This Seattle Park Has A Massive Troll Sculpture

Seattle has trolls. Not in a theme-park way — in a "walk into the woods and there's an eighteen-foot figure sitting in a grove watching you" way.

We tracked down three of them. One is a 35-year-old concrete icon wedged under a freeway bridge. The other two are recent arrivals: hand-built recycled-wood giants by a Danish artist who's been quietly installing them in landscapes around the world. Two are in Seattle proper. The third is across Puget Sound on Bainbridge Island, which means a ferry — and the ferry turns out to be part of what makes the day good.

All three are free. Here they are, in the order that makes sense.

1. The Fremont Troll — Fremont

The original, and still the one people picture when they hear "Seattle troll."

He sits under the north end of the Aurora Bridge (officially the George Washington Memorial Bridge), at North 36th Street and Troll Avenue North. Eighteen feet tall, roughly 13,000 pounds of steel rebar, wire, and about two tons of concrete. He's hauling himself out of the hillside with one hand — and crushing an actual Volkswagen Beetle in the other.

The story behind him is better than the sculpture alone. In the late 1980s the space under the bridge was a dumping ground for trash and abandoned cars, and neighbors avoided it. In 1989 the Fremont Arts Council ran a competition to reclaim it. Around forty entries came in; the winning design came from four local artists — Steve Badanes, Will Martin, Donna Walter, and Ross Whitehead — and they built it in 1990 with help from community volunteers. He was unveiled on Halloween 1990.

Details worth looking for when you're standing there:

• He has one eye, and it's a Volkswagen hubcap.
• The Beetle is a real car — and by most accounts it came from the debris already dumped at the site. Turning the junk into the sculpture is the whole point.
• People climb on him, and always have. Kids scramble up his arm; adults sit in his hand. That's part of what he's for — and it's the one troll on this list where climbing is welcome.
• Trolloween happens every October 31st: a costumed community procession that starts under the bridge and celebrates his birthday.

While you're in Fremont, the neighborhood leans into its own weirdness — the Lenin statue is a few blocks away, and the "Center of the Universe" signpost is nearby. Good neighborhood to park once and walk.

Access: Street parking, competitive on weekends and afternoons. Bus routes 40, 44, and 46 serve the area, roughly a five-minute walk with a slight uphill. Street level, no trail, no stairs.

2. Bruun Idun — West Seattle, Lincoln Park

The second troll is the first of the two by Thomas Dambo, a Danish artist who builds giant trolls out of scrap and recycled wood and hides them in landscapes worldwide. In 2023 he installed six across the Pacific Northwest as Northwest Trolls: Way of the Bird King — an environmental story told through sculpture, built to draw connections between Coast Salish tribal communities and Nordic traditions. They were revealed one at a time between August and September 2023.

Bruun Idun stands in Lincoln Park in West Seattle, down among the trees near the water. She's playing a flute — and that flute was made by a member of the Muckleshoot Tribe, one of the project's partners. In Dambo's story, she plays to the orcas of the Salish Sea.

Seeing her means walking down into the park toward the beach. It's a real walk with a real hill on the way back up — pleasant and shaded, but build in extra time. Lincoln Park is worth the visit on its own, with a shoreline path and big madrona and fir trees.

Access: Park in either Lincoln Park lot off Fauntleroy Way SW. Expect a descent toward the water and a climb back. Not step-free — if mobility is a concern in your group, this is the one to plan around.

3. Pia the Peacekeeper — Sakai Park, Bainbridge Island

Our favorite of the three, and the one that takes the most planning.

Pia sits in a grove of trees in Sakai Park on Bainbridge Island. Eighteen feet tall even sitting cross-legged on the ground, made of recycled wood, with short curly hair and a necklace. Her hands are held out in front of her, fingers open — and that's deliberate. You're meant to step into them. Visitors stand between her palms and get "squeezed."

Dambo wrote a poem for her, which is the clearest statement of who she's supposed to be:

Pretty pretty please, let's keep the peace beneath the trees Hold you in my hand I will remind you with a squeeze

How she was built is the part we didn't expect. Her head was made in Dambo's studio in Copenhagen and shipped to Bainbridge Island. The rest of her body was built on site at Sakai Park over about seven days, by the artist's crew working alongside the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District, Scouts Troop 1496, Cub Scout Pack 4496, and local volunteers. Some of her wood came from Sakai Park itself. She isn't something that was delivered to the island — she was made there, by people who live there.

