The Daily Outside 6.20.26: Pools Open, Zoo Pride, Social Justice Cycling
Saturday’s Daily Outside wanders from bird rookeries and pool openings to fern sales, waterfront history, mountain meadows, social justice by bicycle, and even a beer train rolling through Mount Rainier country — the sort of day that makes choosing just one adventure feel mildly unreasonable.
Wave pools, lazy rivers, and the official beginning of chlorine season
Parks Tacoma — Outdoor Pools Opening Day
Saturday, June 20
Open daily beginning Saturday
Kandle Pool and Stewart Heights Pool
Kandle Pool: 5302 N. 26th St., Tacoma
Stewart Heights Pool: 5715 Reginald Gutierrez Lane, Tacoma
$8–$10 | Outdoor pools | In-person admission only | Family-friendly
Tacoma’s outdoor pool season begins with the simple, glorious logic of summer: school is out, the sun is trying its best, and somewhere nearby a child is already asking how soon they can get in the water. Kandle Pool and Stewart Heights Pool both open daily starting Saturday, bringing back two of the city’s favorite warm-weather rituals. Kandle offers wave-pool energy in North Tacoma, while Stewart Heights brings the lazy river, water slide, zero-depth entry, tumble buckets, and other aquatic arguments against staying dry.
This year’s season adds more flexibility, with both pools open daily, evening open swim sessions available four times a week, and summer swim lessons offered at both locations. Admission is sold in person only to swimmers present at the gate, so plan ahead, check the day’s schedule before leaving home, and expect popular sessions to draw a crowd when the weather cooperates. It’s not a hike, not a beach walk, not a ranger talk, but it is absolutely outdoors: cannonballs, sunscreen, wet towels, lifeguard whistles, and the unmistakable sound of Tacoma deciding summer has officially begun.
More info: Parks Tacoma Aquatics
Herons overhead, songbirds in the understory, and a morning spent listening more carefully
Tahoma Bird Alliance — Clark’s Creek Birding Walk
Saturday, June 20
8:30–10:30 a.m.
Decoursey Pond Park
2101 7th Ave. SW, Puyallup
Free | Guided bird walk | Beginner-friendly | Approximately 2 hours
Clark’s Creek Park is one of those places that rewards quiet attention. What first appears to be a pleasant urban greenbelt gradually reveals itself as a surprisingly rich wildlife corridor, where riparian forest, wetlands, ponds, and creek habitat create ideal conditions for birds. This guided walk with Tahoma Bird Alliance volunteer Caitlyn Cechetto invites participants to slow down, look up, and discover the avian residents hiding in plain sight. Songbirds move through the forest canopy, waterfowl patrol the ponds, and one of the morning’s highlights is a visit to a heron rookery, where generations of great blue herons have chosen to raise their young above the creek.
The route begins at Decoursey Pond and follows Clark’s Creek through a mix of paved and gravel trails before turning around near the rookery. The walk is designed to be welcoming for newcomers and first-time birders, with plenty of opportunities to ask questions and learn the basics of bird identification, behavior, and habitat. Experienced birders will appreciate the diversity of species often found along the corridor, while beginners can simply enjoy discovering how much wildlife exists within a busy Pierce County community.
The terrain is generally accessible, following mostly flat paved and gravel paths with a single steeper section near the turnaround point. Restrooms are available along the route, and ample parking can be found both in park lots and on nearby streets. Meet beneath the covered area on the west side of Decoursey Pond Park and bring binoculars if you have them, though curiosity remains the most important piece of equipment. The birds will provide the rest.
More info: Tahoma Bird Alliance
Rainbow flags, red wolves, and a zoo day built around belonging
Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium — Pride Celebration
Saturday, June 20
9 a.m.–4 p.m.
Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium
5400 N. Pearl St., Tacoma
Included with zoo admission or membership | Outdoor/indoor zoo event | Family-friendly | Pride celebration
Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium already sits in one of Tacoma’s great public settings, tucked into the forested edge of Point Defiance Park with sea air, evergreens, and animal habitats folded into the day. For Pride Celebration weekend, the zoo adds another layer: a welcoming, family-friendly celebration of the LGBTQ+ community, built around visibility, inclusion, and the simple idea that public places should feel open to everyone. Visitors can spend the day exploring the zoo and aquarium while taking part in a Pride-themed weekend that brings community celebration into one of Tacoma’s most familiar outdoor spaces.
