Salmon Bay Park

Fun neighborhood park. It’s never been overly crowded and it has a zip line in addition to swings and other toys. Good shade, lots of grass and a relatively quiet, nice place to spend a day.

My son is obsessed with this park! We visited it every day of our vacation in Seattle, and even though we’ve long since returned home, he asks all the time if we can go back to the park with the diggers. That’s right, there’s a tremendous sand pit with «community» diggers available for everyone’s use. This says a lot about the general public’s use and value of this park. It was really sweet to see the local kids descend on this park and run rampant for 10 minutes until the school bus came. The whole feel of this park takes me back to when I was what is now called a «free range kid.»
My husband and I also really enjoyed the zip line (who says it’s just for kids?!) and didn’t even get half of a side-​eye for doing our body weight workouts on the play structure while our son played.

This is a kick ass park in the heart of Ballard. Great playground for kids, picnic benches for parties or lunch and an awesome green space with huge ass trees. The downside is it has times and areas that bring in some shady characters and criminal activity to the hood. Zip line for the kiddos though.

One of the best playgrounds in the nearby neighborhoods with a little bit of everything — play structure, swings, zip line, large sandbox with community toys, hills and green area for little ones to run down on. A working bathroom is a plus.

This park has the best zip line and the best assortment of toys in the sand pit. I love the shade and the inset playground that keeps rambunctions toddlers in. The folks in the neighborhood tend to be really amiable and sweet too. A lot of nannies come here.
One star off though for the barefoot family who keeps bringing their off-​leash herding dogs into the playground, which they don’t seem to mind using as a toilet. I wish the city patrolled a little more often to enforce their dogs-​out-​of-​play-​area policies, because this family seems immune to peer-​pressure.

I’m driving through a residential neighborhood in Ballard. Drive, drive, drive, wait. What? Is that a park? Nestled in a sleepy hood is a cute little park.
This park is VERY popular with kids and people with dogs. The children’s play area is always packed when I am there.
I like this park because some of the hills add character to the space. For instance, there is one hill you can sit on that is above a street, but somehow, I feel at peace and very serene when I sit there.
On the opposite side of the street, I often used to sit at a picnic table and write in my journal each day. No one ever bothered me and I found it very peaceful and a great way to decompress.
The bathrooms are like most in the Parks system. It’s not great but in an emergency, it works.
This is a great place to chill out. It doesn’t have many bells and whistles but that’s part of it’s charm.

My son’s absolutely favorite park. He could literally stay from sun up til sun down. His favorite part is the zipline swing, though the last time someone worked on it they put it up too high. Hoping the city will fix it soon. The trails are just the right size for younger kids, the sandbox is huge and always has tons of toys, the parents & nannies are generally kind hearted & kid-​oriented. We love our Salmon Bay!

Very cute park to take the kids, the dog or even a friend for a low key picnic. There’s a lot of green space here to stroll around or set a blanket. I also loved the kids play area — for myself! I miss being a kid when I see parks like these around. It’s also strange to see them because in downtown Seattle where I live, kids are about as hard to spot as eagles in the sky. They’re around but I never see them!

Lovely. In recent weeks it’s gotten drier due to h2O conservation by the city, but shade abounds here and the nice lawn is evident.
You’ll find a big cross section of Ballard life here, and kids of all ages from playground tots to little ones whizzing by on their scooters and bikes, to the highschoolers and other teenagers who like to hang out and make full use of the playground and zip line, especially before school and after dark.
Picnic mecca, yoga groups, and lots of dogs too. From time to time there are big potlucks as well. There is a peaceful sense of community.
Other reviewers have done a great job summarizing the playground equipment.
Dog lovers will find the Mutt Mitt station at the 21^st Ave NW path entrance convenient.
My little soapbox: Please keep our park safe and beautiful by observing the city’s leash law. Our little tots and seniors deserve to enjoy this park every bit as much as you do, without risk of being knocked down by Fido.
Vandalism is not a problem, although from time to time there are broken glass bottles along the path.
Visit Salmon Bay Park and you’ll be reminded of a simpler time. The toy bank in the sand box always make me smile. So does the lost and found garment display on the benches. Life happens here. Beautifully.

