It was bothering Katje that by getting lost on Monday we didn't get
to check off any of the hikes in our books, so today we decided to do
hike #1 in our “Easy Day Hikes” book, the Hoyt Arboretum Loop.
For those of you who haven't been there, this is a truly gorgeous
park up above the zoo filled with all kinds of trees, from cherry to
redwood and everything in between, and they've labeled the groves so
you know what you're looking at. It also has very clearly
marked trails so we couldn't repeat Monday's mistake and get lost.
We started out on the Oak trail, which was a bit muddier than we
expected due to the high volume of runners we assume must have been
there earlier that morning (we were late due to kids' dentist
appointments). After a bit we came to our nemesis, the Wildwood
trail, with a sign saying we were only 1.6 miles from Pittock
Mansion. Darn it anyway, we were walking a trail from the book and
“had” to leave it for another day. We happily turned the
opposite direction and continued down Wildwood to the Redwood trail
and back around to the Visitors' Center. There was some upping and
downing but nothing too terrible, and the mud was pretty easy to
avoid as long as you walked to one side of the trail. Probably worse
when it's been raining but we've been experiencing some unseasonable
not-rainy weather so the mud was all from freezing fog and ice melt.
It was really, really cold up there.
On a side note, Katje broke down and got a jogging jacket with heat
retentive but moisture-wicking fabric and those little built in thumb
thingies that keep your sleeves pulled down. (I was very envious of
the thumb thingies as I kept getting blasts of cold air up my
sleeves.) She's usually the cold one but said the jacket kept her
pretty toasty, while I was freezing in my T-shirt, thermal and
fleece. The opposite of how we usually are. I might have to go
looking for one – preferably without the bright yellow side panels
and purple stitching, but I have to admit Katje looks very jogger-ly
in hers. Next stop: spandex pants and a fanny pack!
Hike #2 in our book is Macleay to Pittock, which we attempted on
Monday, and #3 is the Wild Cherry/Alder trails loop which we
completed about 2/3 of – everything except the Alder trail
part. So we'll have to go back for those. Thankfully we're not held
to doing them in order because I'm not sure I'm up to another slog
around Forest Park anytime soon. Good news, though, is that when we
do go we'll have a much better idea of where we're going and
hopefully won't get lost again!
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