Walked 3.58 Miles - Oaks Bottom

What a beautiful day! It's the first day of February and boy, it is starting off well. I am so happy to say good-bye to the craziness that was January. I decided to head to Oaks Bottom, because I just wanted to be in nature. This was a cleansing walk to celebrate finally getting through my big project at work. The sun was shining bright and it was a joy to walk in short sleeves. Such a great day to be outside.

I have a new obsession with plants in round holes.














I've turned off my music often to listen to birds. Today I turned off my music to listen to the frogs! Such a great change and they were crazy loud. Very fun! Oaks Bottoms was very busy. At the top of the park, there was a class practicing wilderness first aid. Then at this spot, I passed a guy with a gaggle of 5ish years old with him. He was squatting and he had something in his hands. I doubled back to take a peek and he was showing the kids a little garter snake. I so wished I was brave enough to ask to take a picture, but one of the 5 years old was glaring at me and I chickened out. Also, Portland Public Schools were on holiday today, so traffic on the trail was heavier than usual. I'm glad so many parents thought to take there kids here.





I crossed the Springwater Corridor to get a look at the Willamette. The only other time I'd walked on my trail was a rainy gray day. Even though the sun was out, the trail was still extremely muddy. 





Yeah, it looks pretty much the same as before. There were signs stating that the bank was unstable and to stay at least 50 feet away from the edge. I broke that rule here, but only for brief couple of seconds. Falling into the Willamette is not something I ever want to do.








These blue diamonds were about every 50 feet on this trail. I tried to google them to figure out what they mean, but I couldn't find the answer. Does anyone know?





I've seen this series of public art before, but this one was brand new to me. I don't know how I've missed it before. I couldn't resist getting a self portrait.











It's amazing the amount of work that is spent on this park. Now that I've been here so much, I can see all the changes taking place. From regular filling of bird feeders and clearing away tree debris to this great new trail head. Previously, this was an ugly hard to maneuver weird gate thing that wasn't very user friendly or welcoming. Now there's a great wood fence and bike rake. 








Posted on a car window.