Monday Hike

This week marked our first Monday hike.  It also marks the first time I’m writing about it on a Tuesday morning, when the kids are in preschool and my mind is clearer than at 9:30pm (which is usually the only other time I can write without interruption).   I of course have a list of excuses as to why we didn’t get out on Sunday for our hike, but it isn’t that important.  Basically, we had the opportunity on Sunday to see some of our good friends, who we rarely see, and we took it.  I could have squeezed in a hike in between obligations, but this whole hiking thing isn’t something that’s supposed to cause stress, but relieve it!  So we switched to Monday, and it was everything it was supposed to be.

Eric was on another business trip and he wouldn’t have been able to come with us on Sunday anyway, so on Monday afternoon the kids and I headed back towards Oaks Bottom, to give it another chance.  I was trying to guess the shortest way to the other Oaks Bottom entrance, and took a right on the road between Reed College and the Eastmoreland golf course, and there, suddenly, was the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden.  We had heard from many people that the Rhododendron Garden was nearby, and I'm sure at least one of them gave me directions, but sometimes you have to find things yourself, I guess.

While I paid three dollars for my admission (kids 12 and under are free), Jaeden and Stella kept busy being greeted by two hopeful ducks.  While bringing bread is frowned upon, it seems that giving the ducks some kind of birdseed is ok.  I’m not sure if they sold bags of birdseed there or if people brought their own, but all of the ducks (and Canada geese) we saw were very friendly in a hungry way.  As we entered, the sun came out and we could see, laid out before us, several manicured rhododendron and azalea bushes, a bridge, and even waterfalls.  I was reminded in a small way of Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC.   This lent us that fleeting thrill that comes from exploring a new place, and this feeling is what I love so much about these “hikes” with my kids.  As they ran up ahead, arguing excitedly over which direction to go first, I started to think I may have misnamed this blog, as it’s the adventure of exploring new places out in nature that I seek, more than an actual “hike.”  And the Rhododendron Garden would not count as a hike in most circles.  It was more of a walk, a stroll that includes asphalt and gravel paths, two long bridges, and lots of water.  There is swampy lagoon water bordered by irises, at least three waterfalls tumbling over carefully placed rocks, a fountain, a creek, and even a lake—Crystal Springs Lake, to be exact, which was dark and rippled in the cool weather.  There were many different varieties of the requisite rhododendron and lots of other flowering bushes and plants.  We saw several ducks, and the kids got a good laugh watching them stick their bottoms in the air as their heads were underwater searching through the weeds.  There were a few ducklings even, and some Canada goslings, which I don't think I've ever seen before...at least not in real life.

I imagine the Rhododendron Garden becomes quite crowded on weekends, as even on a warmth-challenged Monday afternoon we saw plenty of people.  But the proximity to our house convinced me to pay $12 more as we left, to get an individual membership ($15 total) which will allow me a year’s worth of entrances and a guest each time, too. 

For more info, check out:

http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/finder/index.cfm?PropertyID=27&action=ViewPark

 A kind woman offered to take our picture as we began our exploration of the park and I love how it turned out, with Stella leaning on Jaeden's shoulder

 Stella had some snacks (cherries and a granola bar) in her red basket.  Here they pose by two ducks in the creek

 Balancing on the rocks bordering a gravel path

 Crystal Springs Lake

Stella poses on the bridge as we leave

Rainy May Hike

We woke up this morning to some pretty serious raindrops, which encouraged us to take it easy and not move too quickly…Sunday morning and all.  But by 11:00 it was clear that the weather wasn’t going to let up anytime soon, so we headed out to meet a friend for lunch in Beaverton, and after some pho noodle soup we were ready to explore Hoyt Arboretum, with our rain gear.  Now, despite living in Oregon we don’t really have great rain gear.  We have warm jackets, but only Stella has a dedicated rain jacket (a hand-me-down we were thrilled to receive) and the expensive snow boots we bought for her and Jaeden last October are more cozy and waterproof than their rather traction-less rain boots.  I don’t know why I don’t buy myself a nice rain slicker, since I don’t change sizes anymore and I would use it a lot.  So maybe I will.  Anyway I did get myself some nice waterproof snow boots a few months ago and they work great for walking and hiking in the rain.  So, week three, here we are breaking out the best of our rain gear.  I’d thought we were entering the late spring/summer months of gorgeous sunny Oregon hiking, but I was only wrong about the sun.  It was still gorgeous, of course.

