Lily Point Marine Park is well worth the Point Roberts drive

Wind-swept spot of fishing past now preserved in full natural beauty

By Cal Bratt For the Tribune

You have to imagine how this place was before you appreciate it now.

It was an island of sand and gravel left by the outwash of retreating glaciers 15,000 years ago. Then for centuries this wind-swept point of land was a primary fishery and summer village of the Coast Salish people. By 1905 industrial fish traps filled the waters here and the shoreline Alaska Packers plant canned the catch.

All of that is gone now. What is left is a serene, humbling convergence of sea, sky and land that can

A pair of hikers at Lily Point. (Cal Bratt for the Tribune) evoke your own nostalgia.

Lily Point is a 247-acre Whatcom County park at the southeast corner of Point Roberts. That location means the enjoyment requires (for most of us unless you can boat into the marina) a 43-mile drive through both Canadian and American border stations to get here. But it’s worth the effort.

From upland parking in the woods, a loop trail heads south for first overlooks to the waters of Georgia Strait and the San Juan Islands beyond. Or if taken east, the view is toward Semiahmoo Bay and White Rock, British Columbia. This main trail is open to walkers, bikers and horses.

Eventually the human explorer, on foot only, must take the beach access trail that drops 200 feet from bluff to rocky shoreline below. It is very doable for the moderately fit.

Then let the ambience en-