The Washington State Hiking Podcast
Welcome to the The Washington State Hiking Podcast with your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming. Along with part time co-host and guidebook author Craig Romano, she provides practical and timely seasonal hiking advice for hikers, trail runners and potential hikers of all skill and ability levels that is practical, accurate, fun and inclusive. We cover hikes near Seattle and Tacoma as well as hikes all across Washington from the rain forests of the Olympic Peninsula to the Shrub Steppe of Eastern Washington.
Jennie is a middle aged, plus sized, frequently solo slow hiker and a born and raised Washingtonian and has enjoyed Washington's trails her entire life. Craig is a trail runner and ultra marathoner who also loves the mellow walk close to home. Originally from New Hampshire, he has made his home in Washington for more than 30 years. He the author of more than 20 guidebooks covering trails across Washington State and beyond.
The Washington State Hiking Podcast
Unurban Urban Hikes in Bellingham
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Craig shares his favorite urban hikes in Bellingham with Jennie.
Our sponsor for the month of July is Visit Bellingham/Whatcom County- thank you!
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Welcome to the Washington State Hiking Podcast. I'm your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming, and I'm your co-host Craig Romano. Craig and I are happy to have you here. We provide practical and timely seasonal hiking advice for hikers, trail runners, and potential hikers and trail runners of all skill and ability levels that is helpful, accurate, fun, and inclusive. Our sponsor for the month of July is Bellingham and Whatcom County situated between Seattle and Vancouver bc. The vibrant college town of Bellingham, Washington boast trails for every taste and skill level. Find urban trails in the heart of town for a car free visit or take a scenic drive to the nearby Chuck Nut Mountains. For Alpine Vistas, head into the Mount Baker wilderness or stunning North Cascades National Park. No matter where you begin, you'll always end somewhere unforgettable. Learn more@bellingham.org. Thank you so much, Bellingham and Whatcom County for being our sponsors for the month of July. Hey, Craig, today we're talking about hikes in Bellingham. You know, Jennie Bellingham is one of my favorite places for urban hikes in Washington. Me and I'm me too. I, I live really close, but, but you know, I've, I travel all over the state and everything, and, and Bellingham has one of the best park systems, and as far as I know, I was trying to figure this out. This is kind of within the city limits. It. Just the city itself. In Bellingham, there's over a hundred miles of trails. I mean, in, in this it's really cool. Small size city. Yeah, that's, that's, that's fantastic. , And you have a book about urban hikes in Bellingham? Yeah, my, my Urban Trails Bellingham book. I know the area well. Uh, yeah. You know, I training as a trail runner. Uh, Bellingham has got a huge, huge running community, huge trail running community. Yeah, it's got a huge mountain biking community. So I've spent a lot of time up there training too. , It's just some incredible, 'cause it's one of those places that has some good terrain too. You've got mountains and hills right in. So I can get out there in the wintertime and get, and get some elevation in. . But yeah, Bellingham is a fa and if you don't live in the area. It's an easy Amtrak train ride from Seattle. Yep. You can get there. It's not that far. Drive. Lots of great places to stay, lots of great restaurants. Especially in the fair, you know, it's a college town. Yep. So you can get all kinds of good, it's got a cultural scene. Yes. Uh, brew pubs,. Go do a hike or run vacation there, you know, or weekend I, oh yeah. That's awesome. Happy if you haven't been there. Yeah. So tell us some of your favorite urban trails up there, Craig. Yeah, so right in the city itself, probably two of the best is the. One around the beta baker. This is goes along, um, little Squam Creek. There's a whole green belt working. This is just north of downtown, north of the marina. And I'll tell you one of the coolest things there on this Beta baker trail. So it's a conceptual trail that's eventually gonna go from Bellingham Bay all the way to Mount Baker. It has, it's not even close yet, but, but the sections that are in place, in particularly in Bellingham, are fantastic and it connects all these parks. But right at the bay itself, is the little squalicum pier. And this thing will blow you away if you've never been on it because you are literally walking on water. It's a quarter, almost a quarter of a mile that you walk out on this pier. It is the longest public pier. In Washington and from what I understand on the West coast. Cool. Um, and a lot of the mudflats are up there, when you go out. So on a low tide it's gonna be very different than a high tide. But when you get to the end of that thing, you're nearly a quarter mile out there in the bay. You turn around, you look back, there's Bellingham, there's Mount Baker. When you're looking out Sea, sea towards the sea, you've got Lummi Island right in front, you know, looking to the, to the northwest out into, British Columbia. It's amazing. Keep following that trail and you follow that trail east. It's gonna go through some great parks, really kid friendly, dog friendly parks, places. You're gonna divert lots of side trails, but take it to Cornwall Park, which is the oldest public park in Washington. Well Washington in, Bellingham. There's old growth trees there, big, big trees in that area. Keep following that trail out. It's gonna duck underneath the interstate and you're gonna go to a place called Sunset Pond. And Sunset Pond's kind of funky. Look at the map. It's kind of weird shape. So it's like being in a wild area. So it's one of those areas that we create it and kind of