Walk 50: Powell Butte (4 miles)

First, a confession: This final walk wasn't one of the official 50 of the Walk There book, but it was mentioned in the back in a section titled "More Great Places to Walk." The actual (50th) walk was "Route Two" of Walk 17, of the Springwater Corridor Trail. I found myself near it during Walk 31, and since it was along the way I covered this distance of the trail. But since this section of the Springwater Trail had been so uninspiring, I didn't really want to make a whole separate post about it. So, Powell Butte it was, thanks to the suggestion of good friend Amy C.

The entrance to Powell Butte was at SE 162nd Avenue, immediately off Highway 26 in Gresham. It was raining during the drive out there, but as I had planned it (wink), the rain stopped and we had sunny weather the whole walk.

I say "we" because I was joined by my lovely wife Lisa this special day.



The paved trail led up a gentle slope toward the top of the butte. Looking back, we were treated to a beautiful panoramic view miles in each direction. The clouds were just high enough to see many of the surrounding buttes and peaks.



The path looped around until we spotted a turnoff to a lesser used trail heading toward a wooded area. My motto: Always head for the path less traveled (if it doesn't look too treacherous).



Lots of green was to be seen, and mixed shade/sun made for a very pretty and relaxing walk. My favorite sights, though, were the interesting ways the older trees had died and fallen:



After a mile and a half or so, the trail led back out and up toward the top of the butte again, where we came across a set of wooden pointers, each labeled with a physical landmark (like Mt. Hood or Larch Mountain, for example) and the distance to it.



Sooo clever the way the "e" from Gresham Butte had been worn away...



As we made our way back to the car, I spotted a possible source of some of the large piles of poop we had stepped around along the trails.



And that's that. Fifty walks in approximately six months. I plan to keep walking, but probably won't blog about it so much, at least until I come up with another theme.

So, until next time, keep putting one foot in front of the other, and always look in the direction you're going! (Or else you might have a nice trip...badum.)