The directions in the 'Easy Day
Hikes' book were definitely more complicated than they needed to be.
We were supposed to take I-5 to exit 100B then go right on this
street, left on that street, another left, another right and so on.
We skipped straight down to “.03 mile past OMSI” and had no
problem finding the cul-de-sac where we were supposed to park.
Unfortunately there's a 15 minute limit there so we had to drive
around until we found street parking. My advice: park somewhere near OMSI and
head toward the river. When you get to the path that runs alongside
the river, hang a right.
The Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade
(named for the mayor of Portland from 1993 – 2005) starts at SE
Caruthers and runs all the way down to the Steel Bridge. There are a
lot of bicyclists and joggers on the path, and the first thing we
noticed is that nobody smiles, nobody says hello or good morning and
very few people will even make eye contact. We made a point of
smiling, nodding or saying hello to everyone we passed, just to see
if anyone would respond. One lady finally did return our greeting,
but she was the only one. The path closely parallels I-5 so there's
quite a bit of road noise but despite these drawbacks it's a nice
walk. There's lots of ...interesting...art work, and the views of
the city are lovely.
The path turns down onto a
floating walkway, and we crossed the river on the pedestrian/bike
path under the Steel Bridge. The Steel Bridge is built in two
layers, with the car deck on top and a train crossing underneath.
You can cross on top, but the lower path is a lot quieter. On the
west side of the river is Tom McCall Waterfront Park (named for the
Governor of Oregon from 1967 – 1975). This park is the site of a
carnival to celebrate Portland's Rose Festival and is where, every
June for over 80 years, navy ships have tied up for Rose Festival
Fleet Week. Not this year, though – due to federal budget cuts the
ships won't be coming in this year.
We were happy to note that people
on the west side of the river were three times as friendly as people
on the east side – we got one “hey”, one smile and a “good
morning”. We didn't bother counting all of the people who ignored
us. Too depressing. There are some several open ground-level
fountains in Waterfront Park that are wonderful to run through and
attract lots of kids on hot summer days. Since it wasn't summer,
wasn't hot and we didn't want to squelch through the rest of our walk
in wet shoes we just admired them as we passed.
We crossed back over the river on
the Hawthorne Bridge. This is absolutely my least favorite of all
the bridges, with an open steel grate that makes the car feel like
you're sliding around when you drive on it. The pedestrian walkway,
especially on the section of the bridge that lifts, feels dismayingly
flimsy – especially when something big like a garbage truck crosses
and the whole thing vibrates. Back on the east side, we made a stop
at a big antique and interior décor store then back to the car and
home.
The cons of this walk:
inconvenient parking, unfriendly people and two bridge crossings
(which might not be a drawback for some, but neither of us is fond of
bridges). The pros: nice views of the river and city, interesting
artwork and a wide, well defined path. Verdict: a very nice walk,
but one we probably won't take again.
