Two walks / Around Semiahmoo Bay

August 19, 2025

Let's start with Rachael's walks on 8/18 and 8/19. a twelve mile hike up to the lookout tower at the top of Sehome Hill, the same place she took a shorter walk to yesterday. Included are photos from both walks.

Oh, wait. Rachael points out that I have no idea what I'm talking about. Yesterday she hiked up to the lookout tower, but today she repeated her out and back walk to Raptor Ridge.

Sehome Arboretum

Rachael needed to get a couple of things from the grocery store and decided to take a walking route that included a walk through the college campus and then a hike on Sehome Hill. It climbed up to a great viewpoint but was tricky getting down because several spots to get back to the main trail were closed off but I eventually found a way down.

The views were beautiful at the top!

At the top of a winding staircase. One an amazing view!

Raptor Ridge

Another hike up to Raptor ridge. This time I met a woman about my age who was coming back from Raptor Ridge but was confused about how to get back. I was very happy I could help her out.

Just after this spot I ran into another woman who was much younger than me and very fit. We chatted a while and then I continued on.

After making it to the top, it was mostly down but I had to go fast so I could get back before dark.

Raptor Ridge

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OK. My turn again.

After biking a hundred miles in the last three days and with another ride on tap for tomorrow, I'm ready for a day off the saddle myself. My day starts with a drive down to Old Town Cafe for a cheddar and bacon omelette with sides of home fries and wheat toast. This is my second stop here, and I suspect I'll make it back for a third before we leave. There's a queue at the door and a sign-up sheet, and it's about a ten minute wait before I secure a stool at the bar. It reminds me of the old Bijou Cafe on 3rd Avenue in Portland, one of our long-time favorites. If you wanted to get in you needed to arrive right when they opened at eight. I think this place and the Black Cat are my favorite dining spots in town, both of them places that would be part of our regular circuit if we were here longer.

Afterwards I drive back up to Semiahmoo again, for what might be my last coastal birding outing before we head south next week. This time I start in Blaine, the northernmost town just north of the spit and barely a half mile north of it across the slender inlet to Semiahmoo Bay.

At the end of Jorgensen Pier, looking across the narrow inlet to Semiahmoo. Now a waterfront destination resort, at one time Semiahmoo was the largest salmon cannery in the world.

Now that I'm here, I'm surprised to realize I may never have actually been to Blaine itself. I've driven or biked past it many times on my way to or from Canada, but I'm not sure I've ever pulled off to explore the town itself and its pier that juts out into the bay, the mirror to Semiahmoo Spit. The tip of the pier is pedestrianized and makes an excellent spot to walk along the water and admire the views there as well as back toward the marina and shellfishing scene.

I don't walk it though. Instead I pull the bike out of the back and ride the perimeter, as I'll do when I circle the inlet and visit Semiahmoo Spit when I'm done here.

This gives a good perspective on how close Blaine and Semiahmoo are - as the cormorant flies anyway. It's nearly a half-hour drive around Semiahmoo Bay.

The view northwest toward White Rock. The Canadian border and the Peacw Arch are just off frame tp the right.

On the east, a breakwater does double duty, calming the waters and holding up about a thousand cormorants.

Blaine and Semiahmoo were at one time one of the most important salmon canneries in the world. That's mostly gone now, but shellfish are still big.

Seems like there should be at least one bird shot here.

Finally I leave Blaine and drive to Semiahmoo Spit, taking a half hour to travel ante distance of about a mile. Once I'm there I park the car at the base of the spit, unload the bike again, and bike the length of the spit out to its end and back. It works really well to have the bike in the back of the car, letting me ride it through the biking spots. Much better would be to walk it of course, something I hope to do someday while I'm recovering from knee surgery. Maybe next spring?

The cormorants are still holding down their end of the abandoned pier.

While the adult harbor seals blanket the center.

Leaving the near end for the baby seals and a few birds.

It's been an exhausting morning, with me putting in nearly two miles on the bike already. Time for a break - the house special of the days is a turkey and cheddar croissant, but it seems like a salmon burger would be the right choice at what was once the largest salmon cannery in the world.

A surf scoter puts on a good show. Too late, I realized I should be creating a video.

#193: Pelagic cormorant. This is one of the birds I was hoping to find out here. They're the least common of the three coastal cormorants here.

Wow. Here's the belted kingfisher shot I've been hoping for for years.

Yawn. Just another common loon, one of five I'll see on the bay today. No wonder they're named as they are. Where are the red-necked and yellow-bilked loons?

Today's list: Glaucous-winged gull, Short-billed gull, Ring-billed gull, Mourning dove , Rock pigeon, Barn swallow, House sparrow, House finch, Belted kingfisher 10, Mandarin duck, Common loon, Surf scoter, Red-breasted merganser, Great blue heron, Pelagic cormorant*, Brant's cormorant, Double-crested cormorant, American crow, European starling, Killdeer, Canada goose (22)

Today's ride: 3 miles (5 km)
Total: 658 miles (1,059 km)

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