The day dawned frosty and sunny. By 1:00 the frost was gone and clouds had settled over Bellingham like a blanket. Not a real problem, as major views were not a selling point of this walk. But it was nice to gaze the downtown and distant islands from the pedestrian bridge.
It was a pleasant surprise how gentle the elevation gain was from the starting point at Bloedel, up to the crest and down the other side of Alabama Hill.
By the halfway point at the Barkley center, we were looking for restrooms, and some of us decided a beverage at Starbucks was the ticket. After a short pause, we returned the same route just as the sun and blue sky made a brief appearance. Before hitting Electric Ave, three of us took the side trip to walk along Scudder’s Pond. A lonely duck of some sort had the entire pond to him/her self. The last of us
return to the vehicles by 3:30. If you subtract the 30 min latte break, the adventure took about 2 hrs, and covered around 4 miles. The trails were busy with families, dog walkers, and bicyclists, but not so many that it was a problem. Most seemed to be happy to be out on a dry winter day.
Photos on the MBC Flickr Page.
Richard