Running tour · Seattle

Gas Works to Lake Union

3.0 mi run

Open in Stride Stories

The stories on this route

1. Gas Works Park

   Look at the rusting black towers behind the fence. From 1906 until 1956, this was Seattle's gas works. It made gas from coal until 1937, then from oil. About 130 men worked here, in crews rotating around the clock, seven days a week. Production ended when Seattle converted to natural gas.

2. Burke-Gilman Trail

   Feel how flat this is? The trail is nearly level the whole way, because it's a former railroad line: the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern.

3. Fremont Troll

   Look under the north end of the Aurora Bridge. There's a troll, clutching an actual Volkswagen Beetle, as if he'd just swiped it from the roadway above.

4. Waiting for the Interurban

   Look at the corner: six people and a dog, waiting for the Seattle-Everett Interurban. They've got a long wait. The interurban ran through Fremont from 1910 until 1939. These figures went up in 1978. And it stopped on Fremont Avenue anyway, not on the street they face. Now look down at the dog.

5. Fremont Bridge

   Look at the steel: blue and orange, with small control towers at the corners of the lifting span. This is the Fremont Bridge, a double-leaf bascule joining Fremont and Queen Anne. Bascule comes from the French word for balance. Its ancestor is the medieval drawbridge.

6. Lake Union Houseboats

   Look between the parking lots: private docks run out into the lake, lined with floating homes. Parking is always on shore. The docks are for people on foot, with dinghies and floating gardens alongside.

7. Lake Union Park

   Look out at the lake. Watch for a seaplane landing or taking off. Bill Boeing's first B & W seaplane was built on this lake.

Stories researched October 2026 · every fact checked against a source