Several Sundays ago, on a day that gave the false impression spring was starting, I got outside to enjoy it. I walked as far as the daylight would allow, and then some, finding sights to share with all of you.

These thumbnails are just a preview. Click on them to see the post.
There are 420 photos. As always, I share the whole deal, not just a peek.

 

First I went to REI to buy a day pack. I want do do more hiking this year and need a good pack. When I got there people were lined up down the street waiting for the store to open. It turned out it was the last day of their used gear sale. I had no idea. I followed everyone in and found an incredible deal on the Shimano mountain biking shoes I wanted to buy last year, complete with cleats. New they are almost $100 and I paid $12.42. Awesome. I did then buy a not-on-sale expensive day pack, but I love it and will use it for years. I like how the guy is pointing at me in the first photo.

 

I was looking for a place to park and go out to take these first few photos, before driving back over to the I-5 bridge to start my walk from there. Boy do I wish the sun would come out like that now. This is Kenton City Park, which is here. See in Google Maps.

 

Getting ready to go. There is my new backpack. It has a stiff back piece, lots of ventilation and gel padding, tons of compartments, hip strap, internal water bladder pocket and much more. The ventilation is awesome. I walked 24 miles, mostly in the sun, and my back never got sweaty. Jansport has come a long way from the simple school bag. I tried several similar packs including North Face and liked the Jansport more.

 

I finally found some parking where it looked like I would not get towed, at the hotels under construction near I-5. I have been towed so many times in Portland I am paranoid now.

A big part of this post was supposed to be my GPS track from my Garmin 310XT watch, so you could see exactly where I walked. I love that. UNFORTUNATELY after 10 plus miles, when I told the watch to calculate my reverse route, I impatiently pressed the cancel button during calculation, and corrupted the entire route. I was not happy, especially since I did not realize this until I got home. SO, no fun with Google Earth/Maps this time. I have learned my lesson. If you own a Garmin 310XT, do NOT press cancel during reverse route calculation.

Anyway, I started near I-5 at the Columbia river, walked east to the I-205 bridge, then looped back around the airport through residential neighborhoods and part of Columbia Boulevard.
The photos start about here. See in Google Maps

 

On the other side of that bank is the river, but I have trouble passing up flowers along the way.

 

Bright flowers with dark background are always a dilemma. The first one is what the camera does automatically, which leaves the flower blown out. The second is exposure compensated down some, which shows the true flower color, but makes the background too dark.

 

 

While admiring all the plants and taking pictures I didn’t even see the very elderly mad sitting in the chair in the garden. He had gardening gloves on. I said, “Beautiful yard”. He smiled a little and slowly nodded.

 

 

How peaceful and serene a scene is that? What a lovely place to go for a long walk. Hello, Beth. That is same place I sent that photo message from.

 

 

There is a hell of a lot of money in boats down there.

 

Check out the toy this guy has.

 

 

The parking is pretty tight to say the least.

 

The great thing about Marine Drive is that it combines two of my favorite things, boats and aircraft.

 

 

 

There are several golf courses near the river.

 

There were a lot of motorcycles around. I soon found out why.

 

Back to the river.

 

Birds of prey, planes, sailboats; all kinds of fun things.

 

 

I love these two photos together. Bird on tree, plane on tree. Makes me laugh. I love photos.

 

A mostly sailboat marina.

 

More bikers and the sign with the reason for the numbers.

 

A purposely underexposed photo so you can see Mt. Hood better. That is the airport in front of it.

 

The only “Don’t Piss Here” warning I have ever seen. Downtown Portland needs some of that.

 

I wanted to sit and watch aircraft come in for a while, but as it was Sunday the traffic was very light and too long between. If it had been busy I would have been there a long time, sitting in the sun with green all around, runners, cyclists, rollerbladers, going by, and low flying planes.

 

 

Yes, I have taken pictures at the airport before. I like it.

 

For some reason I am fascinated by objects that get lost or left behind along the side of a road. Also, I am kind of like a bee or something and cannot pass-up bright colors.

 

 

The Sea Scout Base is a cool quaint little place.

 

I am always fascinated by antennas and engineering.

 

 

I like these two photos.

