Portland Area Parks: Sandy River Delta Park July 11, 2016

On Monday July 11, while Patty went for her flying lesson in Troutdale, I went to the nearby Sandy River Delta Park.  It is run by the US Forest Service and is free to use.  I discovered that only one trail required dogs to be on leash - all others allow dogs to be off leash, so the park had many people out with their dogs.  I started on the Confluence Trail which begins in open fields and has many nice wildflowers.

After about a mile, the trail went into forested are that is a reforestation project.

I arrived at the wildlife viewing blind at the far end of the Confluence Trail where the Sandy and Columbia Rivers meet.  There was a nice ramp up to a slatted viewing area.

The vertical slats have the date each animal was observed by Lewis and Clark, the name then, the common name now, the scientific name and the status now (endangered, threatened, etc.) - for about 100 different animals.

The horizontal handrail on the ramp gives the information about the blind being given by the First Peoples of the Lower Columbia Basin.

From there, I followed the border trail back to the entrance.

I then went out on the Meadow Trail and Meadow Road where I learned more about Sandy River Delta Dam Removal Project. 

There are several other trails and I will return to explore more of this large and interesting park.

My birthday July 9, 2016

While out walking one morning, I saw the Division Street location (one of three in Portland) of Saint Honore Boulangerie - not only do they have great french food, but also show the Tour de France each morning starting at 7:00 when they open.  So Patty and I went there Saturday (the day before my birthday) and had a great breakfast while watching the Tour.

 I received several birthday cards with the theme of not only being old but also being an old fart.

Portland Area Parks: Fort Cascades Historic Site July 5, 2016

On Tuesday July 5, we headed out Vancouver WA and headed east on Washington Route 14.  The road is quite nice and it climbs quite high onto cliffs on the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge.  Our first goal was Fort Cascades Historic Site. 

At the start of the self guided tour and trail, we learned about the history of the fort, as well as had great views of the Bonneville Dam, less than a mile upstream.

The fort was started in the 1800s, abandoned during the Civil War and then used afterwards in fighting the Native Americans until the Oregon Territory was settled and the natives were on their reservations.  Eventually a town was built here, but it was wiped out during the flood of 1896 and never rebuilt.  The trail takes you through the woods and past several places where they had done archeological digs.

One of things we came across was the Jayneville Fish Bypass Monitoring Facility where we learned why there was water being sprayed into the Columbia River - it is to keep predatory birds from feeding on the young fish that enter the river here after getting past the Bonneville Dam.  We had seen this from the Oregon side of the Columbia River and could not figure it out until getting here.

We continued on the trail and saw what I thought were wild blueberries - but later found out they actually called Oregon Grapes and are a food source for local wildlife.

We also came across a bird watching blind with educational materials.

We did see a blue heron across the water - my cell phone camera did not do a good job of photographing him, but we could see him.

There was a grave site for one of the original settlers.

And more educational info about the Lewis and Clark expedition and the Oregon Trail Water Route.

At a different parking lot, but the same turn off from Route 14 was the Washington Generating Station.  As in Oregon, we had to go through security.  We went to the Visitor Center and here the fish ladder and monitoring station was much more elaborate with a large viewing area below water level, a gift shop, small museum and small auditorium to give presentations to groups.  We got to look at the fish ladder from above the water and below the water.

We then went for the next ranger led tour of the generating plant that was announced on the P.A. system - but we were the only guests, so Patty and I had a private tour for 45 minutes.  We walked through all different parts of the generating plant - it is huge with eight separate generators that can generate some 660 megawatts when all are in operation.  Visitors are taken through several areas where they have glass plates in one of the generators that allows viewing of the inner workings of the generator.  We also learned much of the history of how it was built by moving the entire town of North Bonneville and creating a new channel and island.  It was an excellent tour.

On the way back to Portland, we stopped at Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge.

There was a purple martin habitat, as well as many other avian habitats along many nice trails.