Semiahmoo Spit

August 5, 2025

With rain in the forecast for tomorrow and coming off of essentially a two day break, we're both itching to get out and move somewhere today. Rachael's plan is to walk over the top of Sehome Hill and back to Fred Meyers to check out the ir helmet selection. She returns with a helmet she's very enthusiastic about - it fits perfectly, she loves the color - and with a funny story to tell. When she purchases the helmet the checker cant remove the metal tag that sets off an alarm after scanning the sale for some reason. When Rachael asks how she can leave the store without the tag removed, the woman advises that she just walk really quickly through the door. So she does, and it works!

Since she's there though, she sees a pair of long pants and picks those up too - her second in two days, interestingly enough. And not surprisingly, they look great on her and even better than the first pair. And then she walks back over the top of Sehome Hill annd home again, netting herself ten miles for the day.

There are many rides near Bellingham that we'd love to reexperience while we're here, but most of them require the use of the car unless we want to bike the 45 miles or so that used to be our standard. Several of them though are ones I'll want to visit at a leisurely pace, stopping whenever something catches my interest - obviously, something to do on my own while Rachael's on a hike, like today.

My plan for the day is as usual to pack too much into the agenda, under the assumption that some real riding will occur. I map out a forty mile out and back that begins at Lake Terrell, a game reserve that's at times a good birding spot. From there I'll bike across Cherry Point to Birch Bay and then north to Semiahmoo Spit and then more or less backtrack to the car.

It doesn't go like that. I arrive at Lake Terrell sometime after eleven and find two surprises. First, there are no birds - not even a goose, as I recall. Nice views though, and worth a few shots.

Lake Terrell, a sometime birding hotspot.

Pacific ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus)? What a funny name! The common name 'ninebark' comes from the appearance of the flaky bark, seeming to have many layers.

The second surprise is that I can't park here - at least without a permit or a willingness to risk getting ticketed. Since there's no place here to purchase a day pass I decide to just drive another seven miles to Birch Bay and start the ride from there. Which is fine with me, because the stretch from Birch Bay north to Semiahmoo Spit is the stretch I most wanted to see anyway.

And I'll just save some space here by saying that it's a brilliant day, far exceeding expectations; and it's a good thing that I started in Birch Bay because it takes me almost five hours to cover the 23 miles to the end of the spit and back. It starts with a good hour and a half or more along a few miles of coastline at Birch Bay before finally starting to head north toward the spit. The birding isn't as great as I expected it to be here - maybe because it's still late summer and the fall migration hasn't really set in yet, or it's the wrong time of day and the tide is too far out. I do get a few new species though including a nice shot of a red crossbill, a northern bird that I don't recall seeing for at least five years.

In Birch Bay. I'm surprised to see that this small creek that parallels the coast through Birch Bay is Terrell Creek, sourced from Terrell Lake.

Well, not lavender of course. Would you believe western marsh-rosemary (Limonium californicum) though?

Finally starting north, I pull off at the entrance to a small private beach to check out the bird scene and the view along the shore. While I'm standing there the owner walks across the street from his home to check me out and chat - a man of perhaps my age, down from Lethbridge, Alberta for an annual migration he and his wife have followed for almost twenty years. Once he sees that I mean no harm we have a nice visit until we break off about twenty minutes later to get on with our day.

Looking west from Birch Bay to the southern tip of a Semiahmoo Point. Remember this photo to compare against it when I bike past it on the way south two or three hours later.

Semiahmoo Spit protrudes from the north end of the small, knob-shaped Semiahmoo Point. I'm biking around the peninsula counterclockwise, and for the next mile plus I trace its wetter western side through woods that remind me of my earlier years living around Puget Sound: big-leaf maples and enormous red cedars line the road as I turn east and then north to cross a short, spiky ridge and down to the base of the spit.

I love Semiahmoo Spit. I've only been out here once before, on a long solo ride that began in Bellingham and didn't leave me much time to explore the place properly. Today though I'm in no rush, and am rewarded by new species, harbor seals, cormorants and pigeons exploding in bird panics, scenic wrecks, views across to Blaine and across the border. I'll have to try to make it out here again before we leave to see what's new in the bird scene later into the fall.

On Semiahmoo Spit, looking north to the marina.

Double-crested cormorants, about a third of the group that were crammed against the far end of the pier just a moment ago.

Harbor seals, cute enough to make a good plush toy if you've worn out your sloth and need a replacement.

The terminal for the Plover Ferry, a seasonal ferry to Blaine that's down for the year. I think it takes bicycles. If so, I'd like to come back some summer and ride across.

Prize winning rose gall. It should be entered at the county fair.

Killdeer, one of about a dozen working the shoreline on the protected eastern side of the spit.

Doesn't seem quite right. Where's the graffiti?

Looking across Boundary Bay to White Rock.

So all that takes time. It's nearly four by the time I make it back to the car. It's startling how much has changed in the last few hours. The tide is fully in now, the wind has picked up, and the weather is changing with Lummi Island no longer visible across the bay. It will be raining in a couple of hours, so I've made the most of it. Seize the day.

Compare against the earlier photo from the same spot, when folks were walking on the far side of those pilings.

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Today's ride: 23 miles (37 km)
Total: 445 miles (716 km)

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