Saturday, April 23, 2016

Hiking in Forest Park, Monday April 18, 2016

After Ben and Martha went to work Monday morning, Patty and I drove to the MacLeay Park section of Forest Park.  MacLeay Park was the first 105 acres to be donated as park and it was the start of what is now the 5,000+ acres of Forest Park.  We did not end up where we thought we would at the start of the Lower MacLeay trailhead - instead we were at the upper end, which is also the lower end of the Wildwood Trail that goes up to Pittock Mansion, now gardens and museum, that we have visited before.  It is about 1.5 miles uphill to the mansion, through a nice grove of large Douglas Firs, among other trees and flora.







As always, Pittock Mansion and the surrounding gardens were beautiful.





After spending 15 - 20 minutes wandering around the grounds and looking down and out at the views of Portland, Mt. Tabor and Mt. Hood, we returned to our car.  We then hiked down to the lower MacLeay Trail which follows the Balch Creek.  Mr. Balch was the first hanging in Portland back in the early 1800s.  Apparently, he was unhappy that his daughter ran off and got married, so he shot and killed his new son-in-law.  The trail is well kept and surprisingly busy for a Monday that had record high temps - the first of three days where new high temps were set in Portland.  It was about 1.5 miles down to the trail head, which had parking and restrooms.






After our hike of 3.5 hours and almost 7 miles, we returned home and then walked to Fred Meyers, the local grocery store.  We had another nice evening at home with a quiet dinner with Ben and Martha.  And of course, also Mr. Shadow.

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