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Protecting the Salish Sea

“What’s The Point?” Family-friendly beach exploration day

Saturday, June 14th, 2025 from 12pm to 3pm at Point Whitehorn Park. Low tide beach tours, community booths, and more!

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What’s The Point? is a free, family-friendly event featuring low tide beach tours, community booths, and more at Point Whitehorn Park!

Beach naturalists will be there to help you learn about tidal habitats and the critters who call this place home. We’ll hold scheduled talks to learn about different aspects of the area, and local partners will share more ways to get involved in protecting and exploring this area. Please leave your dogs at home!

We hold this day of beach fun each year during one of the extreme low tides around the summer solstice. This makes for some of the best beachcombing and wildlife sightings you can get.

 

Browse the tabs above for info on naturalist talks, accessibility and more! Details coming soon.

Co-hosts: RE Sources, Cherry Point Aquatic Reserve Stewardship Committee, Whatcom Land Trust, Northwest Straits Foundation, Whatcom County Marine Resources Committee, Washington State Department of Natural Resources, Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding Network, North Cascades Audubon Society, Blaine-Birch Bay Parks and Recreation, Whatcom Conservation District

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Event details

Naturalist talks!

  • 12:00-1:30pm: Plants and Birds with Pam Borso (North Cascades Audubon Society) along the Point Whitehorn Trail. Pam will identify the plants and their characteristics as well as Indigenous peoples’ uses of them. On the walk we will look at any birds we may see and identify by sight or sound.
  • 12:00-1:30pm: Geology with Greg Green (wildlife ecologist, nature writer, and instructor at WWU’s College of the Environment). Greg will discuss the aftermath of the late Pleistocene glaciation by examining the granitic cobble, Jackass Mountain conglomerates, and the glacial drift and erratics deposited along the Point Whitehorn beach. He will also discuss the continuing wave dynamics of the beach and future consequences of this action on the great walls till backdropping the beach.
  • 1:30-2:00pm: Geology with Doug Clark. Western Whatcom County has a fascinating and complex history of young geologic change, and that history is particularly well expressed in the landscapes and sediments found at Point Whitehorn. Dr. Doug Clark, Professor of Geology at Western Washington University, will discuss our current understanding of how glaciers, sea level rise and fall, coastal processes, giant ice age floods, and even ancient earthquakes have shaped the region over the last 20,000 years.
  • 2:00pm: Ecology and Geology with Keeley Chiasson (NWSF/Herrera Consulting). The story of the beach starting with the backshore and importance of large woody debris (LWD) and moving down gradient to the low beach. Beach characteristics influence forage fish and the importance of bull kelp and eelgrass, and ultimately salmon.

 

Map

Parking, accessibility & restrooms

Please park at 7039 Jackson Rd. There will be a shuttle starting at 11:45am between this parking area and the trailhead at the park, 6899 Koehn Rd #6601, Blaine (Point Whitehorn parking lot). There are minimal parking spots available at the park.

The park has an ADA-accessible 0.75 mile walk (packed gravel path) to viewpoints, and there is a 0.1 mile non-ADA accessible walk down to the beach. More information about the park can be found at the park website.

There will be two porta-potties at the start of the trail; one ADA accessible. There are no bathrooms down on the beach.

No pets or bicycles are allowed at the reserve.