The event runs Saturday and Sunday, with Saturday offering a full day to wander between animal exhibits, aquarium spaces, keeper talks, pathways, and Pride activities included with regular admission or membership. It is a good fit for families, friends, zoo regulars, and anyone looking for a Pride outing that leans daytime, intergenerational, and easy to pair with a walk through Point Defiance Park. Point Defiance supplies the backdrop: red wolves, sea otters, sharks, jellyfish, forest trails nearby, and a reminder that belonging can be celebrated in many forms — sometimes with music and crowds, sometimes beside a tidepool tank while a child points excitedly at something glowing under the water.
More info: Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium
Living jewels, sweet pea seeds, and the astonishing blur of tiny wings
WSU Extension Pierce County Master Gardeners — Hummingbirds
Saturday, June 20
10–11:30 a.m.
Puyallup Demonstration Garden
2607 W. Pioneer, Puyallup
Youth gardening workshop | Outdoor garden learning | Day-of registration begins at 9:30 a.m. | Family-friendly
Hummingbirds are the sort of creatures that make children and adults briefly forget whatever else they were doing. One second there is an ordinary garden. The next, a flash of green, a needle beak, a blur of wings, and the distinct feeling that something tiny has mastered physics better than the rest of us. This WSU Extension Pierce County Master Gardener youth workshop introduces kids to the “living jewels” of the bird world, exploring how hummingbirds move, feed, pollinate, and help animate a garden.
The morning combines observation, hands-on learning, and a few practical ways families can make gardens more welcoming to hummingbirds. Children will discover plants these fast-winged visitors enjoy, plant a sweet pea seed to grow at home, and make a window cling to help birds see glass before they fly into it. Along the way, they’ll learn how quickly hummingbird wings beat and may get the chance to test whether human arms can even come close. Held at the Puyallup Demonstration Garden, the workshop turns pollination into something visible, playful, and memorable — a lesson that some of the smallest visitors often leave the largest impression.
More info: WSU Extension Pierce County Master Gardeners
Coffee cups, candy wrappers, and the small heroics of leaving a place better than you found it
Parks Tacoma — Grit City Litter Cleanup
Saturday, June 20
9 a.m.–Noon
Meet at Point Defiance Marina
5912 Waterfront Dr., Tacoma
Free | Volunteer cleanup | Family-friendly | Registration requested
Point Defiance is one of those places that can make Tacoma feel impossibly lucky. Forest trails disappear beneath towering firs. Seals surface offshore. Ferries move across the Sound. Owen Beach fills with walkers, beachcombers, and sunset watchers. Yet even the most beautiful places occasionally require a little help. The Grit City Litter Cleanup invites volunteers to spend a Saturday morning giving some of Tacoma’s most beloved public spaces the attention they deserve, collecting litter around the Point Defiance Marina, Owen Beach, the Promenade, and surrounding areas of the park.
The work is straightforward but surprisingly satisfying. Volunteers spread out across the waterfront and park corridors, removing the small bits of debris that can accumulate in heavily visited public spaces. Every bottle cap, food wrapper, fishing line fragment, and forgotten coffee cup removed from the landscape helps protect wildlife, improve water quality, and keep Point Defiance looking like the extraordinary place people expect it to be. Parks Tacoma provides all necessary supplies, making participation easy for individuals, families, school groups, neighborhood organizations, and anyone interested in trading a few hours of their weekend for a cleaner shoreline.
What makes events like this worthwhile is their immediate impact. You can literally see the difference between where you’ve been and where you haven’t. By noon, volunteers leave behind cleaner beaches, tidier trails, and a waterfront that looks a little more cared for than it did a few hours earlier. It’s not glamorous work, but it is meaningful work — the kind of quiet stewardship that helps keep Tacoma’s favorite outdoor spaces worthy of the people who love them.
More info: Metro Parks Tacoma Volunteer Services
Sidewalks, shoreline stories, and a harbor that has been changing for a thousand years
Harbor WildWatch — Wonders of the Waterfront Walking Tour
Saturday, June 20
10 a.m.–Noon
Donkey Creek Park
8714 N. Harborview Dr., Gig Harbor
Free | Outdoor walking tour | Family-friendly | No RSVP required
Gig Harbor’s waterfront is easy to treat as scenery: boats rocking at their slips, gulls working the air, Mount Rainier appearing when the sky decides to cooperate. The Wonders of the Waterfront Walking Tour invites visitors to look beyond the postcard views and read the shoreline more carefully. Led by Harbor WildWatch in partnership with the Gig Harbor Waterfront Alliance and 7 Seas Brewery, the tour begins at Donkey Creek Park and follows a route through sidewalks, forested edges, shoreline viewpoints, and harbor history before ending at the Old Ferry Landing. Along the way, participants explore the plants, animals, landforms, and human stories that have shaped this protected bay.
