The Dune Peninsula and Frank Herbert Trail — ‘Tacoma’s newest treasure’ — are open

Katelyn Davis would like the slides to be faster.

The 4-year-old from Gig Harbor described the chutes-and-ladders set-up going down the 60-foot slope at Tacoma’s newest park as “slow.”

But both she and 7-year-old brother Ryan Davis said they’d go on the slides at the Dune Peninsula at Point Defiance Park again.

“It was still fun,” Ryan said. “I wish I could stay there.”

The park opened Saturday, as did the Wilson Way Bridge that connects Point Defiance to Ruston Way.

The slides in question go from the east part of the bridge down to the marina at the park.

Ryan said he’d been able to scramble back up the slope without using the stairs, or his hands.

“What fun are stairs when you can climb up rocks?” mom Krista Davis joked.

She said she liked the openness of the park.

“The visibility of it as a parent is great, because they can run and you can still see them,” Davis said.

The 40-acre, $74.8 million project sits on a rehabilitated Superfund site — the former slag heap from the Asarco Smelter.

The Dune Peninsula portion is named for the famous novel by science fiction writer Frank Herbert, who was born in Tacoma. Herbert’s experience with pollution in Tacoma in the 1950s influenced his work.

The trail around the peninsula is named for the author.

“This is Tacoma’s newest treasure,” Aaron Pointer, president of the Metro Parks Tacoma board of commissioners, told the crowd at the dedication Saturday. “It was once a contaminated slag heap that is transformed today for Tacoma — another place of pride, another place where kids and parents and the community can enjoy.”

Tacoma Mayor and former Metro Parks commissioner Victoria Woodards also spoke.

“I remember the first conversations we had about the slag, about what we might do,” Woodards said.

Quoting one of the interpretive signs, she said: “’We are standing on the ashes of industry, and look what we’ve been able to turn it into.”

Later, 48-year-old Tacoman Emmitt Matthews ran through the park.

“This looks incredible,” Matthews said.

He regularly runs nearby and decided to check out the peninsula when his grandpa reminded him about the opening.

It’ll be part of his route now, Matthews said.

He’s coached basketball, football and track for Metro Parks and said the stairs in the new park look ideal for training.

“More for kids to do in the community and safe places for them to go is good,” he said.

Ava Hutchison, 10 of Australia, said she thought the park would be a good place for a picnic.

“It’s just really nice, the scenery,” she said.

She was visiting with family.

Her cousin, Wyatt Stombaugh of Enumclaw, agreed.

“I just really like it because it’s soft,” the 7-year-old (who turns 8 next month) said about the grass.

“If you fall, you don’t get hurt,” he said before he pedaled away in a recumbent bicycle.

In the background, 2-year-old cousin Maisy Stombaugh, of Spokane, log rolled down a grassy hill.

They didn’t have opinions about the slides yet, but they planned to try them out.

“That sounds really fun,” Ava said.

This story was originally published July 6, 2019 at 3:19 PM.