not a bona fide Seattle parks department park, my focus on these trips, I figured it deserved a photo.

You already have several more photos of this one in "Lake Union's North Shore", dear Diary.  I have no idea who licensed it and put all that nice stuff there, frustrating though that all must be for boaters who want to use it the way waterways were used in the 19th century, as boat access to and from the water.

Well, this is a gracelessly short and rather incoherent page, but I was worried about adding these photos to the crowd on the previous page.  Next, on to Fremont.

Past Work and Gas Works

Dear Diary,

I didn't get far today - barely dipped a toe into "NW" - but have enough pictures that it seemed best to update you tonight, before I forget what they all are.  That said, I didn't take pictures of Gas Works Park's copious neat stuff.  It was 2 to 1.   Yes, take pictures because it's the closest working restrooms to the southern U-District.  No, don't because it's outside my focus area.  And decisively, no, because there are already professional photographers making their livings off this extremely photogenic park, and I'm not interested in competing with them.

Anyway, we start somewhere much smaller:

Christie Park

When I last visited, I found two workmen who knew nothing of a water fountain in the new park.  Well, on a Sunday evening this time I sure didn't find any workmen, but, well, I found a water fountain:

No, I don't know whether, when the park opens, the fountain will be running.

The Burke-Gilman Trail

I didn't find any new plumbing here, just an example of the sort of tree covering that gave me the willies at first sight at Meridian Playground:

Imagine that farther, higher up, taller, and at night, then multiply by five.  That's what my phone's video camera couldn't capture.

Waterway 19

I'd forgotten what a life-threatening nuisance it is to enter Gas Works Park on a paved path as a pedestrian.  So after I'd taken care of an urgent need to do Number Two and yet again, sigh, an overdue need to do Number One, I looked for a paved path, without stairs, down to the picnic shelter.  The one I found is not all that paved - tree roots have turned it into a complex landscape - but anyway I figured I could start exploring by going north.  Which led me to signage I'd ignored the first time, for Waterway 19.

Thus informed, I walked the loop trail, and of course saw, um, running water, for some value of "running", but not plumbing:

Waterway 18

Emboldened by having figured out one Waterway, I sought the other.  It turned out to be pretty far - I'd say "blocks away" except that Northlake Way doesn't have blocks.  Pedestrian access is, of course, risky.  I still have no idea who owns it; here's the only sign:

And it more or less is a beach, nowhere near the pseudo-wilderness of 19:

It's about twice as wide as what that picture shows.

Gas Works Park

It turns out there's rather more paved walkways in this park than I'd thought, but it still quickly became clear why I've never really explored it before.  I did unbend enough to photograph the flock of geese whose Numbers Two were making my twilit navigation just a bit dangerous:

But my main purpose was to look for additional restrooms or water fountains, and of course I didn't find any.  I did, however, find this sign:

Now, I think it would be wonderful to have safer, more accessible ways to enter the park, and up to date restrooms (yes, the city of Seattle prefers a newer-fangled euphemism, "comfort station") - well, that would be great too.

But I don't think this was built in 2017:

Yep, doorless stalls.  Also, you probably can't see an absence, but there's no dryer.  The women's room's stalls face the entrance, so it's a good thing they have doors, as this timidly taken photo may not make clear:

I saw a woman waving her hands to dry them when I was doing the same, so presumably that room also lacks a dryer.

I have no idea where the money allocated to the project ended up.

So that's my report on Gas Works Park and some others, dear Diary.  Tomorrow, back to two Fremont parks to tidy up more loose ends, and on to Ballard.

At the Centre of the Universe, Does Gas Work?

Dear Diary,

Two pages back, I wrote about the parks with "N" addresses, as opposed to "NE" or "NW", between about 45th and 80th Streets.  I neglected to mention two things.

First, I spent the night of June 5 in bus shelters near Meridian Playground.  So I saw that park both at night and in the morning, and saw Woodland Park mainly in the morning and afternoon of June 6.

Second, park restroom stalls without doors are pretty much the default in that area, though there are certainly exceptions.

OK, then, it's time to move south.  Since I'd just finished (ha) with Woodland Park, I stayed that far west, so started with Fremont, which has no large parks, and only one water fountain.  Fremont has much more folklore than most Seattle neighbourhoods, most of which I suspect I'll never get, not being a baby boomer.  In particular, it's called the centre of the universe.  Well, then, the centre is seriously under-parked.

Small Fremont Parks

The only kind there is.

Fremont Peak Park

I reached this by going south on Greenwood until I could switch to Palatine.  This is a silly route even if, like me, you're coming from Woodland Park.  Much better to just take 45th St to its end, and then turn south a little.  Anyway, this park is primarily about its view, which I found boring, but it has a sort of mini-Stonehenge meant to tell the seasons:

which looks cool whether or not it works.  The park knows this, too, using circle imagery in a couple of other places.

