Hertz Trail and Whatcom Park

Lake Whatcom from Hertz trail

 Today, my friend Melanie and I walked the entire 6+-mile trail (round trip) on the north shore of Lake Whatcom. It's a lovely place, and I've been on it in sunshine, rain, and snow, with comfortable to freezing temperatures. Since the weather would be cloudy all day, with a chance of rain, we decided against traveling out of town. It was a good choice: we kept up a brisk pace as we navigated the out-and-back trail, noticing that they have done a good deal of work on it lately, possibly getting ready for the winter weather to come.

Cute whale rock

When we got to the terminus, this little rock was there to greet us, left there by an anonymous artist. On the back, it said simply, "Whatcom Rock." No signature, but I was pleased to see it and placed it carefully back in its original position.

Remains of an old pier

There wasn't much new to see on this familiar walk, but I gazed at the stumps of a long-ago pier and thought of what this place looked like back then, when our wide and pretty trail had another use.

The Hertz Trail follows an old logging railroad bed along the fairly wild northern shore of massive Lake Whatcom, one of the largest natural lakes in the state. 

Yesterday, I went on another short walk in Whatcom Falls Park, not far away from today's walk. We (myself, along with my friend Lily) made our way down to the falls, to see what they look like at this time of the year. With the changing leaves and a respectable amount of water rushing by, it was a lovely scene.

Whatcom Falls from the bridge

I've shown this exact photo many different times in the past, but yesterday's view was especially memorable. The sound of the water and the mist in the air made us stop for several minutes just to take it all in.

Spider web art

Walking back to the car, I saw this spider web, sans spider, as we kept looking in the bushes for ripe blackberries. We did find some delicious ones (actually, Lily has an unerring eye for them) and since they were perfect, we stopped looking for more and just enjoyed the aftermath of the tasty fruit before heading home.

I was happy for the two outings, and again allowed myself to be very grateful for all the wonderful places I can choose to enjoy here in Bellingham. I hope you will also have a chance to get out and about!

:-)