I'm starting my internship! I'm super excited. It's going to be the first of four. It's only five weeks, but it's going to keep me crazy busy. I did have enough time to squeeze in an "urban hike" though.
We went atop Alabama Hill and parked at Big Rock Garden Park. From there, we hiked out to Northridge Park and back.
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Parking Permit: none required
Distance: ~2.25 miles
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Northridge Park has a 0.7 mile loop trail. It does not have its own parking, but I put a red "P" on the map at the end of Woodside Way as there is limited street parking there. We always park at Big Rock Garden Park.
Big Rock Garden is a small, understated park near the end of Sylvan St off of Alabama St. Many locals are unaware of it, or maybe they visited it that one time a while ago. Despite having only a handful of parking spaces, you'll nearly always find parking here.
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| The trailhead at Big Rock Garden Park has pictures of all the sculptures, so you don't have to go in... |
The trailhead to Northridge Park goes to the left of the signage. If you want, you can go right through the gate and into Big Rock Garden Park itself. It's worth a visit. Dogs are not permitted, so I left the pooch in the car and ducked in quickly to give you some photos!
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| What does it look like to you? |
There's actually a
virtual tour of the garden available/
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| Scultpures around every corner. |
It's mostly a permanent collection. These three musicians have been here forever:
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| Forced to pose with their instruments for all eternity... |
I do like the Gazebo near the middle of the park. You can rent it out for events, and it was on my maybe list as a wedding ceremony site.
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| It's pretty scenic in the spring and summer. |
Here's just a few more to give you a taste of what's in there:
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| "Blue Thing" (my name for it) |
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| Korean War Memorial |
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| Various sculptures, including a Kwakiutl Sun Mask on the restroom wall... |
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| Rock figure |
Back outside of Big Rock Garden, it's time to head out to Northridge Park and hey, easy signs to follow!
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| That's pretty simple. |
Every trail junction you reach will direct you to Northridge Park, so you just need to follow the signs.
Silver Beach Trail is where you start, and it's an ease gravel path to Klipsun Trail which you will see just before Springland Ct.
Klipsun Trail is a dirt path so it can get a little muddy. We hit some muck due to recent overnight rains. In the summer it's seldom a problem.
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| Klipsun. |
Klipsun Trail will take you across Sylvan St. If that sounds familiar, it's because Big Rock Garden is just down the road! Head across Sylvan, then look for the tunnel that takes you underneath Barkley Blvd.
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| Tunnel! |
Hang a left and stay on the main trail. There's a duck pond...
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| Too cold out for ducks today. |
Eventually you'll pass a small playground as you enter Northridge Park.
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| Also, a bag station to remind you to pick up after your dogs. |
Northridge Park is a newer park. It's just a trail loop for now. There have been discussions of adding proper parking, but neighbors have objected. So far if you want to try and reach the park directly, you're faced with parking in the nearby neighborhood and taking a trail in. Woodside Way has the most direct parking right now.
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| Woodside Way trailhead; most likely site of future parking development. |
The loop is fairly popular trail with the local neighborhood. We saw lots of joggers and other people with their dogs. It's an easy loop with just one hill on the north end (I prefer to do the loop counter-clockwise so I can get a shorter climb out of the way rather than a longer, more drawn-out climb). It's also very clean and safe-feeling compared to other city parks. Being out-of-the-way has it's advantages.
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| Easy trail. |
One thing I've noticed on this trail more than others is that a lot of dog walkers take their dogs off-leash. It's not designated as an off-leash area but the local culture doesn't seem to care, and if your dog is like mine and gets neurotic around other dogs it's something to be aware of. I will give other dog walkers credit; their pooches all seem to be well behaved enough to handle being off-leash for the most part. (I hate it when other dogs just run right up to my dog, because my dog has a serious Napoleon complex and doesn't like dogs bigger than him. He's only 15lbs, so that means most other dogs.) I encourage everyone to respect appropriate leash laws.
At least everyone here picks up after their dogs. On so many other city trails, I find poop-bags lining the paths. I never understood that. Thankfully, even though there are no trash cans in Northridge Park, the paths are kept (for the most part) poop-free!
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| Not a good perspective, but there's really only one hill to contend with. |
The park is right atop Alabama Hill, so you can get a few peek-a-boo views through the trees at downtown Bellingham and the bay.
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| Peek-a-boo! |
To get back, just retrace your steps. Unfortunately, signage back to Big Rock Garden Park is not as good as the signage to Northridge Park, so follow the signage in this order if you don't remember which way you came: Barkley Blvd, Klipsun Trail, Silver Beach Trail, Big Rock Garden park.
Extra Credit: Klipsun Trail will take you all the way down Alabama Hill, where it connects with other trails. It is possible to park in Barkley Village and take Railroad Trail to Klipsun Trail and go all the way up Alabama Hill and
then do Northridge Park, if you're looking for more of a challenging walk (but that's a blog post for another day).
