Des Moines Creek Trail

Some months ago my friend Aurilee needed to go to Des Moines, just south of Seattle, for an appointment. When we were discussing route choices we noticed an interesting bike trail on the map. She didn't wind up using the trail that evening, but we've both been wondering about that trail ever since, and this afternoon seemed like a great time to explore it. It's a short ride and we didn't have the whole day.

We started out on a sunny afternoon on Capitol Hill with a stop at Rancho Bravo and then a Molly Moon's milkshake. Milkshakes are the ideal cycling fuel!

(photo by Aurilee Gamboa)

We rode through the Seattle University Campus and down to SODO station where we hopped on LINK light rail for a quick ride to Sea Tac airport. This got us close to the trail, gave me a chance to explore some areas new to me and offered a relaxed opportunity to figure out the southbound bicycle departure route from the airport that i'd always wondered about. Yet another goal of this ride was for Aurilee to enjoy learning about her brand new camera.

When we got off the train, we were face to face with an beautiful piece of artwork called Flying Sails. Aurilee immediately pulled out the new camera.

I managed to get a photo of both of us reflected in the artwork.

I have friends who live outside of Karlsruhe, Germany, so i lined up this photo of my bicycle, which i think turned out quite well.

We left the light rail station and found our way to the bus stop next to the baggage claim. We recognized our friend Joe's bike. He's in Cleveland for the weekend.

It was the only bike in the rack that was locked up securely! The rest all had very thin cables and the wheels were not locked!

We easily found the (unmarked) bicycle route out of the airport on 28th Ave S, avoiding the major, heavy traffic streets. Once out of the airport we decided to take a loop around the Angle Lake neighborhood, just to see it. I had never been there before.

It was an interesting suburban neighborhood with a very nice park on the lake. Lots of folks were out in the park on this spring Saturday. As we rode into the park we almost got hit by flying water bottles. I couldn't really figure out what was going on. At first i thought they were water balloons (a couple exploded on the sidewalk) but they were in fact sealed bottles of water. There was a large group throwing them. But after watching for a moment it became clear that they were not throwing them at each other, or at us, but up in a tree.

There was a volleyball stuck about 35 feet up in the tree!!! We watched for a few minutes and at one point they hit the volleyball, and it jumped a foot or so up, but settled back down in the same branch. It looked kind of hopeless, and when they actually got a water bottle stuck in the tree next to it, we rolled on out of the park, never knowing the resolution to that story.

A few blocks later we stopped to check the map, to make sure we were on route to the Des Moines Creek trail.

A short ride, down a VERY steep hill brought us to the trailhead, and off we headed on a very nice trail.

This was not a flat trail!  Unlike most trails made from rail grades, this was a steady, significant downhill. I really loved the beautiful little trail cutting through the heavy forest next to the lovely stream.

It was very peaceful and pretty, but every few minutes you were reminded that a major international airport was just a couple of miles away.

There were lots of opportunities for photography.

I noticed a nice design feature on this winding, downhill trail.

When we would come to a tight curve, the center line was wide to prevent conflicts. I thought it was a neat idea.

Near the downhill end of the 4 or 5 mile trail, there was an underpass that was decorated in a fun way.

First there was the fake fern fossil!

And this salmon seems to be jumping out of the wall, while Aurilee looks like she's lost in a cartoon!

The trail which started so high up on the hill ended at sea level. We had found the Puget Sound.

The historical marker sign told us that this park on the water was the site of an old original homestead from the 1880s, and that the long beautiful downhill bike trail we had just ridden was the road to burgeoning settlement of Duwamps (Seattle)!

We spent a half an hour or so sitting on the beach, watching the kids play in the cold, cold tide and taking photos, looking out at Puget Sound and Maury Island in the distance.

It was a very high tide, and the seaweed was washing up.

There was a long public fishing pier and we walked out to the end. The clouds were starting to gather and the wind was brisk out there. I liked the fish cleaning station.

Obviously it is often windy here, because this small beautiful tree has been fighting the wind, and apparently, kids, for many years.

Aurilee taking a photo at Des Moines Marina.

As we cycled along the marina the clouds started to look darker and darker.

We decided to loop down 3 or 4 more miles before turning back. It was a fascinating area. In 20 years in Seattle i had never been there, and it was quite different from anywhere else i had seen. I enjoyed it a lot.

The magnificent old Masonic Retirement Center, now an event center, sits like a massive castle on the hill overlooking the water. I've seen it from a distance before, when riding on Vashon & Maury Islands and even, i think, from Tacoma. It was fun to ride directly in front of it.

We rode to Salt Water State Park, descending fast down to the beach. Aurilee took this amazing photo of the magnificent clouds.

photo copyright Aurilee Gamoba

The weather had changed considerably from the warm lunchtime sun. Now we knew we were in for a bit of rain soon. We were prepared.

But first we had to climb up out of Salt Water State Park. The thing about living on a fjord, every time you go down to the water, it's a big, big hill back up!

Once back up a the height of the cliffs, we discussed different routes, but decided the Des Moines Creek Trail was so beautiful that riding it again was essential, and besides, all the other choices involved riding busy streets, probably in the rain. We rode back through Des Moines as it got darker and darker. The rain started just a few minutes after we started back up the trail. We stopped and donned our rain gear. The rain wasn't a soft, typical, Puget sound rain, it was raining HARD. Riding the trail was the right decision. I can't possibly express how beautiful the trail, the stream and the forest were in the rain. I almost had tears in my eyes. The sound of the heavy rain on the canopy of the trees above our heads was amazing. I felt lucky. It was a joy to be there in the rain.

The ride up the trail through the forest in the rain was lovely, but once out, we had to climb a big hill on S 200th St.

and then it was just 5 or 10 minutes back to the airport where we got back on light rail.

We stopped for excellent, warming, Cambodian food on the way home and thrilled at how hard the rain was thundering down. There was thunder too, as we pulled up to the Cambodian restaurant in Chinatown. It wasn't from the clouds though: The Seattle Sounders FC were playing a MLS soccer game against Portland, 38,000 fans in the pouring rain were having a great time. Someone must have scored because right as we were pulling up to the restaurant, they set of some extremely loud fireworks!

A short afternoon ride turned into a fantastic, diverse exploration. What fun!