An Urban Hiking Weekend

Looking east to the foothills of the Cascades - and across a neighbor's hobby vineyard

This past weekend we stayed in Eugene.  I managed to get out on three separate walks on subsequent days - a two mile loop with William on Friday, four miles with Maria on Saturday, and a twelve miler on my own Sunday.  If you count walking to work on Thursday, four miles, I had a pretty good stretch of walking.  I often get down on Eugene, a place where clear-cut manged foothills have to do in the place of mountains and where homeless camp studded riversides stand in for waterfront.  But on weekends like this past one I can look past what we don't have here and enjoy what is right here in front of me.  A friend of mine reminds me that while it may not be the best place to live in the country, Eugene would likely be in the top ten percent, and that is pretty good.  I think that might be a bit generous, but we're certainly in the top quarter, and on weekends like this past one I can enjoy what we have for a bit and see past what we lack.  And get some pretty good exercise in the meanwhile.

One of my favorite viewpoints on the Ridgeline Trail near our house - complete with a bench

Along Eugene's Ridgeline Trail

Storm watching at the Olympic coast

Rialto Beach

Last week I had the pleasure of spending two days at a conference held at the Skamania Lodge (Water and Land Use in the Pacific Northwest) and then head to the Bogachiel River by way of Olympia.  What a great cross-section of the maritime Pacific Northwest.  A Pacific storm came ashore during the time I was in the Columbia Gorge, bringing heavy rains there, as well as in Olympia where we spent Friday night.  By the time we arrived at Forks it was sunny and beautiful, go figure.  We went straight to Rialto Beach and enjoyed a few hours of some great storm watching under sunny skies and no wind.  Very entertaining.  The rains hit the Olympic Peninsula on Monday - hard - just in time for us to head south back to Eugene, where it was dry.  A great few days for roaming around the region.

Rialto Beach storm watching

Bogachiel River cobbles