Walk 31: Gresham Butte Saddle Trail (5 miles)

Yet another path built around a lava dome (how many are there in this city?). I parked in a residential neighborhood and headed for a Dead End sign. As happens so many times on these walks, right when the road looks like it’s ending, a trail appears magically. This is one of my favorite sights:



The first mile-plus goes through the Gresham Butte Natural Area, which follows a logging road in very nice shape, with lots of trees for wind breaks:



The path then leads to residential road, which then turns on to the Springwater Corridor Trail. Déjà vu hit at this point, as I remembered this trail from Walk 17. About half of that (not too exciting) walk was repeated on this route. Oh well. At least the temperature was about 15 degrees warmer today, if it was still windy. What’s the deal, is Gresham the "Chicago of the Northwest?" I thought that distinction went to The Dalles.



This Trail goes past several cemeteries, and this time I walked around one of them a bit, taking in the names and dates. The book points out that Miyo Iwakoshi, believed to be the first Japanese person to live in Oregon, is buried at the Gresham Cemetery. I didn’t see her burial site, but this historic place certainly filled me with a sense of reverence and reminded me (like I need it) of my fragile humanity. How in the heck can people vandalize places like this? Talk about bad karma.



I finished up by going to the start of Walk 17's optional Route Two (since I was in the neighborhood), to check out the Historic Columbia Brick Works. Tall fences blocked most of the large buildings, I passed this very big, very impressive pile of bricks. Ever wonder where the bad bricks go? Now I know.

Walk 30: Swan Island Beach (4.5 miles)

Ah, another day at the beach, this time at the riverside walk along Swan "Island," which is actually a peninsula now due to dredging to smooth marine traffic.

The walk started at the N. Prescott and Interstate MAX station and headed down the perfectly named Going Street (cuz I'm "going" there). After a mile or so, a trail branched off toward the river. Here a large metal sculpture welcomed me in. You can see the Fremont Bridge off in the distance.




I walked down to the "beach" (just like in Vancouver) and enjoyed the sand and driftwood. There were clear signs of human activity. I wondered how long this had been here, and if it were a representation of something?



After trudging along in the soft sand for a while, I trotted up a stone staircase to a paved riverside path, which led eventually to these train tracks as I began to loop back to the starting point.



As I headed back up Going Street (now "going" back), I spotted this 77 step staircase to Greeley Avenue, jogged up (puff puff) and back down the other side.



Not a bad walk. Though it was chilly and cloudy, it was nice to make a short trip to the beach without spending two hours on the highway. Though I wouldn't exactly call it a "fitness walk" it was very relaxing. Might even bring the kids here sometime for a little rock skipping. At least we wouldn't have to worry about any "sneaker waves."

Walk 29: Hollywood Center (2 miles)

Shortest walk so far, which was okay for today as I was getting over a little case of the crud and had to hurry back for the Super Bowl as well. Per the book, the walk is only 1 mile, but I stretched it out a bit by doubling back to the Jazzkat’s Coffee Bar for some decaf.

First stop, Hollywood Theater, which features the “wildly ornamented façade” in front:



Next came the Hollywood Library, which is the only Multnomah County library that I know of with apartments on top of it. That would be so fun to live up there! Picked up a Gladys Knight & The Pips "Gold" CD while I was there. Man that's good music for the soul.



Toward the end of the walk I passed an antique store with a vast assortment of stuff, only a certain percentage of it actually meeting the “over 50 years old” definition. I saw this Rush album (34 years old) in very good condition (with thick plastic sleeve!) and couldn’t resist dropping five bucks for some nice wall art.



All in all, a decent little city walk, short ‘n’ sweet, with a souvenir to take home.

Walk 28: Vancouver Fort, downtown & waterfront (5.5 miles)

This walk started at historic Fort Vancouver, went downtown, then ducked under the I-5 bridge along the waterfront looking across to Oregon, and back again to the Fort.

As I passed the Fort parade grounds it felt like I was entering into a time long past:




As I headed into town, I ducked into a coffee shop, where they had some cool art on display, including this metal sculpture named Baroon the Dragon (only $2,500!)



As I proceeded on, I passed through Propstra Square, which features a fantastic and large glockenspiel (!)



Right before the underpass of the I-5 bridge was this moving tribute wall painted with images of war:



As I finished walking along its length, a train passed by...



Next was a squiggly trail leading over the pedestrian bridge of the Confluence Project which led to a re-creation of early Vancouver residences. What I loved about that bridge was there was no practical reason to make the path squiggly, just aesthetics:




Looking back along the waterfront, I saw the I-5 Bridge, which is really quite spectacular in its length and complexity (and which carries an average of 135,000 vehicles a day).



As I came to the end of the waterfront portion, there were two rather majestic metal sculptures: The first a Native American woman looking out to the Columbia River; the second a woman of large stature walking amongst some landmarks of Vancouver. I would've missed both of these if I hadn't walked a little extra length to the end of the waterfront path:





All in all a good walk: Lots of landmarks to see, varied terrain and decent length. Vancouver seems to have changed for the better since I lived there in the 80's!

Walk 17: Springwater Corridor Trail to Linneman Station (6.5 miles)

This wins the dubious distinction as the straightest, and most boring, of the nature walks so far. There's a sameness to the scrub along the sides of the paved path, which meanders along a fairly nondescript creek, until you arrive at the frankly anticlimactic replica of "historic" (read as "nothing happening now") Linneman Station. But as with all things, there are good moments, like this colorful creek picture.



At least it was a long walk, and a good workout!