reil. It's really cool. And you hike on the trail along the lake. There's giant cottonwoods in the area. All kinds of birds have now called at home. So this is really cool. This is just on one trail, network. , You can do this all day. You can do bits and pieces of it, of course, being, uh, in an urban area and, and, um. Bellingham, Whatcom County's got a great public transit system. You can hike it out one way and take the bus back. My book mentions where the bus stops are and how you can connect on that. The other great network right in the city itself is,, along Wacom Creek. So you've got, so you've got Wacom Creek network and then Little Qualcomm, and here you've got Wacom Falls, which is really cool. What's. What scene is there? So it's such a wonderful park, wonderful park, one that I've been to lots of times and, and, and, and many, many people in the Bellingham area. It's a favorite. And especially during the, the winter rains when that, that those falls are really roaring. Yep. Sandstone, you're going over sands that's going to strike you. Um, you know, to be very different that whole area. Uh, in the San Juans, the outer mount of the outer islands of the San Juans and into Bellingham, into the Chuck Nuts. You're gonna have all these veins of sandstone. You know, it's just out in Nevada, so lots of sandstone, but, but it's common there. It's rare here. We don't see it as much here. So that's what's really cool, uh, seeing the sandstone formations. And so the CCC had had, uh, done some work, uh, developing the park, lots of trails. It connects to, um, the Donovan Bodell. Uh, park right on Lake Wacom. So that was all part of an old, uh, logging industry, uh, empire in that, in that area. And if, and you can follow, it's called the Railroad Trail. Really wish it could come up in a more creative name, but it was, uh, you can follow this four mile trail that goes from the lake. Almost to downtown. So it crosses, crosses I five the interstate. Uh, and that's one of the long trails you can do, or you can take Waka Creek, hike that along the creek that connects all kinds of trails. And then you walk some sidewalks and there's the section right in downtown, right to the bay. And then there's other trails. You can go up to SSON Park, you could do a loop, um, off of this. Again, you could just run or hike or walk for miles and miles. Right in the city. So those are in the core, core of the city. Now, if we get on the outskirts of Bellingham, oh, I should should mention right in the city too, at, uh, Western Washington, um, university. You also have Sea home. Sea home. They, uh, the Sea Home Arboretum. Now they call it an arboretum. It's not what I, when I go to like an arboretum in Seattle, um, yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. It's more like a. Forest. It's a, it's a forest. Yeah. You know? Yeah. So if you're going there to see nice manicured trees and gardens and everything labeled, no, that's definitely not what it is. Yeah. Right. You go to Seattle or Portland for that. Um, this is, it's a park, but it's also cool because there's sandstone up there, there's an arch where they blasted in the road used to go. You can hike over that. So from, you know, old sandstone quarry. That's really cool and there's lots of trails there. Um, and then as we work, everything connects is the Interurban Trail. So that was an old, uh, light rail that went all down, connected Bellingham, down to Seattle. Uh, a lot of that. Through, uh, from Bellingham South to the Skagit line is, is now all, all rail trail that connects parks. It connects, uh, in the whole Chuck and Nutt area right outside of, um, of Bellingham. Miles and miles and miles of trails. There's county land, there's state land, um, city lands, all interconnected. It's well signed. You can actually get some elevation. Going into these areas. There's back, there's little lakes, there's ledges, there's, views of, of the Sailor Sea. There's views of Mel Baker. Mel Baker's constantly breathing down on you right there. So you can go right from Fairhaven and just hike out, or there's other access points you can do. , I should mention, , if you're, other than my book, which is definitely a great resource, there's square one maps. It's, uh, it's by, um. A designer, uh, a cartographer who lives in Bellingham, knows the city, loves the city very well. He has a whole series of maps all for these Bellingham trails. So definitely pick that up if you wanna do some exploring the square one maps for Bellingham and Chuck and nuts and cool. Yeah, really great map. And I reference it in my book too. Other places you wanna go in this area too., On the outskirts, lake Padden wonderful place. Just, just south of the city. Lake Padden was used to be, uh, Bellingham. , Water supply, public water supply, so it was never developed. So it's all forested around. It's a great. Great hike or a run just around the lake. Uh, but there's miles of trails up on the ridge. There's an off leash dog area, so you can go hiking with the dog off leash in this area. Um, there's trails that connect that go along Pad Creek, so you can go almost to Fairhaven. So that's a, a great place to go. And then as we go a little bit farther out again on the periphery. You have some spectacular, really big parks. You've got the Lookout Mountain Preserve, uh, which is on the south, and you've got the Lake Waka, uh, park on this area and Lake Waka. It, it, if you've never been there, you're gonna be in for a real treat because you've got the Hertz Trail, which is a three mile rail trail logging, rail, logging, railroad that goes right along the shore of Lake Wacom. And when you look at the big, the big lakes in, in western Washington that were scoured up by the glacier in Lake Washington, um, and SA Samish Lake. Lake Wacom, lake Waka is the least developed. I mean, lake Washington's like wall to wall houses, except for a few parks. But here you got, and Lake Wacom is huge. Huge. It's huge. Yeah. And so much of that