Carkeek Park - City of Seattle

On our September 2022 drive south from the North Cascades to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, we stopped at Carkeek Park in Seattle for a picnic lunch. The park moved to its current location on Puget Sound in 1928 from another site in Seattle. The park was named for Morgan J. Carkeek. The park has many amenities including walking trails, a playground, picnic tables with grills, restrooms, and water fountains.

After lunch, we crossed over the BNSF Railway on a pedestrian bridge that was built in 1955 to the Carkeek Park Beach. From the beach, we could see the Kitsap Penninsula and the Olympic Mountains.

Keyboard crosswalk

Pedestrian bridge over BNSF Railway

View north from the bridge

View southwest from the bridge

The Olympic Mountains tower over the Kitsap Penninsula

View north from the beach

View southwest from the beach

Small waves lapping at the shore

A bit of snow remains on the Olympic Mountains

Sailboat in the channel

The Highlands, Shoreline, Washington

Southbound BNSF train from the pedestrian bridge

A final view from the picnic tables

There is no entry fee at Carkeek Park.

The park webpage is https://www.seattle.gov/parks/find/parks/carkeek-park.

Nay Aug City Park - Scranton, Pennsylvania

Nay Aug Park is a gem of a city park in Scranton, Pennsylvania. We had not heard of it until we were talking to the front desk clerk at our hotel about a waterfall picture on display in the lobby. When we found out it was less than ten minutes away, we quickly adjusted our itinerary to make a quick visit to the park on our October 2021 trip to Cape Cod National Seashore.

The phrase Nay Aug means "noisy water or roaring brook" in the language of the Munsee, a subgroup of the Lenape. The stream flowing through the park is named Roaring Brook. It flows into the Lackawanna River a couple of miles downstream of the Nay Aug Gorge.

The park was established in 1893 with just two acres of land. According to the park website, it is now the largest city park in Scranton. There are several large parking lots and two Olympic-size swimming pools. Several buildings and pavilions are located throughout the park. In addition, trails criss-cross the park. We only had a late afternoon to explore the park, so we focused on the gorge and the 20-foot-high waterfall. After we had parked and hiked across the park, we found additional parking much closer to our objective.

Schimilfenig Pavilion

David Wenzel Treehouse

Nay Aug Gorge

Rock outcrops like this split the park into several wide ledges

Park maps have been erected throughout the park

Typical trail conditions once off the roadway

Helpful sign

Stairs descending from one ledge to a lower one

Railroad tunnel

Railroad bridge over Roaring Brook

Looking back up the trail

Nay Aug Falls

Nay Aug Gorge and Falls

A small cascade above the falls

Fall colors

Grafitti at Rie Rie Overlook

Entrance to Nay Aug City Park is free. 

The Nay Aug City Park website is https://nayaugpark.org/.

Falls Park on the Big Sioux River - Sioux Falls - South Dakota

As we concluded our May 2021 trip to Montana and the Dakotas, we stopped in Sioux Falls, South Dakota to visit Falls Park. This 128-acre park is immediately north of downtown Sioux Falls and surrounds the Big Sioux River as it drops about 100 feet over a series of cascades and waterfalls. The ruins of the 1881 Queen Bee Mill are preserved on the east side of the river.  Among other amenities, the park includes public restrooms, a visitor center with a viewing tower, and a cafe. A pedestrian bridge crosses the river, linking the visitor center and cafe. A BNSF railroad bridge also crosses the river at the southern boundary of the park.

We didn't plan our visit to the park as it was a spur-of-the-moment decision to visit based on a sign we saw along Interstate 29. We had a wonderful time wandering around the park. Even though services were limited, we still had some hand-dipped ice cream at the cafe. This park is a hidden gem in the middle of a city and well worth the time to visit.

BNSF bridge over the river

One of the numerous cascades throughout the park

Another waterfall

Queen Bee mill turbine house

Main channel of the river

A closer look at the upper falls

Main channel from the pedestrian bridge

The Light and Power building now houses the Falls Overlook Cafe

Ruins of the Queen Bee mill

Turbine house

More of the ruins

More of the falls

Even more of the falls

Monarch of the Plains

Light and Power Company building

Pedestrian bridge from the tower

Queen Bee mill ruins from the tower

BNSF train crossing the river

Old county courthouse clock tower

Visitor center and tower

There is no entry fee at Falls Park. Free parking is also available.

The city park website is https://www.siouxfalls.org/parks/parks/locations/falls-park. While the city tourism website for the park is https://www.experiencesiouxfalls.com/falls-park.