Hike 4: Point Whitehorn, Birch Bay, Blaine Washington

On January 25th, Brook and I traveled to Blaine, Washington to hike Point Whitehorn beach with my Aunt Susie, my cousins Amy and Kary, and Kary’s husband, Rob. This was a very special hike for us; in 2019 Amy and Kary lost their dad (Keith Bakker), Rob lost his dad (Gene Smith), and as you know, I lost my dad (Stan Dodd). 2019 was not a happy year.

One of the reasons for hikeswithdad.com is to create something positive out of all this tragedy, try to find a little joy, and begin to heal from 2019. With that said, we’ll start with a little bit of joy in the form of the traditional parking lot selfie!

From the top: Rob, Brook, Kary, Susie, Amy, and Patrick

The story of this park is interesting, and relates to the topic of deriving joy from tragedy. Those of you from Bellingham who are in your mid-twenties or older probably remember the Olympic pipeline explosion of 1999. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of gasoline leaked into Whatcom Creek from the pipeline. In Whatcom Falls park, the gasoline ignited from a lighter, and set the river on fire, causing three deaths, as well as massive property and ecological damage. Consequently, this resulted in substantial fines and grants being paid. With one of those grants, the Whatcom Land Trust purchased a piece of property to the south of the park from BC Hydro, and then traded that property with Trillium Corporation for the park we hiked on Saturday.

This park starts off as a walk through the woods of north Whatcom county, with beautiful bridges, and wind-blasted trees. These winds can really hammer the coast in winter months, as evidenced by several upended trees such as the one below.

After a short mile, the trail reaches the bluffs, where two lookouts exist, and the trail skirts the bluff until it reaches a staircase, which ends several feet above the ground. From there, the beachcombers must make their way down over driftwood and boulders.

Brook and Patrick doing the “prom pose” on the overlook

Once down to the beach, we enjoyed looking for cool rocks, seashells, and an ultimately fulfilling, if fruitless, quest for agates…but we did find water:

I found a divining rod…and it led me to water!

Birch Bay has always been special to me; Grandpa took his children there to dig for clams and hunt crab, and his children took all the Dodd and Bakker cousins. Being on the salt water has always reminded me of Grandpa and Dad, and going with them to explore the beach as a child.

After our hike, we got lunch at a local diner. The burgers were not as big as last time, but they were delicious nonetheless.

See you on hike 5!

!!!BONUS CONTENT!!!

Our dads: Stan Dodd and Keith Bakker at Aunt Susie and Uncle Keith’s wedding

Our dads: Grandpa (Wally) Dodd, Stan, and Keith

Stan, Amy, and Kary watching 3D movies in the 80s