Seattle Stairway Walks has posted another stairway walking route, this time at Golden Gardens:
If you’re looking for a short stairway walk, Golden Gardens is a great choice. Like the shorter version of the Solstice Park walk in West Seattle (Stairway Walk #1), this route is scenic and full of interest, yet it can be covered in less than an hour. From the edge of the Loyal Heights neighborhood, it descends 258 steps to Puget Sound and Golden Gardens beach, with glorious views of the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound.
As always, the walking route that Jake and Cathy have shared is full of vivid details, beautiful photos, and careful directions. Have you used this staircase?
Personally I prefer loops to there-and-back routes, and while going up is no problem, going down so many stairs is pretty hard on my knees. So I usually combine these stairs with the 41-tread stairway that connects NW 64th St to the Burke-Gilman Trail under the railroad tracks. This lets me take in the gorgeous vista at Sunset Hill Park, and the walk along the marina is also lovely, though usually quite windy and cold. It’s just about 4 miles.
Also note that the treads on the upper stairway have metal nosings which make the edges quite slippery when wet—make sure you set your foot solidly on the tread and not the edge. The dirt section can also get quite muddy when it’s been raining, and of course there’s the normal leaf litter and moss. But for years an elderly gentleman has gone out with a shovel or broom and kept the stairs pretty clean, and he always offers passers-by a piece of hard candy. If only all our stairways had such good neighbors.