Swan Creek Park — Attraction in Tacoma

For the past three years, I've run most days of the week at Swan Creek Park, which is quieter than most city parks and super close to my house. Lately the number of horribly trained off leash dogs in the park has increased significantly. Lots of run ins with pesky dogs when I'm simply trying to enjoy some exercise. Six weeks ago my dogs and I were pretty brutally attacked by two large off leash dogs while in the middle of a 20 mile run. The owner could not get control of them and I ended up on the ground with one of the dogs on top of me, continuing to try to attack my dog. A friend of mine took her dog to run and an offleash dog attacked her dog in the parking lot! So beware. I would not run here without my dogs and now I'm hesitant to run there with them.

There are always sketch people in the parking lot by the community garden. I just pretend I don't see things on some days. People will pull up in their cars and just dump gross old junk food wrappers into the parking lot. Meanwhile, nice families with kids are working in the garden. There is a real juxtaposition here.

This park is a great resource to the community and has a lot of unique features (mountain bike trails and obstacle course, five miles of running/hiking trails, a cool little creek) but people abuse the privilege and create some real safety issues to be aware of. It really is a shame to see as a member of the South...

I have lived appx. 10 blocks away from the trails behind Salishan for 21yrs. I have seen the public garden flourish, fall into disuse, and flourish again. The pavilion with seating across from the gardening area has been upgraded again thank goodness as it is such a delightful little place for a picnic. It is a wonderful place for a good urban hike, especially if you start out at the bottom of Swan creek on the Pioneer side, hike through the canyon and make the steep climb up the trails to the top where there are a lot of paved roads that used to be for old Air Force housing, which was before Salishan, and before that, old reservation housing. I've always wondered if there were teepee's before all that??? Once you leave the pavement you can find many trails through the woods and it reminds me of going through the forest on the Wizard of Oz and you can end up back on the pavement or end up on 56th st. Excellent place for dog walking or bikeriding. My dog grew up on those trails unleashed chasing squirrels(sp) and rabbits. Lots of mushrooms in October, I just don't know which ones to pick. Such a nice getaway on the east side of the city and a 10min walk from my house. Oh! and good blackberry pickin' in...

It’s a naturally beautiful area, but if you’re coming for the creek area with your dog, beware. A couple hours after taking our dog here, she got pretty sick (throwing up, dizzy, vocalizing, piddling). We took her to the emergency vet (shout-out Summit Veterinary Referral Center) and they quickly recognized her symptoms as marijuana intoxication. We were shocked- we had her on a longline, eyes on her the whole time. The vet then told us that THC is mostly excreted in human fecal matter! Disgusting, but it finally made sense then- we had seen a makeshift fire pit by the creek and our dog had found a wad of wet “napkins” we now suspect was toilet paper. She never ingested anything but a bit of creek water, and she’s not the type to just eat and swallow anything, which makes me think it was in the water. Absolutely foul. No shade to park maintenance- people camp out in parks all the time and the spot was seemingly pretty clean. I’d just keep this in mind if you’re considering visiting the creek. We won’t...