A Walk in the Woods

After last month's major snow-dump the weather has settled into alternating spells of rain and wind storms and sunny days. It has now been two months since I've been out for a bike ride, but I'm planning to put my bikes up in the repair stand for a thorough cleaning & tune-up this weekend so I can begin to ride again. I have kept up with my DIY physical therapy plan, and since New Year's I've been able to get out for a walk of at least two miles every day. I have begun to lose last year's winter weight gain, or at least haven't added anything to it.

Last week I tried out a new trail that is under development in a recently-acquired forest south of Bellingham. The land, called the Hundred Acre Woods, was originally planned for housing, which is sorely needed around here, but community groups pressed to change it to park land, which is also good to have. The controversy now is whether to designate it for recreation or conservation. In the meantime, foot paths are already going in. At the beginning of my walk I started up MapMyRide, but it didn't track the route along the way, just showed distance. However, when I finished a winding red line appeared, so I guess the trail is on the Google map now.

The developed trail starts from the far back corner of Fairhaven Park, where the city has put in some seating and Japanese garden features, and an educational sign board. The trail starts out as typical wide packed-gravel Greenways surface, but quickly fades into a narrower dirt path, with some rocky, rooty or muddy patches. It's pretty flat most of the way, and goes for a bit less than a mile before connecting with the old Interurban Trail that leads to Arroyo Park. I've heard talk of creating a trail system that connects to Lake Padden Park, but I don't know how it would get to the other side of the I-5 freeway.

This area has been logged before so the trees are mostly second-growth Douglas fir, hemlock and cedar, with pretty sword-fern thickets. It's a little bit bleak in the winter but brightens up when the sun breaks through the clouds.

In some places the trail divides, with no signs to show which branch is the main trail, but the paths seem to join up again and end up in the same place. However, there are some small dirt side paths, and I walked up one steep trail with some ruts cut by mountain bikes. The park is so close to the city, probably the best way to protect and preserve its wilderness nature is to develop trails that direct human traffic and try to limit damaging use. That way people who are stuck in high-density housing can have a chance for an escape, close to home.