Aldergrove Park in Canada

Sign at entrance to park

 Today, fifteen Senior Trailblazers carpooled from the Senior Center in order to make a trip across our border with Canada into British Columbia to enjoy the Aldergrove Regional Park. Our crossing into Canada was incredibly easy, with no wait and a friendly border guard. Since I just recently started hiking with the Happy Wanderers, who annually make this trip, it was my first time here.

Aldergrove Regional Park is located on the border of Aldergrove and Langley, not far from the Canada-U.S.A. border. The park's easy trails, beautiful landscape, and numerous picnic areas make it a popular destination for families. The trails in this area are very well kept, and they are marked well, too! You will see a diverse amount of wildlife here, too. (from a hiking website)

It was quite cold when we started out, just barely above freezing, but the sun was out in full force, at least for this time of the year. We were bundled up and pretty much stayed that way.

Bridge was very slippery

 We crossed this bridge to begin our hike onto the trails, and I was very glad to find that the central section was salted and the best way to get across without falling. It was definitely slick, but we carefully crossed and then made our way to solid trails.

Group shot, including the photographer

All fifteen of us walked together around five or six miles in total, completing several of the more accessible of the trails. As we hiked, we gradually warmed up. and the delightful sunshine helped, too.

Good doggies

When we stopped for lunch, we saw these two dog walkers with their charges. They were all well behaved and nothing went amiss, but I realized that the well-behaved dogs made all the difference. They eventually piled into two vans and drove away, but we were impressed!

Lunch stop

We found a couple of (almost) dry benches and stopped for lunch, enjoying the company, the sun, and the lack of wind. By this time I was almost completely warm myself, after wondering if my hands were ever going to warm up, But they did.

Overlooking farm land

We continued our hike as we climbed a short hill and were looking out over verdant farm fields, and stopped for a moment to enjoy the scenery, before continuing on.

Sky, mountains, fields

And then, after a few short miles, it was time to return to our cars and cross the border in the other direction. That also was without a wait, and with a cheerful border guard, too! We decided to head to Edaleen's Dairy for some ice cream, even if it is winter!

Edaleen's store in Lynden

I really like their cappuccino chip ice cream the best, but since they didn't have any, I tried some eggnog ice cream to celebrate the season. And then we all climbed into our cars and headed back to the Senior Center.

Delicious Edaleen ice cream

We had a wonderful day, with plenty of lovely conversations, exercise, sunshine, and more. I will not forget that ice cream any time soon! And thanks to all for a delightful day.