Treks and Adventures
I found this trail on a map several months ago and got time to check it out. They are doing a formal opening of the Ch’ak Ch’ak Trail next month but is was finished in June. It is a bike and pedestrian in the Troutdale industrial area and is on top the dike along the Sandy River. I did an 8.25 mile out and back and had Chinook Landing Marine Park as my turn around spot.
An exploration of The Vedanta Retreat. This Ashrama has been a spiritual site since the land was acquired by Vedanta Society of Portland in 1936. It is open to the general public but has rules that must be followed. It is a lovely quit setting for a peaceful walk but is also filled with 16 shrines and a number of meditation site. We went to see the shrines and to enjoy several view spot in the retreat.
The middle section of Forest Park has a maze of trails and firelanes. I have not fully explored this section of the Park so I started today with my first hike to discover what is here. I started at the, never visited before, Springville parking lot. I head down Firelane 7 to the Trillion Trail. The Trillion Trail is a short steep rugged that drop quickly down to the Wildwood Trail. I headed South down the Wildwood trail to Saltzman Rd. I saw several bike riders heading up Saltzman Rd. as I was heading down. Where Saltzman meets Leif Erikson Dr. I headed down Quarry Trail, a little used and brushy trail that took me to the Maple trail and my lowest elevation point. I took the Maple Trail back up to meet the Leif Erikson Dr. and on over to Firelane 7a. The last stretch was Firelane 7a to Firelane 7 and back to my car.
I hike 7.5 miles with 450 ft. elevation gain.
It was going to be a hot day so Lori, Jeanette and I decide to make this outing short and easy. We started from Newberry Rd. trailhead and did about a 4 mile out and back on the Wildwood Trail. The north end of Forest Park has more of feel that you are out in the woods. Afterwards we went for lunch at Rock Creek Tavern and enjoyed sitting out on the patio having drinks and food.
My original plan was to start at the Tolinda Trail head and hike up but bridge traffic was so bad I could not make the turn. So going to plan B I went up to the Leaf Erikson Parking lot and started there. I have no memory of hiking the Tolinda Trail or the Waterline Trail before so those were the main objective of this outing. So I was going to have hike down the Tolinda trail first to get my plan back on track.
The Tolinda trail starts on an old road bed that climbs up to a flat area that was planed to be for housing that was never built. Form there it converts to a dirt trail that clearing has been altered for mountain bikes to sail down even though it is mark for no mountain bike. After getting back to Leaf Erickson walked a short ways and started up the Waterline trail. I was surprise find towers and a large grass meadow at the end of it. After exploring these new trail I head on some standard trail to get some mileage in. The hike was 8.3 miles with 1150 total elevation gain in 3 1/2 hours.
