Our two-year-old son loves dinosaurs, hockey and airplanes. And I mean he really loves airplanes. The very first sound effect he made was the rumble of an airplane engine. That love led us to track down the best location to watch airplanes land at Sea-Tac Airport, and what we found was Miller Creek Trail.
Miller Creek Trail is located near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Burien. The trail itself runs a short distance from Des Moines Memorial Drive to South 140th Street. But the small recreation area at 14455 Des Moines Memorial Drive is where we like to park and roam to watch the airplanes come in for a landing at Sea-Tac Airport.
At the Miller Creek Trail recreation area, there is some signage and a few picnic tables. In the summertime, there are blackberry bushes that are prime for picking as well. You can watch the airplanes fly over from there or you can follow the trail across South 144th Street.
Across the street, you’ll find a small boardwalk with signage and benches — which are just the perfect height for a kid to jump off. There is also a small loop trail that we like to walk around. On that trail, the airplanes fly directly overhead as they come in to land at Sea-Tac Airport. It’s fun to see the awe in our son’s eyes when the planes thunder by.
We’ve never actually gone any deeper along the trail but we have seen other people strolling and riding bikes. For us, the lure is the airplanes. Our family just refers to it as the “airplane park”. So if you’re looking for the perfect place to watch airplanes land at Sea-Tac Airport…I’d recommend Miller Creek Trail. There are other spots out there but they don’t include the same park element.
And I guess I should also mention that the air traffic all depends on what runways are being used and what direction the planes are coming in from. There are times that we have stopped by Miller Creek Trail and there were no planes flying overhead.
What is your favorite place to watch airplanes fly into Sea-Tac Airport? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below. You can also reach out to us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. And be sure to click around Seattle Bloggers for more fun activities in the Seattle area.
