No, not that kind of bottom. According to Wikipedia, this kind of bottom refers to the lowest point of a geographic feature, in this case the Oaks area at Sellwood. And what a spectacular natural area it is, with 140 acres of wetlands and hundreds of species of birds to watch for. If only I were a knowledgeable bird watcher!
This walk started at the Sellwood Library and headed past the Looking Glass bookstore, which is an actual caboose on out-of-use railroad tracks, now attached to a building:
I proceeded toward the Sellwood Bridge and just before crossing it, turned onto the Springwater Trail, a paved bike/pedestrian path which goes between Oaks Park and the Bottom. The sign says “Where the fun never ends!” but that’s only if you count the indoor roller skating in the winter. The rides are silent right now. But at least I got some nice picture taking without the summer crowds.
Nice to see my favorite ride, the Rock-O-Plane, is still there:
The book recommended walking almost the entire length of the Bottom along the Springwater Trail, but I turned off into the Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge, where a rocky little path winds around the back of the large pond:
Along the way I saw two nicely and impressively painted buildings from the back. Definitely helps maintain the "natural" ambience:
Words cannot express how cool all this marshy wetland looks and feels to walk past and through. Just beautiful.
As I came out of the Refuge, I headed up toward Milwaukie Avenue, and passed Keana’s Candyland, a gluten-free bakery and candy store, delightfully decorated inside and packed with goodies.
I enjoyed a gluten-free chocolate & coconut “cake” – very tasty! As I was leaving, the woman told me, "Tomorrow is our baked elephant ear extravaganza. We'll have all 64 flavors available." Sixty-four flavors of elephant ears? I can't quite get my head around that.
As I headed along the bluff-top streets back toward my starting point, I caught a couple final wide-vista views of the Bottom that were fairly majestic. You can see Oaks Park off in the left background.
This may be my favorite walk yet. A nice mixture of funky Portland city and beautiful natural areas. I can see why my sister was so excited to move to this area! I will definitely have to come back here and take a walk with her soon.
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