Forest Park is probably the biggest forested city park in the US, offering countless trails for hikers, bikers, runners and tourists alike. It's only about 15min drive from city center.
We picked a section of the wildwood trail for our half-day hike. It's estimated to be just below 6miles of hike. We started out just after 9am Saturday morning. The birds were grooming themselves and singing morning songs. The place was magical. It's lushly green everywhere you look. Because of the amount of rainfall it gets here, trees were all covered with mossy "furs", which gave everything an animated look.
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| Look! It's a giant tarantula! |
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| I love the fur-y tree branches |
The loop we picked threads a few different trails together. We'd start out on Wildwood trail, then Hardesty trail, then Leif Erikson, and then finish on part of Cannon trail. Every now and then there'd be runners and other hikers passing us by from either direction. We'd stop frequently to admire the plants and endless green, and occasionally to avoid stepping on big juicy slugs in the middle of the trail.
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| how do you know if they're edible? |
We were going at a very leisurely pace. Towards the last mile and half, I was sore all over my body and asking Jose "are we there yet" every two minutes. But when we were done, I was very happy we did it. Jose couldn't stop talking about other trails and hikes we could do in the summer. That was part of the reason we moved to Portland, to get closer to nature. And we're happy that we did.
I finally figured out how to post on your blog. You must have a google email address. So I just signed up for one. I miss the Oregon moss!
ReplyDeleteVery cool! I'm living in Utah near Salt Lake City right now. We are going up to Portland for a vacation in late March. I'm glad I found your post. I was wondering what the Forest Park looked like. We want to go on a hike while there. Like you, my wife and I will probably end up moving there in a couple years. I'll also be 32 when we move there. I can't stand the extreme weather of Utah and the politics. Being a liberal atheist doesn't mix well here. :-)
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