Care to walk through a wooded ravine, bright green with spring? This Sunday, May 5, our Walk-n-Talk will start at the top of the hill and walk down the service road to the Marine Science Center at the north end of Seahurst Beach.

The road winds down toward the water under a tall canopy of newly-leafed-out trees. Tender greens of all sorts grow along the roadside.

As we make our way down the road, you’ll be able to see entry points to the criss-cross of the North Nature Trails throughout the ravine. Once at the shoreline, walkers can enjoy some time at the beach, then the walk will continue back UP the hill.

Walkers may ascend on the easier, more gradual service road.

For those wanting a more rugged walk, they can climb the hill on the sometimes maintained, sometimes muddy, sometimes bridged creek-crossing trails.

Here’s a map from the City of Burien showing the purple-dashed service road and the red-dashed trail (at the top of the map.) Seahurst Park Service Road Map

Walk Details:

• Date and Time: Sunday, May 5. Meetup at 2:00 p.m. Walking starts at 2:15 p.m.
• Meetup Location: Approx. 13200 Shorewood Dr. SW, Burien WA 98166 (There’s a passageway in the cyclone fence in the corner.)
• Directions: From Burien Town Square Park, go WEST (toward the water) on SW 152nd St.
• Turn RIGHT and go NORTH on Ambaum Blvd. SW until SW 130th St.
• Turn LEFT on SW 130th St. (at Lakeside Milam)
• Go up the hill, following the road and veer RIGHT on SW 131st St.
• Drive one block to Shorewood Drive SW and look for parking.
• Parking Suggestions: Parking at the site is limited and we suggest that you carpool with other walkers. Since the walk starts in a residential area, we remind you to be considerate of private property and driveway accesses.
• Walk Conditions and Time: As with all of the Walk-n-Talks, each walker may go at whatever pace is most comfortable for himself or herself. The walk DOWN the hill on the road takes about 20-30 minutes; it is a hard-packed gravel, full-width road. The walk back UP the hill on the road is most gradual and easiest, taking another 20-30 minutes depending on pace. The walk UP along the trails is steeper and rougher, but quite beautiful. It may take 30 minutes or more (depending on how many photos you stop to take.) If it has rained within a couple of days, there may be mud in places, so boots may be desired.
• For those not wanting to walk back UP the hill, we suggest that friends carpool, leaving one car in the parking lot at Seahurst Beach, then driving to the walk starting point. Once completing the walk DOWN, you may then go to the car in the parking lot and drive back to retrieve the other car.

Come enjoy it now, if you haven’t already, because it will likely be impacted: Westmark Development plans to build a 200-unit condominium unit, Emerald Pointe, in the Seahurst Park North Creek basin, above and to the east of this road and trail system. This development has a long and contentious history, beginning before Burien was incorporated as a city. Intense opposition remains (Read below.)

Neighbors of Seahurst Park: “On March 11, 2013 the City of Burien issued the first permit for construction on the Emerald Pointe on the Sound Project. This permit is only for the initial clearing of the site. It includes the removal of 78 significant trees, while protecting and preserving only 8 (eight!) significant trees on this 9.8 acre site.”
http://www.seahurstfriends.org/news.html

Highline Times, 4/15/2013:
Westmark’s Emerald Pointe apts. permitted by City of Burien, but what about those mudslides?
http://www.highlinetimes.com/2013/04/15/news/westmarks-emerald-pointe-apts-permitted-city-buri

B-Town Blog Letter to the Editor and Comments: (Ralph Nichols lends historical perspective in his comment to the letter-writer.)
http://b-townblog.com/2013/04/03/letter-to-the-editor-buriens-own-coupeville-landslide-is-on-the-horizon/