“Hidden Beach” at E. Harrison StreetMadison Park’s southernmost road end (like our rustic northernmost road end, which we profiled earlier), is a bit off the beaten path. In spite of the fact that it’s actually not the most obscure or hard-to-find waterfront road end in the neighborhood, it’s still well deserving of its local moniker: Hidden Beach. You have to venture down “Devil’s Dip” to get to it, and unless you know what you’re looking for you might very well miss the entrance.
Officially, it’s the “street end” for E. Harrison Street, which actually peters out several blocks higher up the hill, where—at its intersection with Lake Washington Boulevard E.—it terminates its role as a transportation route. This little unconnected waterfront stub of E. Harrison is not at all obvious as either a road end or as beach access (though there is a sign). Frankly, it looks very much like a homeowner’s driveway:
But E. Harrison Street without a doubt has the nicest beach of any of Madison Park’s six waterfront road ends. 
You enter Hidden Beach from 39th Avenue E. (known to locals as “Devil’s Dip”) and approach it through a woodsy trail.
The trail terminates in what is a surprisingly lovely and relatively wide sandy beach, though very much smaller and far less able to accommodate a horde of sunbathers than Madison Park Beach can.
This beach, we’re told, is popular with some locals looking for water access for their dogs. A onetime beach-side resident also reports that there are occasional nude swimmers in the early morning hours, but Hidden Beach is definitely not to be confused with the famous Nudie Beach further south on the Lake (more on that in a later posting).Hidden Beach, unlike a couple of the other waterfront road ends in Madison Park, is a well maintained and appreciated neighborhood amenity for those few who venture to take advantage.
[Upper photo: looking North from Hidden Beach (aka Secret Beach). Bottom photo: looking South. Aerial photo from Google Earth.]
This is a really pleasant place to stop and read for a few minutes. A lot of swimming dogs, and nice people. And, now and then, you can sit and pretend that you actually live on 39th on the lake. Another excellent item from Bryan - bravo!!! Harv G - Madison Park
ReplyDeleteGood article, except that the directions are terrible. Can't you just include a link to the Google Map? I'm sitting here comparing your two photos and looking on google sattelite, map view, and street view to try to figure out exactly where on 39th it is.
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