HIKE #1
On the first trip, we left I-5 at Ohio (Exit 254), jogged left at State Street, first right on Kansas and, at its end, left onto Ellis. There is usually 8-hour parking around here and we take full advantage of it. We then walked north on Ellis, making a sharp left switchback turn onto the trail just before the road ended at Ohio. It was now a pleasant fall trip along the creek's edge, enjoying the colours of the leaves. The falls were rushing rapidly as we passed under the bridge before the hatchery. On the flat of Maritime Heritage Park we angled up the hill to Whatcom Museum, noting with regret that the heritage statue had been removed. A walk up Magnolia and a right turn onto Railroad brought us to the Avenue Bakery where we each had coffee and a goody. This was the first phase of a birthday celebration.
Continuing along Railroad to its end at Laurel, we turned left up the hill, crossing some main streets to reach the switchback footpath up the hill, pass Laurel Park and turn right onto Jersey to its end at the foot of Sehome Hill. Now, instead of taking the usual path straight ahead, we went left on Myrtle for two full blocks, above the houses of Sehome Hill Historic District, to Liberty and dropped down to a point where a stub end road led right to Tunnel Ridge Trail. This leaf-covered trail led up a ridge to the park's summit. At its top it crossed the tunnel and we spun down left to reach the car parking at the end of the road. A short trip through the tunnel and beyond brought us to tle lookout tower, where we enjoyed a brief lunch.
We now returned by our usual Reservoir Trail to Jersey, Laurel Park and the switchback. Instead of a snack at Avenue Bakery we went to Mt. Bakery for pumpkin pie to conclude the birthday party.
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HIKE#2
We left I-5 at Sunset (exit 255) and continued straight on down James, stopping for coffee at the deli just past Alabama. We then continued south, jogging right down State, crossing Ohio and taking the next left at Kansas. We followed Meador under I-5 and turned left onto Fraser, travelling on the north side of Civic Field. At the end of the park, we turned right and right again into the parking lot.
We headed out across Puget into the woods and bore left to come back out onto Fraser. Jogging left, we found Salmon Park's new trail that connects with Whatcom Creek just to the north. It was a wide gravelled path leading to a new bridge before connecting with Whatcom Creek Trail at its Racine terminal. Here a new totem pole area welcomed us to the trail. Following it past snowberry bushes and fall-leaved shrubs, we reached Woburn and went north to the first intersection to enter the park. We looked up the swath of burnt trees from the 1999 oil-leak explosion before mounting the steps to the park trail. We kept generally on the trail closest to the creek as we made our way along to the beautiful stone bridge leading across to the fish hatchery. Here we met a man who rehabilitated stray Rotweilers and was walking his present dog while waiting for his wife to return with hers.
Continuing on the trail on Whatcom Creek's south side we came to Electric Avenue and crossed to Bloedel Donovan Park on the far side. We walked across to the picnic tables and found one out of the cool wind but having a view of the lake. We thought that we had lost a pair of gloves here so we retraced our steps to the car, looking for where we might have dropped them. There was no sign of them but that was scarcely odd since they were found in a pants pocket on arrival home.
Return to Further Walks.
