Hi, I'm Eric.

I’m an avid world traveler, photographer, software developer, and digital storyteller.

I help implement the Content Authenticity Initiative at Adobe.

Search Results

Larrabee State Park
9

Larrabee State Park

visited 27 November 2020
A narrow dirt trail winds through a dense evergreen forest at Larrabee State Park, lined on both sides with lush green sword ferns and fallen leaves, beneath tall moss-covered conifer trunks and a muted overcast sky.

Washington’s first state park started in 1915 as a small waterfront park donated by Charles Larrabee, a prominent Bellingham businessman and philanthropist. It has since grown to a large forest preserve with many miles of hiking trails.

A friend and I hiked some of these trails on a cool fall afternoon, starting from the main parking lot and trailhead and heading up to Fragrance Lake and ultimately to the Cyrus Gates Overlook. The trail is mostly forested and a moderate climb (approximately 2000 feet of elevation gain).

A dirt hiking trail through tall evergreen conifers opens to a sweeping view of forested valleys and distant blue mountain ridges under a hazy overcast sky, with a fallen log and a tree stump in the foreground and leafy green undergrowth to the left.
A wide panoramic view from a forested hillside overlooking calm bay waters and distant islands, with evergreen conifers and bare winter trees framing the foreground beneath a hazy pale blue sky.

At the end of the hike, I took a moment to walk down to the beach and enjoy the hint of a sunset over the ocean.

A colorful mural painted on a sloping concrete retaining wall depicts a musician in a red knit cap and purple-and-red outfit playing an acoustic guitar amid large white daisies and pink and purple flowers against an orange, swirling-blue background. Above and behind the wall, a chain-link fence lines a slope covered in brown fallen leaves and bare trees.
A panoramic view of a curving pebble-and-sand cove at Larrabee State Park, with calm gray water framed by evergreen-topped rocky headlands on both sides, distant islands on the horizon, and a muted glow breaking through a heavy overcast sky. A weathered driftwood log lies on the beach in the lower left corner.
A close-up of weathered sandstone rock at Larrabee State Park, showing swirling layered patterns, honeycomb erosion, and a palette of muted gray, tan, pink, and green hues, with a small natural recess carved into the stone.
A weathered sandstone formation with smooth, honeycomb-like hollows and pits eroded into its tan surface, two clusters of which resemble bear paw prints, bordered on the right by a bed of multicolored beach pebbles.
A lone windswept pine tree silhouetted against a moody purple-grey sky, leaning out over the water from rocky sandstone shoreline at Larrabee State Park near Bellingham, Washington, with distant islands and a band of yellow light on the horizon at dusk.
Smooth, weathered sandstone rocks and a piece of silvery driftwood in the foreground along a rocky shoreline, with choppy blue-gray water stretching toward distant forested islands and hills under a soft, cloudy sky glowing with pale gold light near the horizon.

For more information:

If you’ve enjoyed this …

Subscribe to my free and occasional (never more than weekly) e-mail newsletter with my latest travel and other stories:

Or follow me on one or more of the socials: