BY MATT KITE for WEEKLY VOLCANO 6/12/2026 |
Some of the best adventures to be had in Tacoma are free.
Take, for example, the Tacoma Trails Challenge, which began June 1 and runs all the way to the end of the month. Organized by Parks Tacoma, the event blends outdoor recreation with bingo while showcasing the city’s outstanding scenery.
“It really shows people that there’s lots of different ways to stay healthy and find peace of mind and explore something new,” says Anne Winters, Parks Tacoma’s marketing and digital media supervisor. “On social media, it seems to rally the community around our parks. There’s a lot of love for Tacoma out there, and this gives them an outlet to express that. And you don’t have to travel far to do it.”
After signing up, participants are tasked with completing a minimum of five challenges out of twenty-five, each of which is depicted in a square on a bingo card. The challenges range from self-guided activities to those led by Parks Tacoma staff and volunteers.
Anyone who completes a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line on their card will be entered into the grand prize drawing. Those who manage to complete a blackout, checking off every box on the card, earn an exclusive Trails Challenge iron-on patch and two more entries in the prize drawing, not to mention bragging rights for finishing the whole lot.
The easiest challenge? Well, there are a few that shouldn’t take much effort, including walking in the rain at the park, taking Fido for a walk at the park, and watching a sunrise or sunset from the park. Some, like dog-walk meetups, are a little more unique. And some, like a low-tide beach walk, are guided activities that require some advance planning. A free square in the middle of the bingo card ensures that each participant can customize their own experience.
Some of the challenges can be completed at any of Tacoma’s 145 parks. But others must be tackled at specific parks. McKinley Park, Wright Park, Melanie’s Park, Wapato Park, Stewart Heights Park, Swan Creek, Point Defiance, and Browns Point Lighthouse are featured on this year’s bingo card.
The bingo card, a new wrinkle, was adopted this year to add a familiar element to the challenge.
“In previous years,” Winters says, “it was just a list of like twenty-five things. This year we decided to change it up and see how everyone responds to bingo, and so far it has been very popular.”
The Trails Challenge has been an annual event since 2021, when most of Tacoma felt like a ghost town, thanks to COVID-19.
“We were just coming out of the pandemic,” Winters explains. “All the events around that time had been canceled. The Trails Challenge was a way to do something fun and have an event to rally around.”
Added Winters: “National Trails Day is usually the first Saturday of June, so we timed it around that. The time frame has been a little bit different each year, but it’s always been in June.”
The inaugural event involved strictly individual activities, but now park guides and volunteers oversee about half of the challenges, with group activities ranging from a footrace at Swan Creek to a bird-watching outing. Along with four park guides and a pair of volunteer coordinators, the marketing staff has been busily involved in this year’s edition.
Since everyone tracks their own progress and is responsible for marking their own bingo cards as each challenge is completed, the Trails Challenge relies on the honor system. Participants can tag @ParksTacoma on social media while progressing through the challenges and even upload photos to the event page. The public will vote on the best photo, with the winner earning an additional entry in the prize drawing.
This year’s grand prize is a getaway package from the Silver Cloud Hotel at Point Ruston Waterfront. The package includes a one-night stay in a king room with a water view and a restaurant credit at Copper & Salt Northwest Kitchen. A total of four runner-up prizes, meanwhile, range from gift baskets to Apple AirPods, with the former courtesy of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health and the Tacoma Parks Foundation and the latter from Proliance Puget Sound Orthopaedics.
Turnout for the Trails Challenge typically totals around 2,000 participants, and Winters is expecting a similar showing this year. Success, though, will be measured in satisfied smiles, not the number of participants.
“We always ask on the finisher form about people’s favorite part of the challenge,” Winters says. “We get lots of good feedback.”
Part of that feedback involves the joy of discovering someplace new.
“I think my favorite part is just how it gets people out into our parks and what we have in Tacoma instead of just going to the same parks over and over,” Winters explained. “I know I do it too. It supports one of our goals: to get the community out into the parks and make it apparent to people that parks are a place for not just physical health but your mental health.”
To learn more or register for the Trails Challenge, visit ParksTacoma.gov/trails-day
