Explaining Chambers Creek walks

I frequently take walks around Chambers Creek Properties. You might have already known that. I have also been reporting bird sighting on those walks at eBird. In those reports, I include an explanation of where I walked. Perhaps it's time to explain those explanations a little better. (It might make more sense if you have a mapping website to look at.)

The park was built on an old gravel pit. The route that most people are familiar with is made up of two trails. The Grandview Trail is a straight flat trail that parallels Grandview Drive and overlooks the Chambers Bay Golf Course. The North end of the trail goes by the North Meadow (an open grassy area) and the Playground by the Sound. When I walk by myself, I usually start at an entrance near the North Meadow. The south end approaches the Environmental Services Building. If I say I walked the Grandview Trail, I walked from one end to the other.

I have never been in the Environmental Services Building, but I have visited the surrounding trails. Instead of a named trail that people follow, there is a series of trails going around several play fields. At one corner, there is a stone labyrinth. Usually, I won't mention the labyrinth. I will, however, make a few walks (not many) that include these trails.

The Soundview Trail connects to both the North and south ends of the Grandview Trail. Part of the trail parallels the railroad tracks near the Puget Sound. This puts the Soundview Trail at a lower elevation than the Grandview Trail. How do you get there? You can go up and down a fairly steep hill on the North and south ends of the trail. I frequently walk both trails and call it the Grandview/Soundview Loop.

The hill on the southern section of the Soundview Trail also carries cars (but obviously not on the trail). At the bottom is the Central Meadow (another open grassy area). When I walk with others, we usually park by the Central Meadow. There are also trails around the meadow. I usually include the Central Meadow when I walk the Grandview/Soundview Loop, but I am only likely to mention it when other components of my walk don't indicate that I was by the Central Meadow. More specifically, if I don't mention the Soundview Trail (or maybe the Canyon and the beach in the same walk), I might have to specify that the Central Meadow was still a part of the walk.

One corner of the Central Meadow features a bridge, the Bridge to the Beach. This bridge connects the trail system to the beach. There are a couple points along the beach that can't be passed at high tide. While I frequently adjust my walks to hit the beach at a lower tide, I don't always head down (although it's rare for me to skip the bridge when I'm by the Central Meadow). I like to mention where I go when I'm on the beach. The North Beach is more accessible. If I can't make it to the end of the public beach (or a little short – there is another point that can be blocked at slightly lower tides, but it isn’t far off from the end of the public beach) due to tides, I will report that I walked part of the North Beach. The South Beach is similar but with lower tides required to say "South Beach" instead of "Part of the South Beach."

I started walking at Chambers Creek Properties before the Bridge to the Beach opened. Even more recently, they opened the East Slope Trail. I don't mention that trail often because I find it to be redundant. There are two places that I visit that are on the other end of that trail. If I say that I walked the Canyon or to Steilacoom, I obviously walked the East Slope Trail. So where is this trail? It heads South near the Environmental Services Building not far from where the Grandview and Soundview Trails meet.

The East Slope Trail leads to Chambers Creek. After crossing a bridge, a trail leads upstream.This would be the Canyon Trail. Usually, I like to head up the trail to a spur that leads to the creek. Sometimes I stop at an earlier creek overlook. If I stop early, I will report that I walked part of the Canyon. Either way, I will have to retrace my steps on my way back.

Even people familiar with the area might struggle to understand what I mean when I say that Steilacoom was part of my walk. In short, it means that I walked downstream. There's a small mini–peninsula by the welcome sign for Steilacoom. At the very least, that's how far I walk. There's a small wooden path further down that's a more common destination for me. Like the Canyon, I will also have a return trip when I visit Steilacoom.

For eBird, I have three locations that I currently report from (I have to select a single location for each checklist submitted) that are based on the locations mentioned above. I might as well clarify those while I'm on the subject. The first is Chambers Bay. This is the only hotspot listed for the park, so I prefer to use it. The location of this hotspot is along a downstream segment of Chambers Creek. Since I want to make sure that my walks actually include my reporting locations, I will only report from Chambers Bay if my walk includes Steilacoom.

I have added a personal location for the Grandview/Soundview Loop. Obviously, I paced this location on the Grandview/Soundview Loop. I also conveniently placed it on the south end of the Grandview Trail. This allows me to use the location for a wider variety of walks. For example, if I walk from the North Meadow to the Canyon or I walk from the Central Meadow to the area around the Environmental Services Building, the Grandview/Soundview Loop location will still work as a location for that walk.

The final location was placed at the end of the Bridge to the Beach. This is in the middle of the beach. Any walk that doesn't involve the Grandview Trail or Chambers Creek will likely include the beach.

One last thing. I will likely refer to other locations when explaining such things as where a bird was seen. These could include the North Dock or the Lone Fir. For now, I'm not going to detail every single thing that can be found at the park. Sorry.