Category: Urban Hike

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Exploring some trails in Forest Park

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.

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Full Hole in the Park hike

I was on the trail before 6 am to take another crack at doing the full Hole in the Park hike. I was wearing my regular hiking boots with wool soaks to not have a blister problem this time. Today the weather forecast was for clouds, no rain and mild temperatures. The trail had some muddy patches after all the rain we had had but I was really enjoying all of the fresh green along the trail. I got the whole route in at 10.5 miles and a little over 2000 ft. elevation gain. It took longer then when I was younger at a little under five hours.

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Hole in the Park hike

I went for a conditioning hike in Forest Park and started out just a little before day break. I was going to do a longer hike but I am still not getting my boots and socks matched up right so I cut it short before getting blisters. I did about 9 miles, 1700 ft. gain in a little under 4 hrs. On the BPA road section of the hike I had many flowers blooming.

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Tualatin Hills Nature Park

We were prepared for rain but it turn out to be a dry day with mild temperature. We wanted to do something that was close by and this was one that Lori had not been to. For Jeanette this regular stomping grounds so she took the lead on this one. Not a regular for Sylvia but she had been there before. When I did my exploratory of the park the real winter wet season had not arrived. This time you could see why this is a wetland and the reason for all of the elevated pathways and bridges. We had some major wind and ice storms a week before but this forested area fair pretty well with just a couple of trees down. After our 4 mile walk we went to McMenamins Grand Lodge Lodge for lunch. We first had some concerns when we saw the menu but finally figured out by splitting a pizza and finding a good beer it was all affordable. After lunch we had fun exploring the lodge and finding the secret passage way.