Hoyt Arboretum is just up the hill from the zoo and the children’s museum, but we entered from the Sylvan exit and drove up Skyline Blvd, so Eric and I didn’t have any negotiating attempts from Jaeden and Stella to change our minds and go to either of those places instead of a hike in the steady rain.  In fact, the kids were really excited about going hiking, and the weather didn’t seem to be a factor to them at all.  Already these hikes are becoming part of a normal Sunday to them, and they seem to really enjoy them...Eric, too, by his smile in this picture!

We parked right at the Arboretum (plenty of parking on a Sunday…how nice!), geared up, and walked to the visitor’s center to check it out.  It was closed, but we found some nice free maps and decent bathrooms and started on our adventure.  Stella was thrilled to have her own map, the “Meet the Trees” map geared towards kids.  She spotted a bridge at the top of her map, so we decided to hike to the bridge on Route 1, the Evergreens. 

Stella proudly showing off her map

With this decision made, Eric and I had two enthusiastic little leaders.  We started at the Redwood trail and hiked to the bridge…a nameless bridge at this point, which could be christened “Shady Bridge” because it’s really well shaded.  

Then we headed back along the Creek trail, which followed a bubbling little creek.  The highlight of this trail was the “Root Tree” which looked like some kind of sculpture. 

All the trails in the arboretum wind through groups of trees from all over the world.  Just in the small area we hiked, we saw trees that originated in China, Africa, and Alaska. We saw larches, redwoods, both Port Orford and Western red cedars, noble firs, grand firs, yew, and sequoia, along with lots of Douglas firs, and since most of the trees were labeled, we could start to differentiate between them and recognize them. We felt the squishy bark of the sequoia, touched the soft leaves of thimbleberry and saw early green salmonberries starting to show after their magenta flower petals fell.  

And everything glistened with the rain, making the greens brighter, the browns richer, the mud wetter.  It made me realize that soon these close-by hikes are going to feel more urban when the weather is nice and everyone and their dog are out.  Don’t get me wrong, I really like seeing other people hiking, smiling and greeting as we pass, teaching the kids to get to one side of the trail to let others get by.  Just as long as hiking doesn’t feel like a line at Disneyland.  Today was perfect.  I was actually impressed with the number of people we saw—we were far from the only people around, and certainly not the only ones with young kids. Still, it makes me thankful for the rain and the peace it brings.

Thanks to Eric for the photography help today!

Mother's Day Weekend Hikes

I suppose I should have pushed myself and written this last night, but it was Mother’s day and I fell asleep after putting the kids to bed.  Now it is Monday evening already, and the kids are finally asleep so it’s the first real chance I’ve had to write about our hike yesterday.   So I’m sorry for being late…but I never said I would post about the hike right away, right?  Although I know that details are lost with time, so I will usually try to write Sunday and not wait!

The beautiful sunshiny start to May has made way for a lot of rain in this area of Oregon.  Despite the gray clouds, though, our hiking inspiration didn’t wane and we hiked both Saturday and Sunday.  On Saturday, Eric got back from his trip to Taiwan, so we picked him up from the airport and then went to a bird-watching festival at Sellwood Park, which I wanted to check out, and thankfully Eric and the kids were game.  There were guided hikes offered every half hour through Oaks Bottom.  It was the first time I’d been there, and I found it rather unremarkable as far as Oregon hiking areas go.  However, since we had an expert bird watching guide with us, Max, we saw many things we never would have noticed had we been by ourselves.  First, Max showed us an osprey sitting near its nest.  Then, while still in an open field area, we stood quietly near a Douglas fir for a while watching two bushtits go into their nest, which was expertly hidden but so obvious once we knew what we were looking for.  Max said if you’re ever in an area with one lone Douglas fir, it is almost a sure bet that there’s a bushtit nest in the tree.  So keep your eyes open, people!  The path then headed into a more forested area toward the pond of Oaks Bottom, where we saw a screech owl sitting on a branch, and finally found the highlight of the hike: a tiny hummingbird nest, with an Anna’s hummingbird sitting in it, it’s little nervous head just visible over the nest’s top.  By then, our group was ready to head back, especially as we saw raindrops beginning to show on the water.  The path continued, but we turned back around and hurried through the downpour back up the hill to Sellwood Park.  So that was that.  In comparison to Reed College Canyon, Oaks Bottom was not nearly as lush and beautiful, but it will be fun to head back and check on the nests we now know are there.  I’m inspired to slow down more when I hike with Jaeden and Stella, and see what we can discover when we’re not tearing down paths.

