Jane’s Walk & Mercer Slough Walk

Jane's Walk is an annual celebration where volunteers in cities throughout the world host group walks in their neighborhoods to honor Jane Jacobs's birthday. In Seattle, Feet First will host Seattle's Jane's Walks between April 26 and May 6. They will all be guided tours: 6 in central Seattle, 1 in West Seattle, and 1 in Auburn. The Seattle Transit Blog will have our own walk April 25 in Mercer Slough, details below.

Jane Jacobs wrote the groundbreaking book The Death and Life of Great American Cities in 1961. It revolutionized urban planning and showed the unique contributions to society and the economy that cities and walkable urban neighborhoods bring. Jacobs lived from 1916 to 2006; she would have been 110 this year.

If you want to see Feet First's past Jane's Walks, here's the 2025 list and the 2020 virtual tours. In the 2010s there were more of them each May and in more places: I participated in guided tours in Beacon Hill (Jefferson Park to El Centro de la Raza), West Seattle (Admiral District and the Junction), the then-future Northgate Link station area, and in Kubota Garden led by the artist-in-residence. I think there were also ones at the Edmonds waterfront, Kelsey Creek Park, and other suburbs.

Note that some of the Feet First walks require registration on MeetUp, while others are just show up.

[Update: We are rethinking this walk due to ailments and the 2 Line reduction in service. We will still meet up, but we aren't sure where right not. If you are interested in joining the authors, please say so in the comments and we'll let you know.]

Several STB authors will explore Mercer Slough on Saturday, April 25 at 10am. if anyone wants to join. This will not be a guided tour; just a stroll to gather material for a future article. We'll meet at 10am at Westlake station on the southbound platform, and take the 2 Line to South Bellevue station. We'll pass through South Bellevue station sometime between 10:25am and 11am. Both the 1 and 2 Lines will have closed segments this weekend, and the 2 Line will be reduced to 20-minute frequency until noon, so I can't be more specific about the time.

Here's a Mercer Slough map. The trailhead is at the south edge of the station lot. We'll follow the southern portion of the Heritage Look and Bellefields Loop trail to the eastern end of the park. The entire way is flat, but in this corner there's a short hill up to a small wooded waterfall if it's still there. (Just beyond that is the eastern entrance on 118th Ave SE.) I'm not sure if I can do the hill with my leg tendon issues, but we'll try. After that we'll go back west on the northern side of the Bellfields Loop trail, and go through the blueberry farm in the northwest corner, and back south to the Link station.

You can bring lunch for a picnic. I don't remember if there are tables, so you may want to bring a sandwich or something that can be eaten while walking.

If you're planning to attend, leave a comment below on whether you'll meet us at Westlake or South Bellevue, and also check the comments that day for any last-minute logistical updates.