Trips
Right at the end of E. Madison Street in Seattle, Madison Park Beach is a popular swimming spot for locals. Which means that it's always very busy during the summer. There is a nice sandy beach to launch from, but the vast majority of he beach is roped off for swimmers. Once you're on the water, though, you're just south of 520, which means it's a relatively short paddle to Foster Island and the Arboretum. At least in theory. Due to a variety of circumstances I've never actually made it there when launching from this park.
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Pros: Easily accessible and depending where you park it can be a short walk to the launch point. Plenty of sandy beaches for a pre or post paddle swim, and several good restaurants around in case you want to get something to eat. Relatively close to the Arboretum and the UW.
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Cons: While there's a lot of street parking it fills up quickly. If you are lucky enough to get a spot close to the park, it will probably have a time limit of 2-4 hours. Also, you'll have to dodge swimmers and sunbathers to get your gear to the beach.
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Overall: A great beach for swimming, and not bad for paddling. Still, it's better in the off season or early in the day so you can get a parking spot.
8/15/17
This was actually my second time paddling from this park. I went once at the end of last season, but neglected to write anything about it. I was trying to see if I could get to the Arboretum from the east side, but construction on 520 blocked my path. I figured that this time construction may have progressed enough that I could make it all the way, and I was sort of right.
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As usual at this park, parking was a bear. I ended up parking about a block away and inflating my kayak on the sidewalk. Which wasn't really a problem, but if I had been there on a weekend or at a busier time of day it may have been. The big downside was that it was only a two hour space, and I'd left my watch at home, so I'd have to paddle quickly. It wasn't much work to get my gear across the street and into the water.
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With the Arboretum as my goal, I headed north towards 520. I noticed another park on the water a little bit north of Madison Park (Madison Park North Beach), but it doesn't look like there's any place to launch from. Rounding the corner towards Union Bay, I saw that the construction equipment is more or less gone on the south side of 520. There's a bit on the north side, but it's easily avoidable. Unfortunately, with my two hour time limit I knew that I wouldn't be able to make it all the way down to the Arboretum and back in time, so I just paddled around a bit and took a few pictures.
Walking down to the beach. This picture downplays how crowded it was.
Looking back at the shore from just off the park.
The haze from the fires up in B.C. has cleared up enough that you can see Mt. Rainier.
I might just be able to squeeze underneath.
Rounding the corner into Union Bay on the south side of 520.
Looking north from just under 520.
Looking west from the north side of 520 at Husky Stadium and the UW.
A wider shot of the UW. You can see the ongoing construction on 520.
Back near the park I discovered I wasn't the only one out for a paddle.