Finding her is easy and slightly charming: there's a trail map at the parking lot, but Pia isn't marked on it. Instead, look for a small discreet signpost labeled Troll and follow the arrow. It's about a two-minute walk from the lot on a wood-chip path. As one visitor put it, the surest way to find any of these trolls is to look for the people.

Please don't climb on Pia. Unlike the Fremont Troll, climbing isn't allowed here — she's recycled wood, exposed to weather, and meant to age gracefully rather than get worn out. Hugging and photos are welcome and encouraged. The Park District is explicit about this, and it's an easy thing to respect.

Sakai Park itself is worth the extra half hour. There's roughly 0.6 miles of flat, gentle forest trail — a Sakai Loop of a bit over a mile — winding through mostly deciduous woods thick with ferns and berry bushes, past a small wetland, with a short spur down to a pond. Leashed dogs are welcome. Small free parking lot and an accessible porta-potty. Open dawn to dusk.

Access notes:

• Address: Sakai Park, 1560 Madison Ave N, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110.
• Parking is limited and the lot fills on summer and weekend days. Overflow parking is across Madison Avenue at the Bainbridge Island Aquatic Center. Don't park on the road or grass. The driveway is gravel, and the lot gets muddy after rain — so does the trail.
• You don't need a car. Sakai Park is about 1.5 miles from the ferry terminal, or about a mile from downtown Winslow. Walking it is very doable, and the Park District actively encourages walking, biking, or transit as being in keeping with Pia's whole message. Kitsap Transit and BI Ride serve the island.

Getting to Bainbridge: The Ferry

From Seattle, the ferry is the way. Washington State Ferries runs from Colman Dock (Pier 52) on the downtown waterfront to the Bainbridge terminal at Winslow — a 35-minute crossing, with more than twenty sailings a day in each direction from early morning to after midnight.

Things worth knowing:

• No reservations. This route is first-come, first-served for both walk-ons and vehicles.
• Walk on if you can. It's cheaper, faster, and you skip the vehicle queue entirely — and since Sakai Park is walkable from the terminal, you don't really need the car. As of mid-2026, adult walk-on fare was about $11.35, seniors around $5.65, and riders 18 and under free. Driving on starts around $21.30 for vehicle and driver each way. Confirm current fares before you go.
• You're only charged one direction. Westbound from Seattle you pay; walk-on passengers returning from Bainbridge to Seattle ride free.
• Arrive 15–20 minutes early as a walk-on, more during summer weekends or the 7–9 a.m. and 4–6:30 p.m. commute windows. Vehicles need a bigger buffer.
• Go up top and outside. The upper outer deck gives you the Seattle skyline receding on the way out and the wooded Bainbridge shore coming in. On a clear day the Olympics are visible to the west. The ferry ride is genuinely one of the best parts of the day, not just transportation to the good part.

Pia the Peacekeeper — Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District · Northwest Trolls: Way of the Bird King — official project site

If You Want More Trolls

There are six Northwest Trolls in total. We saw two of them; here are the other four.

• Frankie Feetsplinters — National Nordic Museum, Ballard. We didn't know he existed until after our trip, which is a little embarrassing given he's the easiest one to reach: he stands right out front on Market Street, no walking, no hiding. He was Dambo's sixth and final installation in the set, unveiled September 18, 2023, and he's the only troll in the family living in an urban setting rather than tucked into woods. If you're doing the Fremont Troll, he's about fifteen minutes away — no reason to miss him the way we did.
• Jakob Two Trees — Issaquah, near the Rainier Trail by the Community Center. Around 13 feet tall and a straightforward drive east, no ferry. Issaquah has been openly hoping to keep him long-term.
• Oscar the Bird King — Point Robinson Park, Vashon Island. Ferry from Fauntleroy (right next to Lincoln Park), Point Defiance in Tacoma, or Southworth. Oscar is the character the whole project is named after; his beard is madrona branches and he wears a crown of birdhouses. Point Robinson is also a whale- and orca-watching spot, with harbor seals and river otters offshore.
• Ole Bolle — Nordic Northwest, Portland, Oregon. A separate trip.