The walk blends marine ecology with cultural history, tracing how the coastline has changed over the last thousand years and how the Salish Sea continues to support an astonishing range of life. It is the kind of tour where a familiar view becomes more complicated in the best way: a beach becomes habitat, a dock becomes history, a creek becomes a corridor, and the harbor becomes something more than a postcard with boats. Good for families, visitors, locals, and anyone who wants to understand Gig Harbor beyond its charming waterfront surface. Donations help keep Harbor WildWatch programs free.
More info: Harbor WildWatch
Social Justice Cycling through Tacoma
Tacoma Social Justice Tour
Saturday, June 20
10 a.m.–2 p.m.
Starts at 2nd Cycle Community Cycling Center
1205 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma
Registration required | Guided bicycle tour | Community history | Social justice
This is a bike ride through Tacoma as a living archive. The Tacoma Social Justice Tour begins at 2nd Cycle Community Cycling Center and follows a route through the Hilltop District, Wright Park, the Tacoma Waterfront, the Port of Tacoma, the Northwest Detention Center, and the Prairie Line Trail, pausing along the way for community voices and leaders to share stories rooted in place. The themes are broad and necessary: Indigenous peoples, Black empowerment, police accountability, immigration, LGBTQ+ history, Chinese reconciliation, immigration law and justice, and the ongoing work of building a more honest city.
What makes the tour powerful is the way movement and memory overlap. Riding through Tacoma changes the scale of the story. Distances become physical. Neighborhoods connect. Streets, parks, waterfronts, and industrial corridors become more than scenery or infrastructure; they become sites of struggle, resilience, organizing, displacement, repair, and community strength. Over four hours, participants experience a cross-section of Tacoma that few tours attempt to connect, linking neighborhoods and histories that are often discussed separately but are deeply intertwined.
The ride is best suited for cyclists comfortable spending several hours in the saddle at a conversational pace. Bring a bicycle in good working order, a helmet, water, snacks, and weather-appropriate layers. More than a recreational ride, the Social Justice Tour offers a chance to see Tacoma through the experiences of the people and communities who helped shape it — and continue to shape it today.
More info: Tacoma Social Justice Tour
Fronds, fossils, and the ancient plants quietly outlasting all of us
Hardy Fern Foundation Pop-Up Sale
Saturday, June 20
10 a.m.–3 p.m.
Portland Avenue Nursery
1409 E. 59th St., Tacoma
Free admission | Plant sale | Gardening | Family-friendly
Long before roses, tomatoes, lawns, or even dinosaurs, there were ferns. They unfurled beside prehistoric rivers, survived mass extinctions, watched continents rearrange themselves, and somehow emerged from all that history looking perfectly at home in a Tacoma shade garden. The Hardy Fern Foundation Pop-Up Sale celebrates these remarkably resilient plants with a day dedicated to rare varieties, unusual specimens, and the people who have devoted themselves to understanding and preserving them.
Hosted at Portland Avenue Nursery, the event brings one of the Pacific Northwest’s most respected fern organizations into one of Tacoma’s favorite independent garden centers. Founded in 1989 and headquartered at the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden in Federal Way, the Hardy Fern Foundation has spent decades promoting fern conservation, education, cultivation, and appreciation. Their members maintain one of North America’s most significant collections of hardy ferns, representing species and cultivars from around the world. That expertise travels with them to events like this, where visitors can browse unusual varieties rarely found in conventional garden centers while learning how these ancient plants thrive in Northwest landscapes.
Even gardeners who don’t consider themselves fern people may find themselves converted. Ferns occupy a unique niche in the garden: soft without being delicate, architectural without being rigid, and capable of transforming difficult shady spaces into something lush and quietly magical. Expect knowledgeable volunteers, plenty of growing advice, and a selection that ranges from familiar natives to unusual species and cultivars collected by serious fern enthusiasts. Whether you’re hunting for a rare specimen, filling a woodland garden, or simply curious about a plant lineage older than flowering plants themselves, the sale offers a chance to spend a few hours among some of nature’s most accomplished survivors.
