2.0 hr
Overview
Capitol Lake, really three connected bodies of water, was created in 1951 with the damming of the Deschutes River on 5th Avenue where the river entered the West Bay of Budd Inlet. The area was once marsh and tidal mudflats, an ecosystem that has now been lost as there is no entry of salt water. The lake was originally designed to be a tidal reflecting pool that complemented the state capitol buildings up on the hill. However, more extensive inundation assured the drowning of a local eyesore, a Depression era shantytown of gambling dens, whiskey joints, and whorehouses known as “Little Hollywood.” A nearby community of Chinese immigrants also had to move. Capitol Lake’s environs are attractively laid out, but visitors are forbidden from entering the lake waters due to an infestation of tiny New Zealand mudsnails (one female = 40 million snails in a year). Plans are afoot to return the area to a natural estuary and therefore reduce the chance of more non-native invasions. Facilities in the area were also damaged in the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake, but have since been repaired. This walk not only takes you around the lake itself but up the switchbacking Heritage Trail to the imposing buildings at Washington’s Capitol Campus.
Trail Stats
4.0 km
30 m
34 m
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Photos
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