A morning in Point Defiance

Point Defiance Park is in Tacoma Washington and is a part of the Metro Parks system. It is located at 5400 North Pearl Street. It is easily accessed from Highway 16 and well signed. This 760-acre park offers many attractions including a marina, zoo, beach access and a living history museum recounting the pioneer days at Fort Nisqually.

We decided to catch a rare sunny fall day here in the South Sound and headed out to get in our share of fresh air and exercise in a leisurely way.

All the trails here are either packed dirt or paved (the promenade) and are very well marked with color coded signage. We have hiked them all now and truly enjoy the diversity offered by this gem of a city park. Want to have a beach day? Hike the Owen beach trail from the boathouse. This trail is great for an ADA day as the trail is flat and paved. Want a little more rugged? Hit the circle trail that encompasses the entire 5-mile drive area. Not feeling like getting your hike on? Drive the 5-mile drive and stop off for the beautiful views of the sound and catch the docents at Fort Nisqually.

Our morning started late and we decided that the 2.6-mile round trip spine trail would be perfect for our outing.  This trail is up and back but can be modified anywhere along its route to match where you would like to hike

We entered the park from the Pearl Street entrance and bypassed the turn to the marina, boathouse and zoo. These are great places to visit but warrant their own article. We wound our way to the Rhododendron garden where the spine trail starts. This is a great little area to explore during the bloom season to experience this quintessential Northwest plant. We even found one last late Rhodie with some pretty pink blossoms still hanging on here in the middle of October.

Park along the road and head west up the hill and be prepared for the sights and smells. There are huge Western Red Cedar trees, soaring fir trees and mixed alder, maple and oak trees. Marvel at and take a photo in front of the huge root balls of trees. Walk silently through this pocket forest and you will hear the calls of birds and squirrels. This area is abundant with the standard resident birds, the Blackcap chickadee, Stellar Jay, Wren, Crow and Raven are all denizens of this lovely forest. There are many raccoons in the park and as cute as they are, they bring up one of our pet peeves… there are signs in the park and common sense should scream… don’t feed the wildlife! As you drive through the park there are little gangs of these roadside bandits looking for handouts.  Their behavior is that of any animal who has become accustomed to receiving food, they gang up on the side of the road and will actually try to climb your car if you come to a full stop. They are cute and make begging noises and the adults are training their kittens to beg as well which makes the new generations less capable of surviving without that handout…just say no to continuing this practice please.

During our visit we encountered our share of other trail users; people trail running, other couples strolling through the woods, folks out exercising their dogs and one sneaky person who left behind a painted rock in the bole of a tree. You wind your way along the spine of the park and come to the primary picnic shelter on the west end of the park where you intersect with the 5-mike drive and have a fantastic overlook of the Tacoma Narrows and a view of the entrance to Gig Harbor. The sun sparkling on Puget Sound in the narrows is a sight to see! There are many warning signs along the fence guarding the bluff which you should pay attention to as this is a very unstable bluff and it’s a long way down to the water below.

From here the hiker has a choice to take a different path back to our parking area. We decided to head back down the spine, wending our way through the rays of the sun trickling through the canopy above. Admiring the soaring cedars and exchanging greetings with the passing walkers, joggers and dogs. We wound our way back down the spine to the parking area at the Rhodie garden.

This is definitely a hidden gem in Tacoma, there is no fee and it is easy to access.  We hope you enjoy this little adventure as much as we did.