Fremont Canal Park

Verizon pretended to be unable to retrieve the parks department website most of the afternoon of the 6th, so I didn't learn until I was much further on the trip that I'd ignored this park's western half.  It spans two long blocks between the Burke-Gilman Trail, which there runs alongside the Ship Canal, and the street (Canal Street).  The eastern block is full of dinosaurs:

OK, yeah, topiary ones, but still.  The western block is in "NW" anyway.  By this point it was clear enough that I'll have to go to Ballard after all, so I'll just look at that block then.

A. B. Ernst Park

This is next to the Fremont branch library.  It's basically a transformed stairway:  riotous vegetation all around it, and the upper half turned into a gentle ramp, along which are some weird tiers.  It's apparently slated for expansion (and presumably construction), so if this interests you more than it does me, you might want to hurry there.

Troll's Knoll Park

No, this doesn't include the famous sculpture by, um, Steve Badanes, Will Martin, Donna Walter and Ross Whitehead, which is about the only bit of Fremont folklore that works for me.  It's to the left, as you face the troll, where all those concrete bollards are that you always see people leaning against.  The park apparently wants to move those people way uphill to a small grassy strip next to a P-Patch; fortunately, instead the kids and the gardeners stay at a distance.  The park is more successful in its claimed ambition to assist people in getting uphill; it features a fully paved, gently sloped trail with lots of switchbacks that took me from 36th St almost to 38th.

B. F. Day Playground

This park is, at 2 1/3 acres, not only the biggest in Fremont, but bigger than the other four put together.  This gets it not only a water fountain, but one that gave a tablespoon of water before going dry when I tried it.  It also, at the opposite end of the park, has a "sanican", not something I saw many of in this trip.  It's easiest entered from Linden Ave, just south of 41st St.

Four or More Wallingford Parks

Wallingford Playfield

This is bigger than all the Fremont parks added together.  That is, it's 4 1/2 acres.  By this point I wasn't up for much exploring; the park is easy to find along Wallingford Ave at 42nd St, the open restrooms and non-functional water fountain easy to find within.

A Detour

This was as close as I'd gotten to a supermarket all day, so I went and bought my daily salad, and also a bottle of water.  Which latter made me feel very stupid when I found this in front of the store:

The Wallingford Steps

Exactly what it sounds like:  stairs by which Wallingford Ave continues to the canal.  Or anyway to the next park.  What makes it a park is the usual luxurious plantings, plus some gussied-up landings, of which this one, by Benson Shaw and Clark Weigman, has pride of place:

Gas Works Park

I think every time I've visited this park I've been in a hurry, tired (as this time), or both, so I've never really explored it.  Maybe I'll try to do it justice before I finish writing you, dear Diary, but it isn't actually that close to the U-District - along Meridian same as the playground by that name, but way south.  Anyway, this is the closest to the U-District of the parks whose restrooms have been opened 24 hours, not that I've tested that.  I did want to use those rooms, but a look at the way both men's toilet seats appeared to be decorated with Number Two dissuaded me.  The water fountain attached to the restroom building isn't running.  But I don't know whether there are other restrooms or water fountains elsewhere in the park.

Waterways?

Either at the eastern end of Gas Works Park, or adjacent to it, are Waterways 18 and 19.  The parks department website doesn't list them.  The City of Seattle real estate report (PDF) I'm using for areas lists 19 but not 18.  I didn't explore either at all thoroughly:  I couldn't bring my cart, and my getting anywhere near one enraged the nearby crows.  They don't look like the kinds of parks, or parts of parks, that have restrooms or water fountains.

Sunnyside Ave N Boat Ramp

This is officially closed, but still has a "sanican".  It's hard to reach from Gas Works Park, along the sidewalks-optional Northlake Way; I suggest taking 36th St instead.  Geese were in possession when I arrived, but took offense at me and left, giving me a chance for another mediocre duck photo:

From there I caught the Burke-Gilman Trail straight to University Village and Safeway.  I'd forgotten, at the Wallingford QFC, that I no longer have the handy cutlery my backpack held.  Safeway was in a panic because a rally was getting close, and closed early, so I never did get to a toilet that night, but it worked out OK (and I did get a fork to eat the salad).

For the past two weeks I've been aware that it isn't the right time to state my own grievances.  And the inspiring sight of thousands of people cooperating in marching down (NE) 45th St does nothing to make my course of action seem nobler.  Dear Diary, I had hopes at the start that powerful people might read you, and might do things as a result.  Maybe that's still possible, but probably not before I finish writing you.

As my energy allows, here's what I think is left.  There are eight parks left in "N" between 80th and 145th Streets.  That real estate report alerted me to six parks I hadn't known about in the northern parts of "NE", though four are Natural Areas, unlikely to offer restrooms or water fountains.  And since I still haven't found an area with water fountains consistently on, such that I could say the problem is local, I might as well endure the forty-odd parks of "NW" so I can sort of talk about North Seattle as a whole.

But this all assumes we aren't going back to the days of randomly closed park restrooms.  And assumes that the rain will occasionally pause for a day or two.

Sorry, dear Diary.  I just don't know how much longer until I finish you.