At the end of the winding residential boulevards of the Edgemoor neighborhood, near the junction of Fieldston Road and Arbutus Place, there is a gate marked Private Drive where a few lucky persons are allowed to live on the point. But you're not going back there.
A note about parking! Ignore this at your own (financial) risk. The most tempting spot to park—among the concrete Legos that keep ne'er-do-wells from turning donuts in the weedy verge—is posted liberally with NO PARKING signs. No matter how fast you think you'll be, don't park there. The residents are quick to phone the police to report "suspicious" activity and patrols canvas the area, ready to cite rogue vehicles without compunction. Please use the parking coordinates provided: they will lead you to the closest legal parking.
To east and west are trails prepared by the Whatcom Land Trust, which also watches over most of the land on the point, which is designated a wild life preserve. At all times, please observe the injunctions on posted signs: they are sprinkled liberally about the area to keep you honest.
Today, you want the trail to the west. You'll recognize the start because of the shiny new signs with yellow lettering on a green field placed there by the City of Bellingham that enjoin people to refrain from certain activities on the trail and lookout to which it leads. As you follow this trail you will be walking a fine line between the preserve to the south, and a narrow strip of land to the north that is owned by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. Please don't deviate from the trail: don't try to get past the brakes the trailblazers have placed to keep you off the old trails. But if you look closely through the trees, you'll be able to see old telegraph poles which inhabit the woods. Before too long, you'll see a sign that says NO FIRES.
Enjoy the view! Some ostentatious houses are visible to the north, along with the railroad track at the point where it emerges from good old Tunnel No. 21, built in 1913. West is the bounding surface of Bellingham Bay; across this briny expanse you can see the horn of land that protects Portage Bay, and the east coast of Lummi Island, as well as the somewhat nearer mass of Eliza Island, which (can you believe it?) has an airport!
To locate the cache, you're going to have to do some rock-hopping: don't worry—there will be no ropes, pulleys, stays, ascenders, rappelling, or rosin required. If you look to the south, you'll see a blue-on-white sign attached to a large tree that marks the edge of the public area and it is to this that you should direct your steps. Just before you reach it you'll see a steep but imminently manageable slope of sandstone that leads toward the beach: this is where you're going. When you get a look at the terrain, you'll know best how to descend it, taking into account your own abilities and comfort zones, but descend it you must. Once you achieve sea level, you'll be moving back to the north again, around the curve of the sandstone toward the point. After that, it's up to you.
On the way back to your car, you might wish to investigate the trail that leads east and have a look for BrewerMD's cache "Mud Bay" (GC2CP60). And you may have noticed your parking spot is close to kiwialoha's cache "Behind where dogs 'go'" (GC20J4Z).
The container is a lock-n-lock–style box. Please make sure you re-hide the box carefully—there is a lot of natural camouflage to be found, so no excuses! The original contents of the box, apart from the basics, are a statue of three raccoons doing the hear-speak-see no evil routine, a 45th anniversary Disneyland pin, a stars-and-moons lanyard, and the Flybox Travel Bug.
- At high tide, be prepared to get your legs wet.
- It's the beach: beware of the occasional bit of broken glass.
- Use handholds: they're everywhere in the petrified Swiss cheese of the shore.
- Despite the open vista to north, west, and south, GPS signal was somewhat unreliable here, possibly due to the enormous mass of sandstone blocking my view to the east. I have adjusted the coordinates manually to make up for this discrepancy. Please use the hint if you are unsure!
- And for goodness sake, don't go jumping off the cliff or trying to find some "quicker" way to the bottom. The "quicker" ways all involve grievous bodily injury on the rocks… and salt water in the resulting wounds. :P