I swear.
The number of fabulous parks and playgrounds in the greater Seattle area (in Ballard alone!) are almost enough to make me want to move.
I also love that there are still playgrounds that aren’t dumbing down their structures to placate the faction of overprotective parents who won’t leave the house without packing a case of Neosporin-​to-​go, 24oz. of Purell, 5 extra changes of clothes, and this balloon-​peddling-​pervert-​detector thing:
Amazing collection of toys and trucks in the sand-​play area.
Zipline swing.
Insanely high monkey bars.
Spring-​loaded see-​saw.
Old-​school metal carousel.
Only ONE douchebaggy hipster Dad who chatted on his cell phone while 3 feet away his much older son threw sand in a baby’s face. And I will say that the little boy’s mother handled it much better than I would have.
The rest of the park is lovely as well — loads of grassy space and picnic tables. Beautiful.

Salmon Bay Park is what a neighborhood park should be. It has pretty much everything you could hope for in an urban oasis.
It has a great play area for kids with swings, merry-​go-​round, teeter totter, slides, climbing playset, zipline, and a large sandbox filled with toys. This is by far the most-​visited part of the park, and any given relatively nice evening or weekend will find it filled with happy kids from the surrounding area.
But the playground is really a small fraction of the total area. It’s an entire city block with picnic tables scattered around the park, paved trails suitable for learning how to ride a bike, and large open areas suitable for everything from bocce to soccer to badminton to croquet to just lounging around in the grass.
I didn’t grow up in the neighborhood, but I have it on good authority from someone who did that this is where the kids go at night to do what the kids do at night, but I’d never guess anything untoward was happening on the many occasions I’ve taken the pooches for a walk through the park after dark.
Bonus for me that it’s on the way home from our kid’s daycare so we can hit the playground for a quick pre-​dinner romp in the park when the weather’s cooperative!

I went to look at a mother in law apartment right across the street from this sweet little park. It has a zip line! How cool is that? Oh, to be young again…

I love this little neighborhood park! It’s only a few block from home, has swings, a zip-​line, toys, picnic benches, open spaces, big beautiful trees, views and almost always has peace and quiet. What more could you ask for? Well it’s also a great place to drink a beer at night or take the dog to poop… and yes, I always clean-​up after her.

This park is magical! Fantastic! So much fun! It was a crisp fall night and myself and a couple other Unilocalers were walking to the waterwheel on a Sunday night, and this park was on the way. I was a little hesitant to ride the zip line at first but warmed up to it. The playground looked great and it would be somewhere I would take my nephew to play. Or I’ll come back myself and zip zip zip that line!

My kids’ favorite park (they call it ‘the zipline park’). The assortment of rides is broad, including a merry go round, swings, climbers, slides, a sand box with a crane, and the famed zip line. Parking can sometimes be a minor challenge. This park is shaded by many tall, beautiful trees, making it an excellent choice for a hot day but definitely fleece-​worthy when it’s not.

Large. Quiet. Grassy. Relaxing. Slightly hidden. And an abundance of parking.
Came here for a spontaneous picnic today with a handful of homeys, and it was lovely. Busier than usual because of a couple of odd family reunion-​type gatherings partaking in quirky relay races and the such. An eclectic crowd of other picnickers and sunbathers also scattered about made for fun people watching. Not to mention the teenage girl who was practicing her bow hunting skills on the west perimeter. Bow hunting. I shit you not.
I was slightly chastised at one point after I apparently went into ‘nanny mode’ and unconsciously began exclaiming «Butterfly!» every time one flew overhead. Unfortunately for my friends on this 80+ degree day, that was often. On the SW corner of the park is a large playground area that had a great assortment of equipment that you don’t see at every other neighborhood park– the zip line, by far, the best & more original piece I’ve seen around for years in Seattle. Next time I’m in Ballard with my work chitlins, I’ll be sure to bring them here to run themselves ragged, each day becoming more & more the impossible feat.

Great little park hiding between downtown Ballard and Crown Hill/​Loyal Heights.
We also call this the Bump the Tire park as it has a tire swing on a cable which is lots of fun flinging the kids back and forth.
Good call Laural B on the stoners comment! I’d call this the hippie parent park. A very eclectic mix of parents saying their kids act like they are stoned after riding the merry go round too long.
My daughter likes this park because of all the trees she can climb and she like to pretend to work out on the rather dated but still functional work out stations at the SW corner of the park.
There is also the Bicycle d00d across the street from the sand box if you are looking for used kids bikes.

This little park is so cool! Check out the weird, Victorian fitness circuit near the entrance. If you are too much of a Luddite go to the gym, you will love it.

A lovely little wooded area north of Market. Great for kids and adults, fitness freaks and stoners.