Ballard Locks: Boats, Salmon, Gardens and History

Seattle is a city practically surrounded by water. To the west is Puget Sound while to the east is Lake Washington. Water activities are an important part of life here. Historically the early pioneers used the waterways for transportation. As a result one of the early decisions was to connect Lake Washington to Puget Sound by digging a canal. When they realized that Lake Washington was higher in elevation than Puget Sound, they knew they needed to built locks for the final joining point of the fresh water canal to the salt water Puget Sound. Thus the Hiram A Chittendom Locks were built a little over a hundred years ago.

Today the locks remain an important location for Seattle boaters. It has also become a significant tourist attraction for the city. However, there are more than just locks here. A visit to what locals call the Ballard Locks offers a wide variety of things to see and do.

While the main entrance to the locks is on Ballard’s Market Street, parking there is pay parking. For my visit I chose to drive to the other side of the canal and park in the parking lot for Commodore Park which connects to the locks. While it was busy on a Thursday afternoon, I did find a spot there. Street parking is also available nearby if the parking lot is full.

Commodore Park is home to a rookery for blue heron. Mid-August is not the time to see anything in the nests. Spring and early summer are the times when the young are born and moms feed their offspring. Once the hatchlings leave the nests, the herons abandon the nests until the following year. Such was the case when I walked through, but I could still see the many nests which were a part of this colony of herons. Attached to a nearby fence are information cards put up by a local organization, heronhelpers.org, which can provide more information about our region’s heron population.

While it was not the time to see herons, it was definitely time to see salmon. In fact the main reason I think many people were at the locks on this day was to see the salmon. The salmon were really crowded together such that they were visible in the open waters of the canal. They were just below the surface.

There is a dam here that holds back the water of the canal. Salmon who are returning to their spawning grounds have two options to get past this point. One is to sneak into the locks when the boats go into them and then swim through when the gates open at the other end.

The other option is to use the fish ladder at the side of the dam. It is here that the salmon seem to congregate and then swim through. The Army Corp of Engineers, which operates the locks, have built not only a fish ladder, but a viewing room as well so that as the fish swim by, they are easy for the public to see. There are benches that people can sit on and just watch the salmon. When I was there, many visitors number were doing just that.

What I found interesting was the salmon didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry, or else they were tired. Some of them just seemed to stay in the same place and never moved forward through the ladder. They did note that moving from the salt water to the fresh water is a bit of a shock for the salmon as the fresh water is generally colder.

After viewing the salmon and the salmon viewers for a while, I headed over to the locks. On this day I got pretty lucky. An Argosy tour ship was entering the locks from Puget Sound going to Lake Washington. While they sat in the locks, their tour guide gave the tour guests information about the locks over their intercom system. Of course all of us on land could hear it as well so it was like a free tour. Speaking of tours, the locks offer a free tour most days at 2:00. It is an hour tour which starts at the Visitor Center.

As I watched the boat rise rather quickly in the water, I learned a few things about the locks from the Argosy guide. One thing was that there is no cost to boaters to use the locks. The cost for running the locks is paid by shipping fees that come through the harbors. Another piece of information was that there is an order to going through the locks. Government and official boats have priority. Next in line are commercial boats such as the Argosy tour boat. The last in line is the recreational boater. During a busy day there might be quite a wait for the latter to get through the locks.

The grounds at the locks is quite large, much larger than I had realized. Most of it is a large garden with nice wide paths and large green lawns. Carl S. English designed and implemented the gardens. During my visit a few people were out walking the paths or sitting on the lawn relaxing or enjoying a picnic.

While most of the garden areas consist of lawns and trees, there are some areas with flowers as well. East of the Administration building is a rose garden with a variety of roses to enjoy. Other flowers grow in this area also. Most of the flowers seem to grow along the main path that leads to the locks from the Ballard entrance. While some flowers were gone in mid-August, there were still plenty around to see and photograph. Many of the trees were deciduous which makes me think that the gardens could be quite colorful in the fall as well.

One final place to note is the Visitor Center. Of course there is the usual gift shop to entice one to buy a t-shirt or a book, but there is more as well. Visitors might miss that upstairs is a small museum that gives information about the history of the locks. One of my favorite things here was a display of miniature boats that might go through the locks. There is also the bell from the Roosevelt which was the first ship through the locks.

Downstairs look for the white board with daily updates such as the time of the tides. When I was there, there was also a count of the salmon that had gone through so far this year. I’m not sure who was doing all the counting, but the numbers were impressive to me.

I spent about two and a half hours at the locks. It was an interesting and educational time, and totally free except for the gas to drive there. These next few months are a great time for a visit especially given the number of salmon passing through the fish ladder. Here are a few more photos from my visit that didn’t fit any of the groups above.

While you are in the area, two other nearby activities to consider include fisherman’s terminal and the Nordic Museum which I reviewed a few years ago. While it takes a little effort to get to the Ballard area, it can be a great place to spend a day.

Have you visited Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood? What is your favorite place to visit when you are there? The comment box below is ready to receive your comment. In the meantime don’t forget to click the star “like” button below if you found this post interesting or helpful. Join me next week as I explore more of Seattle.