Raptor Ridge Run

Raptor Ridge Run

I bought a new pair of shoes at Fairhaven Runners and Walkers while visiting my home of Bellingham, Washington, from L.A., California. I picked out a pair of Altra Lone Peak 2.0 shoes. My mom and I ran a marathon on Saturday, but Tuesday morning we changed into injinji socks and put our shoes on...

I parked at my favorite part of Bellingham, at Arroyo Park. This trail drops down into a canyon and crosses a wooden bridge before a set of switchbacks bring you up to a junction where you choose your own adventure. We went left. This took us to the Hemlock Trail. It was misty and dark from thick cloud cover, and with how thick the trees are here in the Chuckanut Mountains very little light gets in as it is. It is a mossy fern filled forest. We weren't a mile in and climbing. I said, jokingly, "What trail just keeps going up? Oh, we must be on Hemlock."

I wish I had taken pictures, but I had no camera. It was in the low '60's, but felt warm once you started moving. From below your feet was deep dark brown soil that was bouncy and solid, with a thick layer of broke up maple leaf detritus padding your steps. The path was wide enough for two people, with the occasional fern or felled tree in the pathway. You kick pine cones about as you kick your feet forward. It smells like wood turning into soil. Fresh dirt. It's a beautiful natural smell. You can only see a few feet either way into the woods, as the trail twists and turns. On either side of you are giant boulders with sheer faces and large sheets of moss growing up and hanging off of them. Sometimes, you have to climb over a set of boulders. The canopy cover today seems like 90%, but it's the gray clouds keeping it dark. You get to the top of the trial and choose which adventure you want today. You read the wooden post sign with trail names etched into the sign and little arrows and distances on it. You go left again, up to the Raptor Ridge Viewpoint. It gets a little steeper, and every two feet you turn and twist around another tree trunk until you step into a small opening that looks as if it just takes you running off a cliff. Past the door made of Doug Fir needles is a giant rockface you find yourself on. Hundreds of feet down past the rocks you see treetops below. Looking out you see the Trees move up and down on Chuckanut Mountain and are mesmerized by the arbor topography.

Then you turn around.