Walk: Rabbit Creek Greenbelt Trail from Birch Road/Griffen Road Trailhead to Old Rabbit Creek Trailhead and back again
Distance: 2.2 miles round trip
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel XTi
CAUTION: Black bear on trail.
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Rabbit Creek Greenbelt Trail
Well-placed signs mark every trailhead on the Rabbit Creek Greenbelt Trail. The trail is well-maintained, with occasional wooden stairs and short boardwalks. For those with knee issues, trekking poles are advisable for short downhill sections.
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Devil’s Club Patch
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Contemplating Beauty
Rabbit Creek at the crossing.
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Rosalee at Rabbit Creek
A sturdy bridge is a good sign of a well-maintained trail, which this one is.
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Chiming Bells and Wild Roses
The blue flowers are called Chiming Bells (Mertensia paniculata); leaves and flowers are both edible (it’s a borage relative). The flowers can be used as trail snacks or added to salads. The leaves are hairy, just like borage, but are fine cooked, particularly when used with other greens. Some people dry the leaves for tea. The pink flowers are Wild Roses (Rosa sp.). Wild roses have many culinary uses (its petals are also good trail snacks/salad additions); the shoots, leaves, petals, and hips are all eaten.
We ran into a black bear shortly after this picture was taken. As you can see, plants growing along the trail are very tall, making them perfect bear camouflage. We didn’t notice the bear, which was quite close to the trail, until after we’d walked past it. We kept moving and, luckily, the bear stayed where it was, sitting on a sunny bank. Meanwhile, our adrenaline levels were mighty high.
6/27/10 Update: We had dinner tonight with a man who lives along the trail. Of bears, he said a good-sized sow with two cubs, as well as a boar, are all living in the Rabbit Creek Greenbelt this year. He said none of the bears are particularly interested in, or fazed by, humans. As was our experience, the plants and bushes are so tall and thick he doesn’t usually notice the bears. He hikes the trail regularly, and attributes its good condition to trail defender Dianne Holmes who he said is on the trail multiple times a day. Extreme caution around bears is, of course, always warranted. He said a few years ago a man shot and killed a brown bear on the trail.
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