Stimpson Family Nature Reserve

Some of today's group

There might be people who are beginning to look familiar to you, since we seem to have a good number of returnees every week on Tuesday's Happy Wanderers group. You probably already recognize today's leader, Persis, third from left in a skirt (she almost always wears one, unless it's raining). We had seventeen people show up this morning for a short-ish four-and-a-half mile walk in Stimpson Family Reserve. We've been here many times before, but the whole place has been closed for awhile in order to install a new and improved parking lot. It now holds more than a dozen cars comfortably. Maybe even two dozen, I didn't count.

After days of rain, we had a respite today, but there was plenty of mud and slippery spots on the well-maintained trails. I didn't actually take many pictures, because that would have meant taking my gloves off and holding still, when all I really wanted to do was keep moving until I got warm. Eventually, I did feel much warmer, since the cold temperature wasn't exacerbated by wind: it was perfectly still.

Geneva Pond

There was plenty of lively conversation, and we took the two loops around the Reserve, enjoying the special nature of the area. The forest is largely undisturbed and displays characteristics of an old-growth forest, including Douglas Fir trees over 400 years old, a wide diversity of tree species, snags and decaying logs. Pets are not allowed in the Reserve.

Lovely ladies

When I first saw this picture, I thought that was me in the pink jacket. But no, I didn't wear it today. That's Kay, and I don't think I look that young, either. We didn't end up taking much clothing off as we walked, since it was right around freezing. 

Our lunch spot

We did end up stopping for a quick early lunch, although some didn't sit down (I was one of them) and eat anything, since it was still too early for me to be ready. It was not a leisurely stop, actually rather quick, but it was towards the end of the walk, and we did enjoy ourselves. By the time we got back to the cars, the sun had come out and cheered us with its warm November sunshine. Since there will be no more scheduled hikes with the Trailblazers this week because of Thanksgiving, we were very happy with our day's activities and look forward to many more wonderful hikes in the weeks and months ahead.

:-)

Little Cranberry Lake

Fifteen Happy Wanderers

One of the problems I have with my limited sight is trying to take a good picture of everybody in a situation like this one. I unfortunately lopped off half of Joe on the left, and had plenty of room on the right if I had been able to see better. Oh well, at least you can see that we had a great group of hikers who went off to Little Cranberry Lake in Anacortes, a forty-minute drive from Bellingham.

And it was cold: when we got to the trailhead, it was about 4°C (39-40°F). We lost one of our cars full of hikers, and by the time we found us more than a half-hour later, we were all frozen. But once we started hiking, it didn't take long for us to warm up. I was having a hard time with all the mud and slick spots on the trail, but once we got to a major junction, it got a little better. At least I didn't fall into the slimy mess, which was a major accomplishment. I was so happy to have my trusty trekking poles.

The group coming to meet me

At one point, I had to "water a tree" and took this picture of the group coming towards me. It doesn't show how awful much of the trail actually was today, but that is because when it was really bad, I had nothing left over to take pictures. I managed to stay upright!

Little Cranberry Lake

You can see how still the water was, and we also had very little breeze to deal with as we hiked. Once we got to the lake, we stopped for a bit of lunch, with picnic tables and the delightful view, along with lively conversations. We covered almosat five miles and 750 feet up and down, not a huge hike, but enough for me to get a decent number of steps for the day, and we not only had no wind, but also no rain. Apparently we have a major event headed our way, with plenty of wind and rain, so I was very happy that we had nothing like that today. It was a good way to enjoy the outdoors with some great friends.

:-)

Hike around town

Watching the salmon struggling

 Twenty-three Senior Trailblazers started out from the Senior Center on a walk to Maritime Heritage Park to see the salmon, and then off to Squalicum Harbor to visit the octopus and get a little exercise.

I wasn't sure what I was seeing when I looked over the creek's barrier at the roaring water, but I did make out a Great Blue Heron and some wiggling fish. It's hard to know what you're looking at without someone to point it out (at least to me). See the jumping and frantic little fish?

Heron and jumping fish

We watched mesmerized for awhile, and then we spoke with a few volunteers who were there to deal with the spawning fish, most of which were looking very tattered and on their last fins, so to speak. It's what happens to them after they spawn. We were amazed at how many more were heading up the spawning channel. Students from BTC (Bellingham Technical College) were working to retrieve chum and strip the fish of their roe and milt before shipping the bodies to be processed into fertilizer.  Some of the fish were huge, and the students said they are all six years old, having the instinct to return to where they started, at the end of their journey.

Really big guys

There were many dead ones among the live ones, but all of them will soon die and be turned into fertilizer. After spending quite a bit of time watching the drama, we went off to the harbor and were treated to the sight of a big seal.

Big harbor seal, posing

He was there looking quite regal, and after we had taken our fill of pictures, we headed back to the Senior Center. We walked somewhere around four or five miles, not far, and we spent a lot of time just watching the fish or the seal, rather than getting our heart rates up. No matter, it was a good day, and it didn't rain on us after all. I'm so glad I went.

:-)

Ten Ferndale parks walk

Pioneer Park buildings

One of our regular Happy Wanderers, John, took 27 of us to Ferndale, where he led us on a walk through ten different Ferndale parks that he visits regularly. We started at Pioneer Park, a place filled with old buildings from the past.

The purpose of the Ferndale Heritage Society is to educate the community on the history of Whatcom County, promote Pioneer Park and tourism in Ferndale, and bring together those people interested in preserving history and maintaining the log cabins and collections at Pioneer Park.

Once we spent time in Pioneer Park admiring all the old buildings, we started out on a circuitous route of the ten parks John introduced the group to. I know some people were very familiar with these parks, but I was not one of them. The only one I had visited previously was Hovander Park.

Beginning of Hanadori trail

John said that in all the years he has walked this trail, he has never seen any cherry flowers, but that he's seen plenty of birds. We saw some eagles and snow geese flying overhead, but alas, no cherry flowers. Along the way, visiting many other parks, we saw lots of commemorative plaques, such as this one.

Origins of Griffintown Park

We took a short trip down to the Nooksack River, and managed (for the most part) to keep such a large group together. There was one flurry of activity looking for three hikers who took a wrong turn. They were easily located, with the help of a cellphone.

The mighty Nooksack

By the time we reached this spot, it was time to make an excursion across town to visit the Edaleen Dairy, where many of us enjoyed a spot of ice cream. Fortunately, it had warmed up considerably from our early start, and it was a delicious treat. From there, we headed back through VanderYacht Park for a second time, went over and under the Nooksack bridge and ended up on the Riverwalk, which took us back to our cars.

Golden tree in Bellingham

 Once we made it back, we had covered around five miles and even a bit of uphill and downhill. It was a really wonderful and informative day. I took this picture of a tree in town that still has most of its leaves, even after yesterday's windstorm. One participant said they lost power for nine hours after a huge tree fell onto power lines. We didn't have anything much to speak of, other than a whole lot of newly fallen leaves.

I really enjoyed the day, and you can see the skies opened up from grey and overcast to mostly blue. No wind and sunshine almost always makes me happy. I do hope you are having a great day, too.

:-)