Stairs to nowhere

At my Trader Joe’s there is a chalk picture of Eagle Landing. Stairs to the beach is what I saw, so finally this weekend I sought out this cool place.

I attacked it from the beach by walking down from Seahurst Park and then finished up by driving up to the park entrance up at the top of the bluff.

Here is what I found, a park of lovely design and stairs to nowhere.

It is a rock beach in this area and the tide was out enough to walk to the north of Seahurst park’s paths. Not much to see at first but in the distance I think I see a tangle of trees on the beach. When I get down there it is a mess from a landslide. It had pushed the trees onto the beach into the water.

Beach below Eagle’s Landing park – trees pushed down
Landslide has made the beach tough going
Here is the landslide that pushed trees into the beach

Upon my way, I saw a family of crows. Three adults and a baby giving them a run for their money.

Crows think the landslide is their playground
Crow Family chasing baby

Then I saw the staircase. It was in the bushes but a trail took me up off the beach and got me to them. No surprise the path had been overgrown by blackberries. It has been a lush year here in the Pacific Northwest with things growing so fast.

The path to stairs
I’m up there and ready to check out the stairs
There is the beginning

There was a strange thing going on here. The stairs were overgrown and unkempt. That was not right. The city would not just stop maintaining this place. Or would they?

The stairs begin but things are not right
Overgrown is not a good thing but upward I went.

These stairs were so visual in their metalness and the view was awesome. However, they kind of gave me leap-a-phobia. That feeling that you will throw yourself off a high place. Vertigo can be so odd.

View was grand from the stairs to the sound
Looking back – what a ways down.

Lot of stairs here. I kept on climbing to see what was at the top. Curiosity is a crazy thing.

What the heck!!! I am blocked by plywood and fencing

Little did I know the park had closed the stairs. Later at home, a little research on-line turned up that a storm in 2014 had eroded the bottom. Coupled with the landslide it was now off-limits.

Ooops I had trespassed. Back down I went and climbed across the landslide on the beach. To my delight I saw this Belted Kingfisher and even caught him in flight.

Kingfisher on Puget Sound by Seahurst Park
Kingfisher landed on the landslide trees watching for dinner

I also found this odd metal and cement thing on the beach. I am guessing it was a boat anchor or perhaps some signage was on it.

Odd cement & metal thing
Springy thing with barnacles

I had to figure out what it was like up at the top, so I drove to the park entrance. There I found a postage stamp parking lot and a cool eagle sculpture.

Eagles Landing Park Mascot

Up here on the bluff the trail was typical Pacific Northwest dirt through a lush green forest.

Then I saw the other side of the plywood and some signage that gave me a clue to check on later.

Top of Eagle Landing Stairs
Sign says it all – KEEP OUT

And they made sure we stayed out. Fenced in up here would stop most folks. And to think I climbed up there from the bottom.  YIKES

Caged like fencing to keep us off the stairs

Off to the side of the blocked stair entrance was a bench and signage. How would they have known that their info on how the soil was sliding would be exactly what closed this lovely place to us.

Sign next to boarded up stairs

What an adventure but it was topped off by two lovely things.  First a robin singing in the tree to me and then a Buddha near the park entrance.  Hope you enjoyed my discovery of the stairs to nowhere.

Robin sings to Robin
Robin Red Breast in the forest
A lovely end to my adventure

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