An oasis of peace and space for thoughtfulness, the Seattle Chinese garden is full of brilliant color right now in the form of fish, Iris, Rhodes, and roses.

We walked a messy loop taking in both the Camp Long and Seattle Chinese Garden trails on this beautiful Easter Sunday morning. Starting at Camp Long and doing the big loop there first we then headed around the north end of the West Seattle Golf Course up 35th Ave SW, over on SW Genesee then followed Delridge Way, 21st Ave SW Dawson and finally 16th Ave SW to the Seattle Chinese Garden. After walking those trails we headed back around the south end of the golf course back down 16th, Dawson, 21st Ave and Delridge Way then over on SW Brandon to get back to Camp Long. Total combined mileage is a shade over 7 with gross vertical over 600 with all the ups and downs. No issues with any of the trails and all surface streets can be safely walked. Camp Long suffered quite a bit of blowdown this winter though it is nearly all bucked up and out of the way. The forest there is interesting - mostly open deciduous second generation growth including maple, red alder, chestnut and madrone. There has been a bunch of volunteer work done to pull invasives - looks nice. The Schurman climbing rock is still open to everybody - good practice for an alpine scramble later in the season! The Seattle Chinese Garden and appurtenant traditional arboretum are beautiful - worth a trip by itself. Note that the interior courtyard is closed on Mondays and has other regularly scheduled events. Don't miss the rock garden in the northwest corner of the arboretum. Lastly, the walk over includes some super nice views of downtown from the Rotary Viewpoint along 35th Ave. https://www.seattle.gov/parks/reserve/event-space-rentals/camp-long http://seattlechinesegarden.org/ http://www.southseattle.edu/arboretum/

The Seattle Chinese Garden at South Seattle Community College was a great find with criss-crossing trails through a beautiful garden setting. Not only was there a snail right in the parking lot, there were also koi in the Song Mei Pavilion pond and fun trail structures such as a huge karp statue and many an archway. Featuring small paths through bamboo, a scented garden, and rhododendron in bloom - the Chinese Garden also offered great views and a far away feel for such a close in urban oasis.