The walking man walks -- to the locks

I guess I've been in a walking mood the past couple of weekends. On Friday, which I had off for Veterans Day, I walked in the pissing rain downtown to the Cinerama, where I saw Tarsem Singh's great-looking but grotesquely-violent Immortals (2011). Then yesterday I decided it was time to explore the western reaches of the Burke-Gilman trail. Turns out they still haven't closed the gap along Salmon Bay in Ballard, although I thought they'd come to an agreement about the route. It's been difficult, because it's a working waterfront, and the local businesses have resisted. Then again, it's precisely the working waterfront aspect of the area that makes it so interesting.

As always, it was fascinating to see what I could see on foot, as opposed to driving through as I've done in the past. Finally got a chance to see the Ballard Blocks, which is a large development right by the Ballard Bridge, with a huge empty lot across the street with Coming Soon signs on it that may have been a project that was a victim of the economic collapse. Old Ballard, with its charming old brick buildings and air of ancient mystery, was swarming with people. Looked like there was some kind of street event going on, but I avoided it.

At the locks I discovered that the big lock has been drained for maintenance, which is what the picture above is showing. I haven't really spent a lot of time at the locks, and it was a good, physical reminder of how the waterways in Seattle have been engineered. I looked at maps in the visitors center that showed the area before and after the canals were dug and the locks installed. As long as I've lived here, I'd never really figured out where Salmon Bay, Portage Bay, and Union Bay were. I've heard the phrase Montlake Cut for years without really understanding that it referred to the canal between Lake Union and Lake Washington. Then again, the maps called the other canal the Fremont Cut, which is not a phrase I've ever heard that I can remember. I've always heard it called the Ship Canal.

I had intended to continue on to Golden Gardens, but I was really hungry, so I wandered back into Ballard along Market looking for food. There were cool little restaurants all over the place, but I couldn't settle on anything and ended up just hiking restlessly on, up over Phinney Ridge (hell of a climb) and into Wallingford. Ended up back at my beloved Pacific Inn, just a couple blocks from my house, for a reuben sandwich and half a football game.

One thing I hadn't realized is that you can cross the canal at the locks and you're basically in Discovery Park. I've only been to Discovery Park once, many years ago, so maybe that'll be my next hike. If I could find a way to loop back into Fremont via Interbay, I'd see a lot of territory that I've never really explored before.