Some urban walks: East Multnomah County

[bobcat]

I had a short day and a drizzly one, so decided to explore a part of the metro area I had heretofore neglected: three urban/suburban trails west of the Sandy River.

1. Gresham-Fairview Trail (6.5 miles)

This is a flat, paved track on an old rail right-of-way. I began at 201st and Halsey and headed south past backyards in Fairview and the western marches of Gresham. The trail crosses major streets (Glisan, Stark, Burnside, Powell) but there are pushbutton pedestrian crossings to stop traffic. There is a 180-foot pedestrian/bike overpass over Powell. The trail crosses the MAX line and passes along MAX’s Ruby Junction maintenance yard. I passed wetlands (closed to the public) in a powerline corridor below Grant Butte. After Powell, the trail connects with the Springwater Corridor near the Linneman Station Trailhead.

2. Salish Ponds Wetland (2.6 miles)

On weekends, you can access the trails from Salish Ponds Elementary School on the west side. The eastern trailhead is to park near the Fairview City Hall. The two ponds used to be borrow pits; now they are lined with willows and are home to waterfowl. There has been an intensive restoration project recently as the pond shores had been degraded by multitudes of eager suburban fishermen. The ponds are no longer stocked with trout. A trail continues along Fairview Creek in riparian habitat with some cattail-vegetated open marshes and lovely forested swales of Oregon ash, black cottonwood, and Oregon white oak.

3. Sundial Beach via the 40-mile Loop (3.8 miles)

A paved trail, part of the 40-mile Loop leads towards the Columbia from near the Troutdale Airport. The oak-lined Sandy River runs to the east. Opposite a large FedEx facility, a gated gravel road on Port of Portland property heads north through cottonwood and willow woods to the sandflats along the Columbia across from Lady Island. I walked west along the beach and then headed in to the woods again, eventually reaching Company Lake. There have been a series of environmental cleanup projects in this area since the demolition of the Reynolds Aluminum Plant. From here, a use trail led along the west shore of the lake to connect with the 40-mile Loop at Sundial Road, whence I could head east back to Graham Road.

[Sean Thomas]

Thanks for all the great pictures and plant id's. That Oak tree on the Sandy River is really cool.

[Peder]

Bobcat - You know the most obscure places! I must plead absolute ignorance: I have driven across Lady Island many times, but today was the first time I even heard the name! The hiking north of the Troutdale Airport looks interesting. Thank you for sharing and enlightening an ignorant hiker.

[4DMTNS]

Thanks for sharing these little paths. I am going to add them to my out-n-about town walk list.

[payslee]

Thanks for sharing these little paths. I am going to add them to my out-n-about town walk list.

I would classify these places as "take Charles" (or at least, take someone). There are long-term encampments along at least the Alcoa and Fairview trails (or were the last several times I was there - haven't been this year). While most of the people living there just want to be left alone, I've had creepy / agressive interactions from time to time.

Now I mostly wander the large Sandy River Delta area if I yen for a walk or run in east County. It's flat, it's pretty, and almost all of the camps seem to be located between the Sandy River and the entrance parking lot. I've always felt safe there alone, once I learned to stay out of that section, where I really, really didn't feel safe.

So you're out and about again? I love the SRD and would be glad to explroe some of these other spots, although I'm on weekends-only for getting out these days.

Take care,
payslee

[Grannyhiker]

Thanks for the warning, Payslee! Now that I'm dogless, I need to be more careful of where I hike solo. Although I never could picture Hysson attacking anyone (Lick the attacker's face? Suffocate the attacker in dog hair?), I noticed a number of times that his mere presence was a deterrent.

[4DMTNS]

Hey Payslee ... I'm out-n-about for short walks of less than two miles again. This is my second time around. I overdid it in early August (surprise!) and I'm back in physical therapy.

The physical therapist thinks I'll be good for ten miles, 2000ft gains, sooner rather than later. =] Given my propensity to overdue it ... I am to skip snowshoeing this season. So city walks and stairs and muddy local trail it will be. I'll drop you a line off the board to get a weekend walk in.

Chris

[bobcat]

payslee, of course, raises an excellent point and one for which I don't have a comparable radar. However, I would say that Salish Ponds and Gresham Fairview are fairly safe avenues, especially in broad daylight hours; there were several solitary women on these trails when I was there last Sunday. The Alcoa-Sundial jaunt is another matter, perhaps, as there are temporary dwellings among the cottonwoods and you might do well to avoid the use trails leading into the dense brush at any time of day.

A female cyclist was attacked on the Gresham Fairview earlier this year, but that was by a crazed pair of teenage girls wielding the branch of a tree.