Doing all five Washington trolls in one day is technically possible but tight, since two require ferries. Two days is much more pleasant.

Also worth knowing: a separate limited-run Dambo exhibit, Trolls: A Field Study, is scheduled to bring roughly a dozen more trolls to Northwest Trek and Point Defiance Zoo near Tacoma from October 2026 into January 2027. Confirm dates and admission before planning around it.

Planning Your Troll Day

• A sensible order: Fremont in the morning (add Frankie in Ballard — learn from our mistake), ferry to Bainbridge for Pia and lunch in Winslow, then back to West Seattle for Bruun Idun in the afternoon light. Or do Bainbridge first and the two Seattle trolls after.
• Budget a full day if Bainbridge is in the mix. The ferry alone is 70 minutes round trip before any waiting.
• Everything is free except the ferry. No tickets, no reservations, no admission at any troll.
• Parking is the friction point — Fremont and Sakai Park both. Weekday mornings are noticeably easier than weekend afternoons.
• Dress for Seattle. Nothing on this route has an indoor option.
• Go early for photos. The Fremont Troll collects crowds as the day goes on.
• These are outdoor wooden sculptures in a wet climate. Pia was built as a temporary installation intended to age naturally, expected to last at least three years from her 2023 debut, with the Park District doing basic upkeep. Check current status before making a long drive or a ferry crossing for a specific troll.

⚠️ A Note on Conditions

Nothing here is dangerous, but a few practical things: the Fremont Troll sits under an active freeway bridge on a street with traffic — watch kids near the roadway, and the concrete gets slick when wet. Lincoln Park's walk down to Bruun Idun involves a genuine grade, and the return climb is the harder half. Sakai Park's lot and trail both get muddy after rain, and the park driveway is gravel. Ferry sailings can be delayed or cancelled for weather, mechanical issues, or crew availability — check Washington State Ferries for alerts before building a tight schedule around a crossing.

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Sources & Reference Links

• Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District — Pia the Peacekeeper: https://www.biparks.org/parks-trails/pia-the-peacekeeper-bainbridge-troll
• Bainbridge Parks — Meet Pia the Peacekeeper (Copenhagen-built head, 7-day on-site build, Scout troops, hands/squeeze, no climbing): https://biparks.org/meet-pia-the-peacekeeper/
• Bainbridge Island — The Bainbridge Island Troll guide (address, aquatic center overflow parking, temporary installation intent): https://www.bainbridgeisland.com/bainbridge-island-troll/
• A Happy Passport — PNW trolls guide (Dambo's poem for Pia, distance from ferry terminal, parking): https://www.ahappypassport.com/blog/pnw-trolls-guide
• Pines and Vines — How to see Bainbridge Island's giant troll (the "Troll" signpost, Sakai Park trails, pond, dawn-to-dusk): https://www.pinesnvines.com/adventures/bainbridge-island-giant-troll
• Northwest Trolls official site: https://www.nwtrolls.org/
• National Nordic Museum — Northwest Trolls exhibition (six trolls, 2023 reveal dates, partners): https://nordicmuseum.org/exhibitions/northwest-trolls-way-of-the-bird-king
• ParentMap — Thomas Dambo trolls in the PNW (all six locations, Bruun Idun and the orcas): https://www.parentmap.com/article/giant-trolls-thomas-dambo-seattle
• No Home Just Roam — Way of the Bird King guide (Muckleshoot-made flute, Jakob's height): https://nohomejustroam.com/northwest-trolls-way-of-the-bird-king-how-to-find-thomas-dambos-trolls-in-washington-oregon/
• Wikipedia — Fremont Troll (dimensions, artists, location, VW Beetle): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fremont_Troll
• Austin's Awesome Art — History of the Fremont Troll (1989 competition, ~40 entries, 2 tons of concrete): https://www.austinsart.net/news/fremont-troll
• WSDOT Ferries — Seattle terminal (Colman Dock, walk-on info): https://wsdot.com/ferries/vesselwatch/terminaldetail.aspx?terminalid=7
• Bainbridge Island ferry guide (35-minute crossing, fares, one-directional charging, no reservations): https://www.bainbridgeisland.com/ferry/