A Sunny Fall Day in Tacoma

It’s been gray for a week, and then the forecast puts a little sun on Saturday. You’d like to get outside before it’s gone. So would everyone else in Tacoma, so it helps to have a plan.

This one starts under the big trees in Stadium, walks the waterfront, stops in the Japanese Garden at Point Defiance and ends on Dune Peninsula for sunset. All of it is free. You’ll pay for lunch and probably a coffee.

Watch the clock

Sunset is about 6:30pm in mid-October and just before 6 on Halloween. On November 1 the clocks fall back and it drops to 4:53pm. Point Defiance, Dune Peninsula and the Ruston Way waterfront all close half an hour after sunset, so if you’re doing this in November, start at 10 instead of 11.

October is usually the good month for color around town, but every tree runs on its own schedule. If Saturday turns out wet after all, use the rainy-day plan instead.

1. Wright Park

Start at Tacoma’s downtown arboretum: 27 acres and more than 600 trees, many of them planted in the early 1900s. Wander, look up, let the kids have the playground. Street parking runs around the edge of the park.

If you want more color, walk up toward Stadium High School, where the street trees are another of Visit Pierce County’s fall picks. It’s a working school, so stay on the sidewalk. The Wright Park page has the story behind the two statues people call Annie and Fannie.

Give it about an hour.

2. Ruston Way

Drive down to the water and park near Chinese Reconciliation Park at the east end of the waterfront. Take a few minutes with the signs along its paths. The park exists because of Tacoma’s 1885 expulsion of its Chinese residents, and the walk through it tells that story.

From there the path is paved all the way toward Point Defiance. Depending on whose map you trust, that’s two to three miles one way. Nobody needs to do all of it. Walk until somebody’s hungry, eat at one of the places along the water or up in Old Town, then turn back. On a clear day, look back southeast across the bay for Mount Rainier.

If you spot a seal pup alone on the beach, leave it alone. Its mother may come back for it, but she won’t while people or dogs are close by. Keep dogs leashed and away from seals. For a stranded or injured marine mammal, stay 100 yards back and call 1-866-767-6114.

With lunch, call it two hours.

3. Point Defiance

Drive over to Point Defiance and come in on Pearl Street, the entrance for the gardens. During the Loop Trail construction, Parks Tacoma has sent drivers to Mildred Street instead for Owen Beach, the zoo, Fort Nisqually and the car-free Outer Loop of Five Mile Drive. Its last update expected the closed stretch of road to reopen in July. We couldn’t confirm that it has, so check the project page before you plan on driving from one side of the park to the other.

In October, the Japanese Garden is the stop. Parks Tacoma’s own description is all spring blossoms, but Visit Pierce County’s foliage guide points to its maples for fall color. There’s a footbridge, a small waterfall, lanterns and a little tea house. Right next to it is the Pagoda, built in 1914 as a waiting room for the streetcar. The shrine and torii gate on its east side were a gift from Kitakyushu, Tacoma’s sister city in Japan, in 1961.

The trail work has closed a few paths around here on and off, including the one behind the Pagoda, so follow whatever detour signs are up.

An hour is plenty. If your crew would rather have a beach than a garden, use the Mildred Street entrance and head for Owen Beach.

4. Dune Peninsula

From the gardens, follow the path to the Wilson Way bridge and walk across. It’s 605 feet long and about 50 feet up, and people stop in the middle (Parks Tacoma has named that spot The Moment) for the view out over the Sound. At the east end there are six slides down toward the marina, with stairs beside each one. Kids will find them.

Dune Peninsula is on the far side. The paved Frank Herbert Trail loops around it, with quotes from the Tacoma-born author of Dune set into the path. There are year-round restrooms, which you’ll probably want by now.

Bring a warmer layer than seems necessary, stay for the sunset, and leave enough light to walk back over the bridge before the park closes.

Other ways to use a nice day

• Saturday morning: the Proctor Farmers Market runs 9am to 2pm at N. 27th and N. Proctor streets, every Saturday through December 19. Pick up picnic food there before you start.
• October 17 or 24: Parks Tacoma’s free Drop-in Hikes leave the Fort Nisqually picnic shelter at Point Defiance at 9am. They’re about three easy miles, and there’s no sign-up. See the October 17 and October 24 listings.
• More Japanese maples: Lakewold Gardens in Lakewood has Japanese maples that Visit Pierce County calls a fall highlight. It charges admission and is open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm, in October. Regular garden visits are off October 17–18 and 24–25 for its All Hallows event.
• Something quieter: the trails at Tacoma Nature Center around Snake Lake are open daily from 8am until half an hour after sunset. No dogs or bikes on the trails.