 

More Portland International Airport.

 

See, I told you. I am going to start keeping a bag in my backpack and pick up trash like that along the way. I already do when driving in the forest.

 

Lovely. Reminds me that I am looking for anyone who will go on bike rides with me.

 

Yikes. Dangerous place to walk. Cars FLY by there. I was only up on the road so I could share photos of both the airport and river sides.

 

 

Check out the awesome colors of the grass. Beautiful.

 

 

See, I told you it is dangerous there, hence the people on the BIKE PATH. See what I do to share with you?

 

Coming up is the I-205 bridge which also goes over the river to Vancouver, Washington, where my brother lives.

 

I am impressed by large structures, like freeway overpasses, bridges, buildings. Here are some views of the I-205 bridge you never see while driving over it.

 

 

These kids were hitting golf balls into the river. Not the most respectable pastime. I waited until they were not looking and got a photo.

 

That is one HELL of a dangerous crosswalk. Traffic is FLYING past and the bike path crosses there. TRUCK. And yes, a “Dead End” is quite possible there.

 

Back south into town.

 

Lonely discarded shopping cart. Reminds me of that Red Balloon movie with the wrinkled dying balloon on the ground.

 

 

Freeways are captivating to me. So geometric and out of proportion to us humans, even though we build them.

 

I like this photo. Some things just strike me. I could not possibly be a more visual person. I like how the focus is in the part where there is nothing and your eyes just want to wander around in nowhere.

 

 

I have driven by the motorcycle shop on elevated freeway many times but never walked by. You see a whole lot more on foot.

 

 

Look, it is like a homeless swimming pool. Or so I thought until I got close enough to smell the water. WOW what a stench.

 

“Path Closed” Ya right. How do you close a path? Like I am not going to walk there after seeing that sign. Come along.

 

So much nature right in the middle of the city.

 

And where is that peaceful path and greenery and water? Right past the fence for long term airport parking.

 

 

More path, south of the airport.

 

Even business parks here have beautiful things to see.

 

 

The airplane food people.

 

 

Looks beautiful, right?

 

Only from a distance. Not good.

 

 

More golf, this time affordable and public.

 

And here we go with the Portland Air National Guard Station. I earned these.

While perfectly legal to take photos from outside the fence, bored military guys with nothing to do and too much gung-ho, may still treat you like a terrorist. A guy drove up inside the fence and said, “Can I help you with something?” I said “No thanks, just walking.” He followed me for a while, then a different guy in a Humvee pulled up inside the fence farther along and started video recording me while I walked along the road. Then when I was well past the base the Portland Police came and stopped me. The cops, well, one of them, was a lot more friendly than the military. They ran my name and told me they knew I wasn’t breaking the law but they have to come when the military calls.

Pretty ridiculous. As if I could see something that anyone walking or driving by could not, or from Google maps. The military tries to make up their own rules, but for now at least I don’t go to jail for photos taken from public areas. Yet.

 

Columbia Slough again.

 

 

 

 

Back toward Columbia Boulevard, a big long industrial street.

 

 

I am pretty sure that is Mt. St. Helens to the north there. I want to go hiking there this summer. Only been once.

 

I wanted to walk through neighborhoods on the way back so I went farther south into NE Portland residential areas. This is Fernhill Park which is here. See in Google Maps.

 

Check out the curly cue of green. Did someone spread fertilizer along that path or what?

 

 

Streets in Portland keep getting re-named politically correct names because a lot of people have too little to do and it makes them feel better, regardless of the inconvenience and costs it causes others.

 

There are beautiful things to bee seen almost everywhere, even in NE Portland. It is not all about shootings and thugs. Beautiful.

 

See?

 

 

Sorry for terrible photos and shooting into light. I wanted to share because I have always loved that kind of tree, whatever it is.

 

That is Woodlawn Elementary School, which is here. See in Google Maps.

 

I totally love this. This is the kind of clueless crap you see all the time. “NO WAR FOR OIL!” Oh really. I bet that giant old piece of crap van you have gets GREAT gas mileage. Maybe you slogan would be less idiotic on a bicycle.

 

 

Back down again to Lombard St. / Columbia Boulevard.

