November 24, 2011 - Hike 27

 

Garden Home area of Fanno Creek Greenway Trail
3 - miles


Thanksgiving Day! What a great way to start the day. I went on a hike with my good friend. It was actually a very nice morning. It has been raining so much this week that when we agreed to go for a hike on Thanksgiving Day that I was sure we would be getting wet. But as it turned out, it was very nice, cold but nice.

We are both hosting our families for dinner later in the day. My family is coming over at 1:30 pm for an early dinner and hers will be at around 5 pm. So, it was nice to be able to get some time to spend with a dear friend and get some exercise as well.

Well that makes number 27. I hope to get in at least one or two more hikes this weekend. I wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving.

November 13, 2011 - Hike 26

Bald Hill, Corvallis Oregon - 2.5 miles round trip.



We were in Corvallis to take care of a rental property we own and decided to take a hike before we met with the tenants that were moving out.

Bald Hill is just a mile or so away from Oregon State University and seemed quite popular with the local people. The day was partly sunny and not too cold. We hiked a little off trail and found this nice fallen tree with some beautiful fungus growing out of the side. Ken took a few pictures with his new camera lens. It did quite well considering it was not really a lens for close-ups.

I was not feeling too well. I had been fighting a cold for a few days and did not have much energy so we did not hike far. Near the end of our hike, we stopped at a big covered barn area to get out of a brief rain shower. I was able to get a fun shot of Ken while we were there. He really is a great hiking partner...well actually a great all-around partner! I also took a great picture of a barren tree. Someday maybe I will take a photography class. There are so many beautiful things to photograph it would be nice to actually be able to do it well.

Ken goofing around in the Barn!



November 12, 2011 - Hike 25

Fort Stevens State Park - Columbia River Spit - South side of the Columbia River - 6 miles

YEA! I'm at the beach. A great day to be on the beach. It was wet, windy and the waves were making beautiful music. We started our hike at a parking lot at the end of Jetty Road at the wildlife viewing area. We walked along the beach to the South Jetty of the Columbia River.

On the way to the jetty, a fellow-courageous hiker informed us of a dead seal on the beach. She graphically described the scene to us. Which was bad news for me because I had just had dairy for breakfast which is never good for me. My stomach was already upset. But on to better things.

After hiking and being pummelled by the rain for a while, we found a nice wind swept area the created a little cave that we were able to escape from the rain in. It was very nice being snuggled up next to Ken while listening to the waves, rain and wind. I nearly fell asleep. After about 15 minutes we continued our hike toward the South Jetty.

Once at the jetty, we watched the waves crashing over the jetty and the view and noise was spectacular. Normally, we would have hiked along the jetty to the parking lot and then back along the road to our car, but there was so much water that the area was flooded. We had to take a detour around the wetlands. This added a mile or so to our hike. I was greatly saddened by all of the plastic in the wet land area. Literally, if I had had garbage bags, I think I could have picked up at least a dozen large garbage bags of just plastic. I kept thinking about all the wildlife that dies because of ingesting bits of plastic. It reinforces my believe that, as a community, we need to stop using the plastic grocery bags. I would also like to see more people being conscientious about recycling their plastics. I wish everyone could see the amount of plastic on this small stretch of beach. If they could, I think they would be more inclined to help take care of our planet.

Once we were able to get around the wet land area, we visited the South Jetty viewing area. Below is a picture of Ken on this stormy day. Another fun hike and many good memories to add to my collection.

Novmber 11, 2011 Hike 24

Warrenton Waterfront Trail - About 4 miles round trip.


One of the wettest hikes so far, but also very fun. Warrenton is near the coast at the mouth of the Columbia River. It is a fishing town. One of the Captains from the early years of Deadliest Catch lives in Warrenton.

We had read about the paved waterfront trail in the Oregonian and decided since it was going to be such a wet weekend, why not head to the coast and embrace the Pacific NW weather. And....embrace it we did in between bracing ourselves from the wind. We decided to do some geocaching on the hike and were quite surprised by the number of geocaches along the trail. So not only were we wet, but were were wet and muddy from hunting around in the brush for the stashes. See pictures below. They were taken at a little waterfront park. You can see the Astoria Bridge behind us in the photos. There was a geocache hidden in the park and we were having a hard time locating it. After about 15 minutes, a local man came by and saved us. His house was on the other side of the trail and I guess he has seen many people struggling to find the cache. He was really cute giving us hints "If it were a snake it would bite you". Then he would look in the general direction. We finally found it hidden inside of a sprinkler housing hole which had a cap that was buried under driftwood and leaves. Whew!

This really was a great hike. Wet, rainy, windy, and purely Pacific NW in the Fall. Love it! It is wonderful to be out hiking. This quest to complete 50 hikes before my 50th birthday has kept me outside more than I usually would be and has been opening me up to wonderful new places. Who would have ever thought you could have so much fun in Warrenton, OR.

