The bluffs of Puget Sound record the advance and retreat of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet over the Seattle area. The bluffs at Discovery Park are an excellent place to see the sediments that record evidence of an interglacial climate, an advancing glacier, a large proglacial lake, and the retreat of the ice sheet during the last glacial cycle. Due to the steepness and the layering of the sediments, the bluffs are also unstable and prone to large landslides. One of these landslides happened in 1996, when a portion of a street and several houses in the Magnolia neighborhood slid off the bluffs into Puget Sound.
On this trip, we will be walking along the beach at Discovery Park to view the bluffs and will be visiting the site of the Perkins Lane landslide. Access to the beach requires walking approximately two miles round trip and descending/climbing several hundred feet. Access to the Perkins Lane landslide complex requires descent/climbing a steep set of stairs. Participants with an ADA permit can park close to the beach, but will need to walk ~⅛ mile down the beach to view the bluffs.