A mindful afternoon walk up along Squalicum Creek to our new home on Cedarwood and over to our temporary home at Bellingham Unitarian.
Join us for a local pilgrimage on urban nature trails that ties together our building on Cedarwood Avenue with the salt water, the stream course headed into the interior, the upland forests, and the beginning point of the original Nooksack Trail to the river and Mt. Baker.
Our walk begins and ends at Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship (in future years it will end at our building on Cedarwood), in time to join in our regular Thursday evening practice.
The pilgrimage also serves to give opportunity for the community to ritually send off our team of pilgrims to the high country for our Mountains and Rivers Backpack, beginning the following day.
The hike is about 4 miles long, with only a very small amount of elevation rise. We will meet at BUF to get into a reduced number of cars. We will then drive to the trailhead at Little Squalicum Park, walk to the beach, and then back up onto the creek canyon rim and then upstream to our Cedarwood building on city park trails, for a brief offering at the altar.
Then we will proceed walking to Cornwall Park, following the undeveloped railroad easement and crossing the combined inflow of Spring and Baker Creeks. At Cornwall Park we will perform a ceremony at the bedrock crossing of Squalicum Creek, which marks the beginning of the old Nooksack Trail. From there we will saunter through the deep forests of Cornwall Park (Beliingham's first city park), and proceed through the Lettered Streets neighborhood to BUF, arriving about 6:30pm, with some time before evening practice begins at 7pm.
Dress for the weather and bring a little water. Rides will be arranged to bring carpool drivers back to their cars left at the trailhead at the end of the evening at BUF.
Where: Program begins at Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship (BUF) at 4pm. Meet in front of the building.
What to Bring: Water and a light trail snack; and perhaps sack dinner if staying for the evening zazen program at BUF.
Timing: We'll begin our walk at 4:00pm and expect to be back to the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship by 6:30pm with time before our 7pm zazen.
Registration: While our day hikes are offered without charge, we do incur about $10 of program administration cost for each registration. There is the opportunity during registration to donate to cover these costs for your own registration or, additionally, to help another cover their registration expenses. Everyone is welcome, and no one will be refused attendance for lack of funds. As we do on the trail, we support each other.
Donations to the Leader: As with all of our events, teachers/leaders are not compensated for their time. You can include a donation to the hike leader during registration or at any time through our Donate to a Teacher page.
Questions? Contact Wilderness Dharma Program Coordinator Bob Penny at wilderness@redcedarzen.org and see our Wilderness Dharma Program page for an overview of this program.
