Cycling in Lynden

Lynden is a Dutch-heritage town in the flat berry-farm country of far northwest Washington — a windmill on Front Street, tidy brick storefronts, and quiet, level lanes rolling past raspberry and blueberry fields. That flatness makes it easy, relaxed cruising country, and the paved Jim Kaemingk Sr. Trail threads Fishtrap Creek right through town.

The anchor is The Inn at Lynden, a boutique hotel in the historic Waples Mercantile Building downtown that lends guests Dutch-style cruiser bikes (baskets, lights, and all) to pedal to the shops, the windmill, and out into the farm country. In town, Lenny’s Bike Shop on Front Street is a full-service shop with rentals and demos plus e-bikes if you want a little extra push.

Lynden sits right up against the Canadian border — the Lynden–Aldergrove crossing is just a few miles north — and it’s an easy ~15 miles from Blaine, WA (pair it with Blaine’s Semiahmoo and Drayton Harbor rides) and about the same from Bellingham. Come in July for the Northwest Raspberry Festival, a free downtown street party celebrating the county’s berry harvest — raspberry sundaes, farm tours, and live music — a fun weekend to bookend with a flat, easy ride.

The Dutch-heritage town hosts the Northwest Washington Fair for ten days each August, Whatcom County’s big agricultural fair with livestock barns, a rodeo, and grandstand concerts.