Outings! – Bush’s Pasture Park
Welcome! By the time you read this, I’ll be back in Oregon after a whirlwind trip to Arizona. Fun fact about whirlwind trips: there’s not much time for things like walks and blogs. Luckily for you, your girl planned ahead for this very reason! So, hop on in the Way Back Machine™ with me to a sunny fall day in mid-November when my writing friend, Madhu, and I went for one of our traditional Walk ‘n’ Talks. Bush’s Pasture Park It’s hard to talk about this park without talking about a bit of local history. As the name suggests, this park was once the home of Asahel Bush (who may or may not be a character in my next book) and his family. The house was built in 1882, and includes a gorgeous rose garden and the oldest conservatory west of the Mississippi. It’s a museum and art gallery now,…
Outings! – Hilfiker Park
Welcome Another weekend, another urban outdoors adventure! Let’s just get to it, shall we? Hilfiker Park If you’ll recall, I originally planned to visit this park last week. But an adorable old corgi made the attempt less than ideal, so Simon and I went elsewhere. This week we got up bright and early, put on our winter weather gear, and got to the park before anyone else so we could have it all to ourselves! This park claims to be a field with an out and back trail of just over a mile. On the map it shows a straight line leading from one neighborhood to another, so naturally this was what I expected. What I got was a pasture, some trees, and a poorly marked loop trail that, was probably closer to half a mile. The park entrance is at the dead end of a neighborhood road. You can…
Outings! – Morningside Park
Welcome! Welcome back to Outings!, a blog series chronically my urban outdoors adventures. Basically, each week I try out a different park/trail in my town, and write up a review for you! This week was a bit of an audible for a couple of reasons: Trevor got hurt setting up an event on Friday. He’s okay! But he did sprain his ankle pretty bad, so he’s out of commission for this walk, and probably next week’s too. I originally wanted to walk a different trail, but we struggled to find the trailhead and once we did, there was an old man with an ADORABLE old corgi starting their walk. Sadly, Simon is very dog reactive and I didn’t want to ruin all of our mornings by starting on the trail at the same time as this old man and his old corgi. So, I flipped a bitch and headed to…
Outings! – Steam Donkey Trail
Welcome Welcome to the… fourth(?) installment of Outings! I wasn’t able to walk at home this week due to some serious time commitments, but I managed to sneak in a short walk on the drive out to the coast. For better or worse. Steam Donkey Trail The Steam Donkey Trail was an unexpected delight on my journey Northwest to Seaside, Oregon this weekend. Equally unexpected was the snow in the mountains, which was the whole reason I stopped at the Sunset Rest Stop in the first place. Everywhere I looked was a dirt road or trailhead that had me absolutely salivating to explore, but I was on the clock, didn’t have any gear with me, and I was alone. So when the sign for the rest stop came up, I decided to pull in and take a couple pictures of the winter wonderland, and then be on my way. But, in…
Outings! – Orchard Heights Park
Welcome! Welcome to the third installment of Outings! If you’re new here, please check out the early installments to get a sense of what this whole series is all about. Orchard Heights Park This is a lovely neighborhood park in a pretty affluent part of town. It’s tucked back behind a retirement home and some winding housing blocks. You would never expect the park to be so big or have so much to offer, which makes it quite the gem! The main area of the park has brand new tennis courts (4 full courts!), a basketball court, two baseball pitches, a children’s playground and a small, fenced off-leash area for dogs. There’s also a paved path circling all of this. And across the drive are butterfly and community gardens. All of this would be enough to rate this park pretty dang high. It just offers so much in a very…
Outings! – Fairview Wetlands Scenic Trail
Welcome! If you missed the inaugural post (Issue? Episode? Volume?) of Outings!, then please pop on over and give that a read. Today’s post is going to be very similar, although maybe not as long? But the gist is this: Each Sunday I’m visiting a trail or park in my city, reviewing it (along with reviews from my companions), and breaking down gear used vs gear I wished I used, etc., etc. Fairview Wetlands Scenic Trail This trail truly lives up to the #urbanoutdoors vibe. Back in the 90s, when the Fairview Industrial Park was built, the City decided that it wanted to offset all of that industrialization by replacing some of the lost habitat with a man-made, urban wetland. Honestly? Pretty dope of them. The trailhead is directly across the street from the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, and I’m guessing that has a bit to do with…
Outings! – Croisan Scenic Trail
Welcome! To the first installment of an all new blog series, Outings! You can read the full series introduction here, but the gist is this: Each Sunday I’m going to visit a park or trail in my town, and then write up a review to share every Wednesday (basically, I needed an excuse to get outdoors consistently this off-season and I need more photographs for the blog.). The review will include my rating and insights, as well as those of any companions, including my dog, Simon. So buckle up, because this inaugural Outing has set the bar pretty damn high. Croisan Scenic Trail This “pocket” trail is maintained by the Salem Area Trail Alliance, which is a super cool thing I didn’t know existed until just now. This volunteer organization builds, maintains, and advocates for trails in and around our city. Pretty dope. Now, back to the trail itself. According…
Introducing: Outings!
Outings! is an all-new blog series where I explore the (mostly urban) outdoors and report back to you! I know I’ve talked a lot about hiking on the blog before, and particularly about how I didn’t do enough of it this summer, so this is my way to make up for it. I’ve also talked a little bit about needing to up my activity levels, especially on the weekends, so I thought this might be a good way to do that. So, what is Outings! exactly? Outings! Is… A weekly blog post where I share my thoughts and experiences with the outdoors here in my town. Salem has a lot of parks and some trails and wilderness areas nearby, and despite living here for over 10 years, I haven’t been to most of them. In an effort to be more active, give myself some weekend structure, and reconnect with my…