northern shore is undeveloped. Um, and so, and a lot of the Southerners too. So you, you, you get, you start hiking on those portions and you're hiking what it looked like a hundred years ago, except you had a logging railroad going through. And despite the fact that logging was. Was was pretty intense in the area. There are still lots of big trees that that, that are, that are growing there. So definitely do that. That's a flat trail. I've taken my parents on that one. I, I've pushed my kid on a jogging stroller back in the day. But if you want more challenge, you do the chanterelle trail, um, that goes above that. That was built by the WTA wonderfully built trail., And then there's the Chanterelle connector. So you could do a loop to go along Hertz trail, um, which goes along Lake Waka, and then do that connector and come down. And that makes a, a great high. I've run it several times. It's a great training run. It's a great hike. Lots of views, beautiful forest, and, and you know, it's popular, but it's not. It's, it, it. It's not crowded. Yeah. It's popular, but not crowded. Yeah. Um, so that's, that's a, a wonderful one. Um, and then like, uh, and, and then probably my, one of my favorite places, um, that, um, in, in the Bellingham area for, for Urban Trails, urban Parks. Have you been so. Have you been to the Stimson Family Nature Preserve? Jennie, have you ever been there? I have not, no. So that's going out towards Hidden Valley. Uh, I, I believe it's still in the Bellingham, uh, city limits. Uh, I know that, that, uh, you can take a bus there at bus stop. Right at the trailhead. That's got some beautiful, now dogs are not allowed. This is one of the few places. Uh, it's a nature preserve. Dogs aren't allowed here, but I'll tell you some of the biggest trees, it's a quiet, peaceful park. It is a wonderful, wonderful, uh, park. Again, you can be amazed. There're you're in an area that feels like you're so much. Farther out in, into the wilderness. But you're, you're in Bellingham, so, um, that's probably one of my favorite places just because the trees are, are so old there and you've got a small, small lake in there and you sushi, good wildlife, so you're, you're kind of up on a, on a fold, an ridge above Lake Waka in that area, uh, between Lake Waka and Lookout Mountain. So that's a great place to go as well. Um, I'm trying to think if I've left out. I mean, there's just so many. There's of course there's a lot of smaller parks. Oh yeah. Again, I can't believe I left this out. So back in Fairhaven, that's the, the northern terminus to the inner urban trail. Yep. But it's also, it's the southern terminus. It's the South Bay Trail, which is actually, I was gonna say like Right. The South Bay Trail. I'll say the best for last. I mean, realize people gotta get your book to get like all I know. I know. But I'm like, we do have to hit the South Bay Trail for sure. It it's up. Yeah. It's Oh, cool. This one, you're on a trestle, you're out in the bay. It is one of the funkiest trails for urban trails because you're actually walking out across the water. So it's one of the best places for sunsets. So again, Lummi Island's right across the way, it's a amazing place to be on a spring or summer sunset. It connects to Boulevard Park. Great place for kids. Uh, lots happening there. The trail goes all the way to downtown, so you can hike this from Fairhaven to downtown. It's only a couple miles. Uh, a lot of people who work in the area, their lunch breaks are out there taking a run or a stroll, yeah, and if you're ever taking Amtrak to Bellingham to then go on the Alaska ferry. Which means that you have about seven hours to kill in Bellingham with your luggage. You could do a nice training walk out there carrying all your luggage up the South Bay Trail. You will, I promise you, outta Friday. You'll see at least one person doing that. That's great. I love it. That's great. I know that was a very specific use case, but just saying, but that's all right because again, you know. Are we create our own stories on these trails. Yeah. And exactly. And, and it's funny that you mentioned that Jay, 'cause I have the same thing. Like why, why is a certain trail one of my favorites? 'cause I, again, I might have some crazy story like you just had, I just happened to be at this place and, and it was here and I was looking to do something and then. Just found this and just bonded to this trail. There's no shortage of those at Belling. I think you're gonna find your own special trail in here, because again, when I look at, you know, I've done these urban trail guides all around the state, and I, when I, if I was asked like, what are the. Top trail towns in Washington, Bellingham. Oh yeah. Bellingham is right. Sure. Bellingham is in the top five. Absolutely. Yeah. For, for trail where you don't even have to have a car, you don't even have to leave the city to get quality, uh, hikes in and, and lots of diversity of terrain, um, you're not gonna run out. Yeah. It's, it's a great place. No, love it. Well, thanks so much, Craig for. Sharing all those awesome nuggets. Yeah. And I'll be looking for you out there. 'cause again, I, I just live just a few miles away. I spent a lot of time on those trails. So, uh, say hello. If I, if I, if I run by or, or hike by. Yeah. Okay. Listeners, you heard it here first, say hello to us on the trail if you see us or recognize our voices. Alright, see you next. Thank you again to visit Bellingham in Whatcom County for sponsoring us for the month of July. And if you are enjoying this podcast, we would love to have you give us a rating or a review. And I know that you hear that all the time in the middle or at the end of every podcast, but it really does make a difference. It helps people find us when they're looking for podcasts and it makes a big difference. So it doesn't matter what app you're using or how you do it, but it really does help. And so that's why we're asking you for it. Alright, see you next week.
