Golden Gardens Park

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Golden Gardens Park is a park located in the north part of the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. ( This part of Ballard is also known as Sunset Hill. ) It features picnic and play areas adjacent to a sandy beach on Puget Sound.

Most visitors either take 85th Street, normally from I-5, or 15th Ave to approach the park; from this point the park can be accessed from the east either by Golden Gardens Drive N.W. -- a winding road down a steep wooded hillside with deep ravines -- or by a pedestrian trail. The road and the trail each pass under the BNSF Railway's main line. It can also be accessed from the south by Seaview Avenue N.W., which runs parallel to and west of the BNSF tracks along Puget Sound past the Shilshole Bay Marina, leading to the Ballard Locks and Ballard's commercial district.

The entrance to Golden Gardens is steep and windy ( so caution is advised for RVs and longbed trucks ), and passes through deep forest. The road leading into the park is a lot like Lake Washington Boulevard or the entrance to Carkeek Park in character, except that there's a large, unpaved parking lot with picnic tables about halfway down.

[edit] Recreation

The park is divided between wetland marsh, and beach, and situated north of Shilshole Bay Marina. Because of these factors, Golden Gardens is most often used for picnics with a view, for hikes on the beach, and as a playground for dog owners.

The water itself is generally too cold to swim, but it's very common to see people sailing, kayaking, and canoing in Puget Sound in the waters here. Kite-surfing and sailboarding are also common on especially windy days. The Sound is cut off from the open ocean for more than a hundred miles, and the islands in the distance prevent severe nautical weather except during storms.

Golden Gardens is particularly well known for the birds that live or migrate there:

• Mallard ducks live in the wetlands; this is essentially a duck pond
• Wood ducks are less common here, but make occasional appearances
• Seagulls
• Red winged blackbirds, pictured below, love marsh lands and find plenty of them in Golden Gardens
• Canada geese are very often seen in the parking lot and near picnic areas
• Eagles are far from an every day sighting, but fish here

The mallards and Canada geese are particularly tame, and have learned to expect food from visitors. Rarely, both species have frightened small children by walking right up to them looking for a handout.

Sea lions are often heard, but rarely seen, from the shore.