WILD+LIFE
Owen Beach
FIVE MILES OF FUN
Opening half an hour before sunrise, 702-acre Point Defiance Park, often called “5 Mile Drive” by locals, is a treasure trove of rich beauty and hidden adventures waiting to be uncovered. Shrouded in majestic old-growth Douglas firs, this urban forest is easily accessible and provides a range of outdoor recreation experiences such as running, hiking, biking, geocaching, and kayaking. The five-mile paved loop, sprinkled with viewpoints and picnic areas, connects the park’s trails and activities, beginning with the Point Defiance Lodge Visitor’s Center, where you can pick up a map before embarking on your quest. Start near the park entrance at the Point Defiance Pagoda and Japanese Gardens, an authentic Japanese garden and Shinto shrine built in 1914. Nearby is the fragrant Point Defiance Rose Garden, featuring miniature roses and a luxuriant walkthrough arbor of climbing roses. As you venture further into the park, stop and visit the Point Defiance Zoo + Aquarium and see if you can find an Asian elephant, a lemon shark, and an endangered Malayan tiger.
Follow the marked paths deeper into the verdant forest to access an intricate collection of trails suitable for hiking, such as the 2.6-mile round-trip Spine Trail, which leads to a sweeping Gig Harbor viewpoint, and the 4.6-mile Square Trail that loops around the outer edge of the park. Bikers and runners Point Defiance Pagoda and Japanese Gardens
have full access to the paved, scenic pathway, which is closed to vehicle traffic until 1pm on Saturday and Sunday. As you explore the trails, try your hand at geocaching, a real-world treasure hunt where you use any GPS-enabled device to locate hidden items. Point Defiance has 23 geocache “treasure boxes” of varying difficulty scattered throughout the park. Return to the main road and go down a winding hill to Owen Beach and its beautiful waterfront promenade, where quotes are written in the pavement. Kayaks are available to rent seven days a week, depending on the weather. Then discover what life was like in the 1850s at Fort Nisqually Living History Museum, located near the middle of the park. Go inside the original blockhouse fort, and peek through lookouts settlers used to survey the land around them. As you trek throughout Point Defiance Park, see if you can spot a bald eagle, the 450-year-old Mountaineers Tree, or the parallel Narrows Bridges from one of the park’s numerous designated viewpoints of the Puget Sound. —Melena Jankanish
Fort Nisqually Living History Museum fortnisqually.org / Point Defiance Park 5400 N Pearl St; metroparkstacoma.org/point-defiance-park / Point Defiance Zoo + Aquarium pdza.org
42 + TRAVEL TACOMA + PIERCE COUNTY 2014-15
FROM TOP: RUSS CARMACK, JOE GLEDHILL
From forests to forts, adventure abounds in Point Defiance Park