Myrtle Park Playground

For a park with something for everyone (including the dog!), you can’t go wrong with Myrtle Park playground and spray park in Deep Cove.

With Deep Cove parking at a premium (even more so since the pandemic hit), a visit to the Cove may mean having to park at one of the more distant lots. One of these satellite parking sites is Myrtle Park, a short walk from the Cove. But if you have small kids, you may just want to spend a couple hours here before heading to the beach — especially since the playground at Panorama Park is most definitely NOT toddler-friendly.

This park, surrounded by mature tall trees and paths to explore them by, boasts a toddler-friendly playground and adjacent spray park for hours of fun. If it’s a sunny summer or weekend day, there will be kids in the spray park, so bring a set of dry clothes or be prepared to spend the entire time herding your little one away from the water jets.

The playground itself has two slides: a shorter one with steps that little ones can climb; the other a spiral tube that older kids can climb up to via a mini-climbing wall or ladder rungs. For older kids, there are Ninja Warrior-style rotating hoops to hang on and swing from one to the other, and multiple climbing challenges. For babies and toddlers, there are two baby swings and lower climbing obstacles. There is also a disk swing that up to 4 kids of any age can swing on simultaneously.

The spray park is relatively small as spray parks go, but fun nevertheless. There are two aimable water guns, multiple in-ground jets that spray straight up, and a tall arching leaf sculpture from which water pours from above.

The trails through the trees nearby are great for hide-and-seek among the giant cedar stumps or for kids to ride their bikes through. For longer nature strolls or rides, there is a mostly-wooded trail that circles the entire park.

If you’ve brought the family dog along, there’s a generously sized fenced-in off-leash dog park at the eastern edge of the park.

There are three round picnic tables in the immediate vicinity of the playground, but they’re not shaded. Many families come with blankets they lay out on the grass under a tree for their picnic, within easy eyesight of both the playground and the spray park.

Washrooms are located right next to the spray park, and on summer weekends when there are Little League tournaments at the park, the concession stand is open.