Rainy day Seattle walks: 5 short, scenic, safe options

Just because it might rain, doesn’t mean you have to stay home. In fact, there’s something delightful about exploring wild places on soggy winter days, provided everyone in your party is dressed in the appropriate combination of layers and waterproofing. Here are some short rainy day Seattle walks to some lovely places. Pack snacks and water, put on some cozy wool socks and go exploring.

5 rainy day Seattle walks

Seward Park

5900 Lake Washington Boulevard S

Seward Park has one of the only two remnants of old growth forest within Seattle, and it’s fun to stroll among the Douglas firs, red cedars and big-leaf maples while they are sporting their full winter finery of dripping green moss and ferns. There’s a network of trails through the woods, with signs at each junction indicating where you are. One idea for elementary-aged kids: appoint your kids the navigators and have them guide you through the park. The trail around the waterfront is flat and friendly to those with strollers or on wheels. Once you go inland, it gets rugged.

Union Bay Natural Area

3501 NE 41st St

This spot next to the University of Washington is a former landfill, painstakingly planted and restored to be urban wildlife habitat. Songbirds dart through the shrubs. Hawks watch from the trees. Ducks, here for the winter to mate and eat, cruise the ponds and the shoreline. You’ll likely see a heron posed somewhere, and maybe you’ll see gnawed twigs left behind by a beaver. (Or maybe you’ll just jump in puddles. There should be plenty of those.) All the walking is on flat gravel trails.

Mercer Slough Nature Park

1625 118th Ave SE, Bellevue

Light-rail construction nearby means that this winter the main hiker access to the park is via the narrow, twisty trails leading from 118^th Avenue Southeast, so this isn’t a stroller-friendly option. It is, however, a great place to see woods, take boardwalks through wetlands check out some epic mud and watch the ducks patrol the sloughs.

Schmitz Preserve Park

5551 SW Admiral Way

In the heart of West Seattle, you can duck into a lush ravine where old growth trees shade the trail. This is a foot-only expedition because of steepness and stairs, and it’s a short walk: only about a mile and a half to go from one end of the park to the other and back. If your party has energy to burn off, you can extend one end of the walk through the streets down to Alki Beach.

Tradition Lake/West Tiger Mountain

Southeast 79th Street, Interstate 90, Exit 20, Issaquah

This one is well worth the drive past the edge of Issaquah. There’s a bunch of trails here, so a map is a good idea. Two wonderful options for hikers with kids: the half-mile Swamp Trail, which has interpretive signs telling the adventure of Zoe and the Swamp Monster, and the Tradition Lake Loop, a nice, level, stroller-able route through some picturesque damp country.