Welcome!
It’s that time again, Gang! And thankfully, this week we actually got to enjoy a park uninterrupted! If you’re wondering what the heck I’m talking about, please check out last week’s Outings! post. If this is your first time here and you’re wondering what in all hells is an Outings! post, start here.
Clark Creek Park
This city park is deceptive as hell. Your odds of simply driving by it are low, since it isn’t on any main street – the street it is on is a winding back street with older houses on larger swathes of land than is common these days. The first time I saw this park I had deliberately decided to get lost and adventure through the city. we’d just moved to Oregon and I had a lot of curiosity about roads that weren’t on a grid like in Phoenix.
I can’t help it, y’all. Curving streets are fascinating!
Anyway, ever since then (and an absolutely mortifying open house experience in our early days of house hunting) Clark Creek Park has taken up real estate in some shadowy corner of my mind. I won’t lie, some of its intrigue was how sketchy it looks from the street. Just a small parking lot, an additional dirt pullout by the street, and a weary-looking combination basketball and tennis court.
But it seems like the city’s put some money into this park since the last time I drove by it (excepting the weekend before this). The lot and overflow parking are still a little rough around the edges, but the sports facilities are much nicer than I remembered.
But none of that is the important part.
The important part is just how HUGE this park feels. There’s the courts, a relatively new playground, a creek with two crossings, and so many fields! It honestly felt like, no matter how busy the park got, you could find some solitude and peace.
There’s also several points of entry (we counted at least 5 access points connecting to the various neighborhood streets) and all of the paths are paved. Wide open spaces abound, but there’s also enough greenery around the creek and further to the western side of the park to offer some shade in warmer months and keep things cool.
If you can’t tell, we were really surprised and impressed with what this park has to offer. I get now why it was so busy last weekend!
Stats & Specs
This is the part where I break down the park by the numbers!
Park Specs:
- Distance: 0.4 miles. We didn’t venture to the end of every neighborhood connecting path, but we walked down a bit of them before doing the main loop around the playground.
- Elevation Gain: None.
- Hours: Sunrise to Sunset
- Environment: This park is quiet and completely off the beaten path. The only noises were a dog barking in the distance, crows squawking at us from a light post, and the gurgle of the eponymous creek. The creekside is currently being restored with native plant life, which I thought was pretty cool. It should be noted that we curtailed a portion of our walk because there was a person camped out under a tree in the far east corner of the park. While I recognize this might be a huge turn-off for some, we didn’t mind. We mostly just didn’t want to accidentally wake the person. I think it should be noted that neither of us felt unsafe – they were just sleeping in a peaceful spot, minding their own business. We followed suit and turned around to continue our walk.
- Condition: Very good! As I mentioned, it’s obvious improvements have been made and are continuing to progress. We even saw some neighborhood volunteers walking around picking up trash (what trash I don’t know – we didn’t notice any).
- Popularity: Given that we’ve now visited this park twice and saw other walkers both times in the dead of winter, I’m gonna guess that this park is a neighborhood favorite. I imagine it gets pretty busy in the warmer months.
- Uses: Walking, playing basketball or tennis, children’s parties, and picnics. With all the fields and tables, we agreed that picnicking here would be really nice come spring.
My Stats:
- Duration: 16 minutes
- Pace: 40’38”
- Average Heart Rate: 114 BPM
- Max Heart Rate: 143 BPM
- Active Zone Minutes: 4 Zone Minutes
- Steps: 1,054
- Calories Burned: 110
My Gear:
- Mystery Columbia Pullover with Throat Zipper in Black Heather
- Adidas GalaxyTrail Trail Runners
- Fleece-lined leggings, black
- Chandler-Gilbert Community College beanie, black
Trevor’s Gear:
- Pendleton Surf Collection Hoodie, Serape Stripe green
- Jeans
- Nike tennis shoes, model unknown, blue and gold
Simon’s Gear:
- RuffWear Front Range Dog Harness, in Aurora Teal
- RuffWear Knot-a-Leash Rope dog leash, in Aurora Teal
The Verdict
I really dug this park. I’m a sucker for creek crossings, the desert rat in me just can’t get enough of naturally occurring water, and this one has two! But, despite its massive appearance, the trail layout makes for a shorter walk than I’d like. Multiple loops would be necessary to really get the most out of a visit.
I was really surprised and impressed with this park! I want to come back in the spring and do the whole picnic thing. Maybe take a nap on a blanket? That sounds nice. Did have to turn around due to a camper and there was a pile of dog shit (far away from the camper, thank goodness!) so it doesn’t quite get full marks.
Lots of good sniffs here. Lots of grass and the creek was cool. It was too muddy to get close though. I don’t do mud. It was a little short though…
The whole fambam liked this one! I think it’s safe to say we’ll be revisiting this one in the future. I’m looking forward to that picnic!
That's All, Folks!
It was a relief to be able to take a nice walk with the family this weekend. It was a beautiful morning, if a bit chilly, and we were all grateful for the time in the sun. I know I mentioned in this week’s Goals Summary that we were going on a hike on Monday since it was a holiday, but I decided to indulge and sleep in instead.
Which then meant I spent the rest of the day fending off a migraine because heaven forbid I alter my sleep routine AT ALL. Good news is it was a half-hearted attempt at misery, and after some strategic Excedrin and Advil consumption and Trev massaging my neck so much that its still sore(!), I’m migraine free today!
What that means for the remainder of the week, I don’t know. I’m cooking up a blog post idea, and its starting to percolate. Expect a post about the querying process sometime in the next week or so.
Until then, Bloggos!
BZ