 

Even down there I found something pretty in the fading light.

 

 

There are a LOT of strip clubs in that area.

 

Large Kraft bakery.

 

Odd.

 

One of the more terrifying strip joints I have ever seen. You should have seen the guys going in the back.

 

Getting dark. I thought I could just keep walking and gradually Make my way back over to the river at some point. WRONG. Not going the right way in that area cost me at LEAST a few extra miles of walking. I did not realize I had to circle back for quite a while.

 

In ugly industrial area, almost under railroad trestle, I found the Historic Columbian Cemetery, totally neglected. See what you find when on foot?

 

 

Yes, that is a very dangerous place to stand.

 

It was worth it though. I wanted this shot. I like it quite a bit. Great angles.

 

Nice door.

 

 

Bob’s Metals. Wait until you see more of that later.

 

Nice flowers among the gloom.

 

See the difference between cul-de-sac in good neighborhood, and in NE Portland? Did you know cul-de-sac means bottom of bag?

 

By that time I had realized I went way too far and thanks to the last bit of juice in my Blackberry, and Google Maps, I saw where I had to go to get over the slough.

 

On and near Interstate Ave. there were even more strip clubs and some of the girls and a bouncer outside smoking, to advertise the fact that yes, they do indeed have tragically trashy girls in there, in case you just got out of prison or have been disfigured in industrial accident and are unable to find woman yourself. I had been walking a really really long time by the time I got that far and my feet were hurting. Only a few more miles to go. Or so.

 

What a scenic spot for a beauty school ad. “We’ve Arrived!” at the junkyard apparently.

 

And now to the really interesting part of Bob’s Scrap Metals empire. Check out all the crazy cool stuff back there. Who else has a garbage truck collection? Right on. I was totally intrigued by that whole back lot. I could see horror movie scenes being shot down there. Maybe also good spot for last legs heroin addicts, or for young people to get drunk at night. See the things you miss flying by overhead in a car? Aren’t you glad I walked all day for you?

 

FINALLY getting over the damned slough.

 

The moon was out, sort of.

 

Came to the Portland Meadows area and some food.

 

Man that Mexican food sounded great, but I was in a hurry.

 

I tried very hard to wait until I finished walk, but gave in and had some fries at BK. I was sunburned, wearing my adventure hat, with backpack, and some black guy in there looked at me like I was crazy.

 

There is an area that looks safe eh? Just me, some french fries, and the occasional transient or doper on bicycle. Definitely nowhere to be unarmed. I certainly would not have hesitated to shoot some crazy asshole, that is for sure. I had my whole walk planned and watched on GPS watch so I would be back to truck before dark. THEN I took that major wrong turn, or lack of turn, and screwed things up. The last couple miles were DARK.

 

Deserted Max station.

 

PIR, Portland International Raceway. I sure want to be on that track.

 

I just kept going and going.

 

Again, looks safe doesn’t it?

 

It got so dark I gad to prop my camera on the guardrail posts to take these.

 

The “art” at the outer edge of Portland Expo Center lot and more deserted light rail.

 

I took this because it said “Extra Mile” on the big cup and I was thinking, NO KIDDING. My feet and legs were really hurting and I was cold with sunburn at same time.

 

I FINALLY crossed back over I-5, actually RAN across because it is deadly there at night. Stopped for photos at Boat Center by freeway.

 

Then around a couple of corners, I finally got back to the hotels. I love finding an appropriate descriptive photo.

 

 

The big question remained. WAS my truck still there, or had it yet again been towed and impounded somewhere? BOY was I relieved to see it still there and also not broken into. Whew, good deal. I had made it. I love adventures, and also sharing them.

 

There is all my gear, Blackberry, GPS watch, pack, camera case… Hat was in my bag by then. I was very disappointed that my GPS track was lost. I have a lot of fun with that. I will get it right next time. I also learned to save phone battery for when I really need it. I wasted it all day and then it died before end of walk, leaving me without mapping GPS or emergency call if I had needed it. I am learning.

Not only did that walk take a long time, so did putting this post together. It was hours of work on several different days. I am tired of it and ready for next. I have two more posts backed up already. Thanks for being here and check back again soon.