We wanted to do a get together after the holidays but weather and injuries prevented us from doing a walk or a hike so we did a little scouting with lunch. Lori, Jeanette and I first headed down to Wilsonville to do a quick check of Memorial Park. The Park offers some trails and could work into a longer hike with connecting over to Boones Ferry Park. Next we were close to where Jeanette planted a tree and placed a remembrance marker for her decease husband and wanted to show use where it was. The area had changed a lot so it took us a while to track down the spot. From here we are off for one of Lori’s favorites a car ferry ride across the Willamette River. This lead us to the Molalla River State Park close by the ferry landing. After a quick drive through the park and seeing it would not work out for future outings it was time for lunch at the Backstop Bar & Grill in Canby. So a day low on walking in the rain but high on poking our noises into places and having a good social time.
Pittock by way of Balch Creek
A New Year morning walk to get the year going. This was a standard Ramble route that I have done many times so it felt like home. This trail gives good elevation gain but there is a lot of wild to enjoy on the route. The walk was about 6 miles in about 2 1/2 hours. I was on the trail at 7:30 am with very few folks around. By the time I was doing last section down Balch Creek the trail was loaded with folks. Lots of stopping and waiting for families to get by. A cold clear morning and a nice way to start a new year.
Orenco Woods and Rock Creek
Pfrime Brewery tastings
Pfrime is a very popular brewery and hard to get seating. We have tried several times to go after a hike and found the line just to long. This time we went so we were the first ones in the door so we were sure to get a seat. It also turned out to be a very stormy day so sampling beer was a better choose then getting soaked on a walk. We ended up getting two flights of tasters and we found the good, the bad and the really good (a barreled age brown). By time we left there was a line waiting to get in. A fun day to have before heading into Christmas.
Graham Oaks – Tonquin Trail Walk
This was a very wet walk. I returned with Lori, Jeanette and Sylvia to show them the Graham Oaks Nature Park and Tonquin Trail that I had scouted a week earlier. This was also a chance to once again test our rain gear. We did a shorter route then I had done before because two hours in constant rain was enough.
After our walk we went to RAM Restaurant & Brewhouse for lunch.