Welcome to Discovery Trail
Nancy Henderson installs an aluminum sign while Mark Olson and Peter Lane mount a sign post during a trail workday in 2021.
Hard working sign installers celebrate a job well-done.
One of the Discovery Trail signs.
It’s not your run-of-the-mill nature trail. In the wooded backyard of Bellingham Covenant Church there is a great place for a walk. Dubbed “Discovery Trail,” it skirts two ponds, dives into salmonberry and snowberry thickets, passes by old woodpecker trees, offers views of 100 ft Douglas firs (perches for occasional bald eagles), and bridges marshy ground. In Spring the trail is sprinkled with wildflowers and in summer walkers pick blackberries and listen to dozens of different bird species. In the fall snow geese honk as they head over the trail to the Skagit River Flats a few dozen miles south.
Today’s trail is the result of a Boy Scout project finished some 20 years ago, with the 2021 addition of interpretive signs designed by the Creation Care Team. In August 2022 CC Team members and church volunteers did the hard work of digging holes, planting posts and securing 12 aluminum signs along the path. The signs were written as sources of inspiration for meditation on God’s creation, and offer places to stop and look around at the rich lowland forest and bog.
Visitors often comment on the thoughtfulness and spiritual intention of the trail signs. Instead of just pictures of animals and lectures on ecology, the signs point visitors toward the One who made it all. Topics of the markers include land acknowledgement (to the original inhabitants of the land), key plants and what gifts they offer, finding shalom in nature, our wildlife neighbors, stewardship of the land, and repentance (for what we are doing to the land).
Even some church members are unaware of this hidden treasure.
According to Mark Olson, CC Team member and retired Covenant Church pastor, “Discovery Trail is just one attempt to be more faithful stewards of our property. The Creation Care Team are thinking about the property from a Creation Care perspective, and we welcome everyone in our congregation to visit the trail and bring ideas and to participate with us in discussions.”
The trail is finding use as a great place to teach children about the outdoors, and the importance of good stewardship. Last summer it was the site of four Nature Play Dates with chuch families. But it’s also a great place just to get away for a short while from the buzz of a busy life. The trail is open to all community members, and free parking is available behind the church building (1530 Bakerview Rd, Bellingham, WA 98226). Please come check it out.