More info: Portland Avenue Nursery and the Hardy Fern Foundation
Bird people, light refreshments, and the quiet power of finding your flock
Tahoma Bird Alliance — June Monthly Meeting
Saturday, June 20
10:30 a.m.–Noon
2917 Morrison Rd. W., University Place
Free | Indoor community meeting | Birding and conservation | RSVP requested
Not every birding event begins with binoculars. Some begin with coffee, folding chairs, and the simple pleasure of meeting people who also stop mid-sentence when something interesting flies overhead. Tahoma Bird Alliance’s June Monthly Meeting offers a low-key gathering for current members and anyone curious about getting involved with the local birding and conservation community. It is less a formal lecture than a chance to connect: meet fellow birders, learn what the organization is working on, ask questions, and discover how bird walks, habitat protection, education, and community science all fit into the larger work of caring for birds and the places they depend on.
The meeting follows the morning’s Clark’s Creek Birding Walk, making it a natural second stop for anyone who wants to move from watching birds in the field to meeting the people helping build Pierce County’s birding community. Light refreshments will be served, and newcomers are welcome, whether they can identify shorebirds by silhouette or are still proudly saying “small brown bird” with confidence. Space is limited, so RSVP is requested. Sometimes the best way to become a better birder is not another field guide, but finding the people who are happy to say, “Come on, we’ll show you.”
More info: Tahoma Bird Alliance
One and a half miles, a thousand questions, and a mountain that never runs out of answers
Mount Rainier National Park — Paradise Ranger Guided Walk
Saturday, June 20
2–3:30 p.m.
Paradise, Mount Rainier National Park
Meet at the flagpole beside the Jackson Visitor Center
Free guided walk | Park entrance fee required | Easy to moderate | Up to 1.5 miles roundtrip
Paradise has a way of overwhelming first-time visitors. There is the mountain itself, of course, but also the glaciers, wildflower meadows, lingering snowfields, volcanic geology, marmots, waterfalls, and the persistent feeling that you’re standing inside a postcard that somehow forgot to exaggerate. The Paradise Ranger Guided Walk offers a way to slow that experience down. Rather than trying to absorb everything at once, visitors join a ranger for an easy-to-moderate walk designed to explore a few of the stories hidden within the landscape — both human and natural — while moving through one of the most celebrated alpine environments in the Pacific Northwest.
The route covers up to 1.5 miles round-trip on paved trails, making it accessible to a wide range of visitors while still providing close-up access to Paradise’s remarkable scenery. Topics vary depending on the ranger and the conditions of the day, but conversations often touch on geology, glaciers, wildlife, wildflowers, climate, Indigenous connections to the mountain, park history, and the ongoing relationship between people and Tahoma. What makes the walk especially rewarding is the setting itself. Every explanation arrives with a visual aid the size of a volcano. One moment you’re learning about glacial movement, the next you’re looking directly at the ice. It’s part hike, part conversation, and part reminder that some landscapes become even more fascinating once you understand a little more about how they came to be.
More info: Mount Rainier National Park
Tomatoes, cool nights, and the annual race against the South Sound calendar
WSU Extension Pierce County — Growing Tomatoes in the PNW
Saturday, June 20
4–5 p.m.
Tacoma Public Library — Moore Branch
215 S. 56th St., Tacoma
Free | Indoor gardening class | Tomatoes | Maritime climate growing
Tomatoes ask a lot from the South Sound. They want heat, long days, warm nights, steady care, and a growing season that does not suddenly remember it is still the Pacific Northwest. This WSU Extension Pierce County Master Gardener talk focuses on how to grow better tomatoes in our maritime climate, where cool springs, mild summers, and shorter growing windows can turn the simple dream of red, sun-warmed fruit into a small act of strategy.
The class offers practical help for making tomatoes work here instead of pretending Tacoma has secretly become Tuscany. Gardeners can expect simple, useful guidance on choosing appropriate varieties, improving warmth and light, managing watering, supporting plants, avoiding common problems, and helping fruit ripen before the season runs out of patience. It’s a good fit for new gardeners, container growers, backyard experimenters, and anyone who has ever stared at a plant full of green tomatoes in September and wondered what exactly went wrong. The promise is not magic. It’s better timing, better choices, and a fighting chance at the tomato summer we keep believing in.
