[Ski]

Wapato Park 11-07-14 Low elevation urban dayhike. Total trail length: ± 2.5 mi. Max. elevation gain: ± 60 ft. Wapato Park had its origin when Horace and Helen Scott donated 20 acres to the Metropolitan Park District in 1920. Today it is just over 87 acres, and 34 acre Wapato Lake is the largest freshwater lake in the City of Tacoma. The main entrance today is at South 68th and South Sheridan Avenue. There is also a vehicle entrance at South 72nd and South Cushman.

wapato_park_aerial

During the Park's history there have been many changes. Some of the most substantial and long-lasting were done as part of a WPA project between 1936 and 1938, when among other things, the boathouse, pergola, stone bridge, and stone entry gates were constructed. Having grown up three blocks from the old entrance on South 72nd near Sheridan Avenue, the Park appeared much different to me than how I remember it as a child.

The paved 0.9 mile loop trail around the lake is popular with walkers, joggers, and children. I was surprised at how many people were there on Tuesday in such dreary weather. There were even more Thursday when the sun came out.

At the south end of the lake is a dock, which is now gated and closed. I caught a catfish from this dock when I was a kid and took it home for a pet, but when I put it in our fish pond in the back yard my sister's cat ate it.

The old baseball field just east of the stone bridge is now an off-leash dog area.

The old road that used to go all the way through the Park has been closed to vehicle traffic just north of the Pergola. It leads up to the stone bridge and the old north entrance, passing by a 40" DBH Douglas Fir.

At the northwest corner of the Lake Loop Trail one can go north and onto an unpaved trail, which forks after about a hundred yards. The upper fork leads to an access point at the 6200 block of South Alaska Street, and the lower fork leads to what is labeled the "Pipeline Trail" - a catwalk above a large pipe which spans the north end of the lake between South Alaska Street and South Sheridan Avenue.

Way up in the northeast corner of the Park is a wetland area, where Greg James and I used to go to catch salamanders. I took one to school in first grade for "show and tell" in Miss Lumsten's class, and it got away and crawled through the heating ducts and into the furnace. The janitors spent a week trying to figure out where the smell was coming from. There are a lot of really interesting things about the Park, and there are fabulous specimens of Douglas Fir, Oregon Ash, and Rhododendron, but for some reason I've always had an affinity for the soggy marsh area up in the far corner, because you just never know what you might find there.

Since I was already out in the south end, I figured I'd stop by H-Mart to see if they might have anything interesting for dinner.

got catfish?

While the live creatures swimming in tanks were certainly interesting, I went instead with the shrimp.

shrimp and pepper saute 110414

[flatsqwerl]

A couple years ago, they put in a dog park in the NE corner of the park. It used to be a big grassy area with a baseball field. A lot of the woods by this area were thinned and 'trailed' for more dog walking too. I used to see coyotes regularly patrolling the ball field/woods before they put in the dog park.

[Chico]

Interesting little park. Nice to see the history preserved. Does it too have a caretaker on site?

[Ski]

flatsqwerl- my memory of Nace Field (the old baseball field up in the northeast corner) is that is was vacant and very quiet most of the time, unless there were weekend baseball games scheduled. Up until my two visits this last week, I hadn't been in the Park for at least a couple decades; the last time I was there you couldn't walk ten feet in any direction without stepping in goose poop. While the lake's water quality remains an issue, at least they've taken care of the Canada Goose problem. I'm not up to speed on exactly what process brought about the dog park, but my guess is that local citizens wanted it. It is certainly being well used now- the parking area for the dog park was almost full on Tuesday. Chico- I don't know if there is a "caretaker" per se. There are several maintenance buildings and a full-time maintenance crew on site. There is also a Tacoma Police Department substation at South 72nd Street and Cushman Avenue, just inside the Park's south entrance.