Located near the shore of Lake Washington in Seattle, the park’s twelve 21-foot high organ-like pipes produce faint, eerie, but beautiful tones when rotated or passed through by the wind, creating moans and howls on particularly gusty days. Best known as the inspiration for the name of the Seattle band Soundgarden, the sculpture provides a unique and memorable experience for those who visit.
Of the five sculptures that compose the NOAA Art Walk, “A Sound Garden” draws the most attention, achieving something like landmark status in Seattle. Other art installations on the NOAA campus include works by such artists as Scott Burton, Martin Puryear, and Siah Armajani.
The NOAA campus has been closed to the public since 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic; unfortunately, there are no indications that it will ever be open to the public again, particularly given recent cuts to NOAA's budget and administration. If access is restored, the previous logging requirements will be reinstated. In the meantime, I have reconfigured the requirements of this virtual so that you can still see "A Sound Garden," enjoy the lakeshore, and maybe, if the conditions are right, hear its song.
The easiest way to the virtual is by parking at the Magnuson Park Off-Leash Area, (see parking waypoint) then entering the off-leash area and walking the paths through the dog park and towards the waypoints. Alternatively, you can approach from the interior of Magnuson Park.
PLEASE NOTE: The new waypoints lay entirely within the Magnuson Park Off-Leash Area. There will likely be (usually very friendly) dogs wandering all over, especially during nice weather.
Logging Requirements (NEW, as of May 1, 2025): To log this cache, you have two tasks:
1) visit the coordinates at waypoint W1 and take and post a photo of yourself in front of the fence, with the towers of “A Sound Garden" visible behind you, in your log. If you are camera shy, post a picture of your hand holding your GPS or another personal object such as keys, hat, backpack, or purse....etc. The intent is to make your photo distinctive.
2) Continue northeast towards the lakeshore to waypoint W2, where you will find a bench (the northernmost bench at this little beach). There are many nametags attached to this bench. Message my geocaching profile the name on the one tag closest to the top of the bench (it has a black background, and is clearly above the others).
Failure to do either of these tasks will result in log deletion.
Virtual Reward - 2017/2018
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.