Seattle Outdoor Activities

Surrounded on every side by the city's urban landscape, Lake Union affords a unique vantage point from which to see the Seattle skyline. The captains of Lake Union Charters and Adventures take advantage of this view by chartering adventures aboard the Solana, a sailing sloop outfitted with a full galley, icebox, and bathroom. Sailing adventures range from sunset cruises to girls' night out sails, as well as sailing lessons that give students hands-on experience in tacking, jibing, and whittling a peg leg. For an elevated experience, the captains also sweep passengers off on dinner cruises aboard the schooner Lavengro, a historic, 63-foot wooden vessel first launched in 1926 and named after George Borrow's novel Lavengro: The Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest.

On a trip out of town in 1996, a group of eight friends tried dragon boating for the first time. With a festive 40-foot boat powered by 20 paddlers, a steersman in the back, and a drummer in the front, the more than 2,000-year-old sport stands as one of the oldest forms of boat racing—and it stole the friends' hearts. Upon returning to Seattle, the group told others about the sport and soon gathered enough participants to form a team, practice with fire-breathing canoes, and eventually raise enough money to buy a dragon boat of their own. Thus, Seattle Sake Dragonboat Club was born.

Today, the club boasts more than 250 members and 7 different racing teams, which travel throughout the world to take part in competitions. For the uninitiated, Seattle Sake hosts introductory courses that teach students the skills necessary to join a dragon-boat team and introduce them to other boating enthusiasts.

Situated upon 12 acres of idyllic pastures, Cougar Mountain Stables is the proud home of owners who live onsite, overseeing the actions of all steeds at all hours. Here, under nature’s verdant gaze, aspiring riders learn to trot in summer-camp sessions or lessons tailored toward either Western or English styles. During times of inclement weather, lessons move to the 60’x120’ indoor arena. When the sun is shining and the thunderstorms are busy bullying faraway tide pools, riders and their horses can explore the Cougar Mountain trails, located just a horseshoe’s throw away from the stables.

On Tashunka Farms’ nine acres, the farm border collie often greets visitors at the gate. This fuzzy welcome is par for the course at the farm and animal refuge, where two spacious arenas hold stables and horsemanship camps. Equestrian training and horse care are the facility’s bread and butter—the dedicated staff recently took in a malnourished mustang named Chance and worked to bring him back to health with food, exercise, baths, and attention. This care also extends to the motley crew of the petting zoo, whether it’s to one of the fuzzy lionhead rabbits, soft chinchillas, fire-breathing chickens, or peculiar fainting goats that stiffen and fall over when they’re alarmed or excited.

An approved FAA part 141 flight school with an option for part 61 training, AcuWings bestows certifications and ratings for fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters upon trainees who have passed their gauntlet of training curricula. The outfit operates its fleet out of Renton Municipal Airport, a full service airport with an operational control tower that allows aspiring aviators to practice radio communication. The school's instruction comprises hours logged both in the cockpit as well as in ground school, where students study aviation topics such as flight theory, chart navigation, and aircraft systems, in a one-on-one setting with the instructor. Potential pilots interested in an initial taste of flight before signing up for a full-blown certification regimen can take advantage of the introductory flight. Flyers share control of the aircraft with the instructor for approximately an hour and log their time spent aloft in a logbook.