More info: WSU Extension Pierce County Master Gardeners
Steam whistles, craft beer, and a railroad journey through Mount Rainier country
Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad — Beer Tasting Train
Saturday, June 20
6–8:30 p.m.
Departing from Elbe
Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad
Ticketed event | Ages 21+ | Historic train ride | Craft beer tasting
Some evenings ask you to choose between a scenic train ride and a beer tasting. This one wisely refuses. The Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad’s Beer Tasting Train combines both, sending passengers aboard a historic train through the forested foothills near Mount Rainier while sampling beers from three Washington breweries. The route travels between Elbe and Mineral, following a corridor shaped by logging history, river valleys, and the enduring romance of rail travel. Steam whistles echo through the trees, glimpses of the Nisqually River appear beyond the tracks, and the mountain’s foothill forests provide a backdrop that feels increasingly rare in a world built around highways.
The experience is intentionally relaxed. Guests ride in enclosed historic coaches with open seating and can move freely throughout the train during the journey. Those seeking fresh mountain air can step into the open-air car, while the concession car offers additional refreshments. Included beer tastings showcase three Washington breweries, turning the excursion into a rolling celebration of local craft brewing as much as local railroad history.
The midpoint stop in Mineral helps set this event apart from a typical excursion train. Passengers disembark at the railroad museum’s outdoor gathering space, where live music and light bites create the atmosphere of a summer evening festival tucked into the woods. The stop encourages lingering conversations, second looks at the historic equipment, and the simple pleasure of being somewhere that feels removed from everyday schedules.
For Daily Outside readers, the appeal may be that this is one of the few outdoor experiences that asks almost nothing physically while still delivering scenery, history, and a strong sense of place. No hiking boots required. Just a train ticket, a willingness to slow down, and an appreciation for the fact that some of the best Mount Rainier-area adventures happen before you ever reach the national park boundary.
More info: Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad
Campground questions, twilight trees, and Mount Rainier after the day hikers leave
Mount Rainier National Park — Longmire/Cougar Rock Evening Program
Saturday, June 20
8:45–9:30 p.m.
Cougar Rock Campground Amphitheater
Mount Rainier National Park
Free program | Outdoor ranger talk | All ages | Park entrance fee required
By evening, Mount Rainier changes its voice. The trailheads quiet down, the campground settles into lantern light, and the forest around Cougar Rock becomes the kind of place where a ranger program feels less like a lecture and more like a shared pause in the dark. This weekly evening program invites visitors to explore questions about the park’s human and natural history — glaciers, wildlife, volcanic forces, old travel routes, Indigenous connections, early tourism, forest ecology, or whatever story the ranger chooses to bring into the amphitheater that night.
The program typically lasts about 45 minutes and works especially well for campers, families, and anyone staying in the Longmire/Paradise corridor after sunset. It is free to attend, though the park entrance fee still applies. If you’re not camping, park at the Cougar Rock Picnic Area across the road from the campground, since campground parking is limited. Bring a layer, a flashlight or headlamp for the walk back, and the willingness to let the mountain become a little more mysterious after dark. Some places become quieter at night. Mount Rainier becomes deeper.
More info: Mount Rainier National Park
Afterward, meet up at Peaks & Pints
By day’s end, you may have listened for herons along Clark’s Creek, explored Gig Harbor’s waterfront history, learned how to grow better tomatoes, pedaled across Tacoma’s social landscape, ridden a steam train through Mount Rainier country, or joined a ranger beneath the glaciers of Paradise. That’s the kind of Saturday that leaves the mind pleasantly full and the legs pleasantly used.
Settle into a pint of our house Lumberbeard Brewing Cut-Off Flannel IPA or a glass of Finnriver Buckhorn Dry Cider and compare notes with fellow adventurers. Conversation might drift from hummingbirds and harbor ecology to old-growth forests, rare ferns, railroad history, or the eternal question of whether Mount Rainier looks better in afternoon sun or twilight.
Then again, if you’re not quite finished with the day, point the car east. The Longmire/Cougar Rock Evening Program begins at 8:45 p.m., when the crowds thin, the campground settles into lantern light, and the mountain starts telling different stories. Some Saturdays end with a house pour in Proctor. Some end beneath towering Douglas firs at Mount Rainier. The ambitious among us can manage both.
LINK: The Daily Outside explained
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