On Sunday—Mother’s Day—we had Eric’s sister Carol join us for our hike, too.  We decided to head to Tryon Creek State Park, near Lake Oswego.  It’s also near the Original Pancake House, which was one of our favorite brunch places when we lived in West Linn. So I thought it would be a good idea to eat there first, and then go hiking.  And it was a good idea, except for the hour-and-a-half wait for a table.  Not fun.  But the food was great, and we made our way up Terwilliger Blvd in sunshine with full stomachs.  The sky was blue when we parked and walked to the Nature Center (a very cool spot for kids to explore, especially if the weather is less than perfect) for a map.  Against my better judgment, I didn’t force the kids to wear jackets, but they had on their snow boots (warm and waterproof, and mostly mudproof, too).  Tryon Creek is the real thing—lots of hiking trails to choose from, so you can hike for fifteen minutes or much longer.  There are even designated horse trails, but we didn’t see any horses.  We kind of just started walking and first found a large covered area that overlooked forest, and explored there for a few minutes.  Stella and Eric were asking why there was so much bird poo in two spots, and I said there was probably a nest above.  We looked up.  Just then a small bullet-like bird (bushtit?  No, probably a swallow) flew out and narrowly missed Eric’s head.   He screamed that scream where you think it’s much louder than it is and almost fell over in surprise.  So we decided to go ahead and start the hike, since that bird was obviously not too happy with our curiosity, and ended up doing a loop that took almost an hour.  It was beautiful there—just the type of area that makes me love Oregon so much.  The trails were bordered with the plants I grew up learning about—trillium, sword fern, Oregon grape, wood violets, salmonberry.   We saw (and smelled) skunk cabbage and Western red cedars.  Forgive me for the plant name-dropping…I’ve always been more of a plant person, and because you can always count on being able to find plants, I enjoy pointing them out to Jaeden and Stella and seeing their excitement when they recognize something.  Of course, near the furthest point of our hike, the sky grew dark and gray clouds loomed above the treetops, and sure enough, the rain started.  Thankfully the tree cover kept us from getting too wet, and Stella did need a piggy-back ride for a little while (which meant Jaeden did too).  We arrived back at the Nature Center and went inside while the rain continued.  Eric almost fell asleep on the bench by the door (jetlag, not boredom, I assume) while the kids looked at the nature books and Jaeden tried to talk me into buying a book about amphibians.  We will look forward to returning to Tryon Creek for another hike, and maybe going ever further next time.  I will also have to remember to not forget snacks, as the coconut pancakes Jaeden and Stella shared did not last them very long.

In summary, Oaks Bottom…not so much.  Tryon Creek… a resounding yes!

 Jaeden and Stella.  Stella saying "Happy Mother's Day!"

 Holding hands in front of us on the path.

 Running ahead.  No wonder plants are the only things we can count on seeing on our hikes!

Skunk cabbage.  And buttercup leaves, I believe.

A May Day Beginning

OK, the title sounds a little hokey.  But today is May Day, and we started this project? challenge? idea? well, whatever it is, we started today.  Unfortunately Eric is out of the country on a work trip, so it was a me-and-the-kids hike, but we had a wonderful time.

I decided to start us out close to home, in Reed College Canyon, in SE Portland.  The canyon is part of the Reed College campus, and there are several entries to the hiking trails from campus, but we found a trail on Reedway Ave, off of 39^th Ave.  There was parking along the quiet street there, and the trail started at a steep decline, which was fun for the kids.  They got out of the car and happily ran down straight downhill. 

It didn’t hurt that it was a beautiful day, a warm and sunny start to May.  The sun filtered through the early leaves onto the trail, which was well-maintained--mostly dirt, bark dust, some mud, and slatted walkways. There are lots of different areas to explore, as the area is on 28 acres, the trail circles Reed Lake and the walkways span and cross much of the marshy area.  Jaeden and Stella, like many kids, love frogs, salamanders, lizards, fish, birds and wildlife of all sorts, and I use this to encourage enthusiasm for hiking, which is somewhat less attractive to them.  The walkways allowed us to get right up close to the water, and we spent several minutes just standing still and watching for signs of life in the thick mud.  We didn’t see much in the way of amphibians, but we saw lots of Canada geese and ducks as well as probable nests, which means we’ll look forward to going back in a few weeks and hopefully seeing goslings and ducklings.  It was overall a lovely hike, and I felt so happy and relaxed being outside off of pavement.  The air had a freshness to it that I’d expect to find only further from the city, and the kids were having so much fun exploring that there was very little complaining, and none from Jaeden, who is usually the one who peters out first.  Stella tried for a piggy-back towards the end, but I was able to encourage her to stick it out. 

The Reed College website has a section about the canyon, with a lot of great information: a map, lists of animals and plants found in the canyon, a history, and more.  Next time I think I’ll make up a checklist for the kids and me (or us, if Eric can hopefully join us) of plants and animals to try to find.  I think they’d love that.

For more info, check out http://www.reed.edu/canyon/natu/index.html