Parking was easy and accessible around the community college. We found the entrance to the Seattle Chinese Garden, which is close to the Arboretum but apparently not the same thing. It’s a very small garden, quiet and scenic. Good to visit if you happen to be in the area - I’m not sure it’s worth going out of your way to drive for this since it really is a very light walk.

Courtyard is the main attraction. Apparently they are hoping to expand and create a tea house in the future, which would be really cool. There is a koi pond, a giant statue of a fish (dragon-seeker), terracotta soldiers, and a bamboo grove as well. A very peaceful and nice stroll overall.

#hikeathon

We decided to check out the West Duwamish Greenbelt today, which we had never been to! 

ITINERARY

The trail network is pretty extensive and it's easy to get lost, so we used the West Duwamish Greenbelt Trails PDF map, Gaia, and Google Maps together to make our way around. 

We started at the Pathfinder School, wandered through the Pigeon Point Park trails, then hiked through Puget Park and Alder Flats to connect down to the Seattle Chinese Garden. We walked around both the Seattle Chinese Garden and the South Seattle College Arboretum, then decided to walk up 16th Ave SW back to Puget Park before heading back through the Park to Pigeon Point Park and to the parking lot. 

THE ROAD / PARKING LOT

We parked at the Pathfinder School, which wasn't gated over the weekend. There weren't any other cars parked there when we got there around 9:45, and only one other car parked there when we got back a couple of hours later. 

There was a port-a-potty next to the entrance into Pigeon Point Park that I didn't use, but it wasn't padlocked and seemed usable. There's a map of the greenbelt on a bulletin board near the entrance to the park. 

THE TRAIL

The trails were fun to explore! If you look at the greenbelt map, there are solid yellow lines ("improved trail"), dotted yellow lines ("partially improved trail"), and dotted red lines ("rough, steep, adventurous trail").

The solid yellow lines were in great shape, and the dotted yellow lines we took were also in pretty good shape.

We took both of the dotted red lines that connect Pigeon Point Park and Puget Park, and those trails were rough, especially the long red western one. To start, you have a steep drop, which has 2 ropes that are helpful in heading down. Both pictures in this trip report of the red trails are of this part. The trail was quite muddy, with lots of log stairs that were required careful stepping, and very steep. I sort of wish I'd had my poles! We made it just fine, but it was way more rugged than we expected. That said, the trails were easy to follow, at least.  

The trails in Alder Flats that we took were the only other problematic trails — they were super muddy, to the point that we were slipping around. It was for this reason we took the road back up, instead of hiking back through this part. 

MISC.

It was a super quiet day in the greenbelt today. We only saw a handful of folks all day, and that includes a couple of people we saw on our stint on the street. 

We came across multiple access points to the greenbelt, and we saw waterproof maps at each one, which was cool.

And speaking of maps, Google Maps and Gaia don't have all the trails shown on their maps, so I recommend having both of them and the greenbelt PDF map so you don't get lost out there! 

The parking lot was totally empty when we got there early this afternoon around 1:30. It wasn't totally clear if you had to pay for parking so we ended up parking on 16th Ave SW, where street parking is free.

We walked all around the Chinese Garden. It was cool to see all of the Astra Lumina stuff up in the day time — we basically walked what we assumed was the path you'd take if you were at the event. We didn't see practically anyone else the whole time. The trails were all in good shape — mostly graveled and some (but not many) puddles. 

We then headed over to the campus arboretum, which was also pretty cool! Lots of labeled vegetation to identify, with a lot of things bare for the winter. 

We were walking around for maybe 45 minutes. By the time we left, the Astra Lumina lights were turning on and we could hear some of the music playing — we guessed they were getting the displays ready for the evening/night.

It’s early spring so not a ton was going on and the water features weren’t turned on yet. I agree with someone else’s post of it’s a good stroll rather than a hike or a walk. I could only find 1.07 miles of trails and walking areas. But very easy, not wheelchair accessible but would be okay for some mobility aides.

This Chinese Garden is under development at the South Community College. Next to it is a nice aboretum.  There is a very nice Chinese structure with courtyard but it is not open on Mondays - the day we went.  The garden has a lovely pagoda and many peonies close to blooming.  There is a large fish sculpture over 100 years old and interesting rock from Taihu Lake in China.This is a large wild area and it must be a lot of work to carve out gardens!

We had never been to this part of Seattle and enjoyed taking the #125 bus there from downtown.  Quite a route and a nice residential area!  The Alki Cafe at the school is open until 2pm.