Below is one last picture I want to share, it really symbolizes the beauty you can find when you really look for it even on the most grey day.



November 6, 2011 - Hike 23

Sandy River Delta Park - Approximately 6 miles wandering all over the park.

This park is a great park but if you have dogs, it is fabulous. I do not have a dog but one of my hiking partners did.

This is by far the largest of Portland's off-leash parks. It has 1400 acres of wilderness trails and open areas for both humans and dogs to run, hike and just have fun.

The park is bordered by the Columbia River, the Sandy River and then I-84 on the back side. The whole park is an off-leash area with the exception of the parking lot and the Confluence Trail that takes visitors to a bird viewing area on the Columbia River. At the end of the Confluence Trail is a stunning Bird Blind. We actually did not see a lot of birds on this day mostly because there were dogs romping and playing in the river below. The dogs were having a great time chasing sticks in the water.

On this day, we hiked the Confluence Trail to the Columbia River and then did some geocaching on the way back. We took a side trip to the Sandy River on the other side. I really did not keep track of the miles, but I would guess we hiked a minimum of 6 miles on the Delta. I certainly was tired when we were done especially since we had already completed a hike on the other side of the freeway at Lewis & Clark State Park earlier in the day.

By the time we were at the Sandy River, the sun was starting to go down. It was absolutely gorgeous and peaceful at the waters edge. The photo was taken by a friend who took it with her phone. You can see how beautiful the setting was from the nice photos below.

After taking the photos, we hiked back to the parking lot. Another beautiful hike with some wonderful friends.

November 6, 2011 - Hike 22

Lewis & Clark State Park - 3 miles

Lewis & Clark park honors the explorers of it's namesake who camped and explored at the park area in November of 1805. The park is near the mouth of the Sandy river where it enters into the Columbia River. When you park in the parking lot and look up at the bluff, you will be happy to know that this is a great example of some of the Boring Basalts. These basalts flowed out of fissures near Boring Oregon. The lava is characteristically a light-gray phyric olivine basalt.

I went hiking with three friends to the Park. It was a very beautiful fall day. The hike was a challenging hike. The trail was full of boulders and many places it had partially eroded away. But that did not stop us. I really enjoy hiking with this group of women. We hike, chat and also do a little geocaching along the way. It is also fun to explore new places with friends.

The picture above shows two of my friends loging our entries into the cache logbook. The cache was found about 30 feet off the trail. If you have never tried mixing geocaching and hiking, you should give it a try. It is quite fun.

November 5, 2011 - Hike 21

Fanno Creek Trail - 8 mile round trip hike

Trails Club of Oregon












Today Ken and I did our first hike with the Trails Club of Oregon. There were seven of us who showed up on this rainy fall day to hike the Fanno Creek Trail. The Fanno Creek Trail is part of the the Tualatin Hills’ network of paved hiking/biking paths. I love the area around Greenway. The park has a disc golf course that Ken and I played often during summer evenings. On this day, we started at 9:00 in the morning from the Albertson's parking lot in Beaverton and hiked to the Tigard Library.

Meeting new people is always fun but when they share a passion for hiking, it is really fun. We met a man who teaches remedial math at a community college. He used to have a career on wall-street but has retired. There was a real-estate broker, a contractor and a health-care administrator. The great part about the hike is the ever changing hiking partners. Learning about each other and having fun conversations about current events made the hike go extremely fast.

Once at the Tigard library, we stopped for coffee and more conversation before heading back to Beaverton. All in all, it was a great hike.

I look forward to many fun activities with the Trails Club of Oregon. They have hiking, backpacking, snow shoeing, kayaking and biking activities throughout the year. They also own and maintain two lodges just outside the Portland Metro area. One in the Columbia Gorge Scenic Area and also one on the southeastern slope of Mt. Hood. I can't wait to backpack into the Mt. Hood lodge this winter.

October 30, 2011 - Hike 20

Tualatin Hills Nature Park - 2 mile loop



From Murray Blvd, turn west on Millikan Way, which becomes SW Millikan Blvd. The entrance to the park and Visitor’s Center is about ¾ mile from Murray Blvd.







I felt a little run-down last weekend but felt I needed to get in at least one hike so we did our local Nature Park Hike. It was a fairly good fall day although it was a little cold and rainy. But what can we expect for the Pacific Northwest.

The Tualatin Hills Nature Park is a 220-acre wildlife reserve in Beaverton, Oregon. There are both evergreen and deciduous forests, creeks, wetlands, ponds and meadows. There are approximately 5 miles of trails. About 1.5 miles are paved, the rest are well maintained soft surface trails.

The oak trees had mostly lost their leaves and you could see all the oak apples. Oak apples are hard galls that are created when certain wasps inject a chemical into the leaf bud after the female wasp lays a single egg. Below is a picture of one from google images.

We did see many catepillars along the trail but other than that it was mostly quiet in the park.