Upper Deer Trail in Forest Heights

{My Sister S and Nephew B on the trail}

One of the highlights of my trip was hiking in Audubon Sanctuary, an amazing forest preserve within the Portland city boundaries with stands of old growth Douglas Fir, Hemlock and Western Red Cedar. Portland, Oregon is a city in love with trails and green spaces.

{roads and cul-de-sacs in white, the trails are the dotted black lines}

You expect great hiking in a forest preserve, but in my sister's neighborhood there are great trails just out the front door. She lives in the Forest Heights, a 601 acre area developed in 1989, where one third of the space is dedicated to public green space and parks. The six miles of  trails in the development mostly follow the low creek beds that flow in the valleys of the steep hillsides.

{to the pond of the old Jones Lumber mill}

The area, like most of Portland, was logged of it's old growth timber in the mid-1800's. The old "Mill Pond" for the past logging operations is down this path right behind my sister's house.

{Portland home construction- crazy!}

Most of the homes, since they are built into hillsides, are tidy one or two stories from the street. But in the back the basements are often built stories down, and may are built on high piers. This is a view of the back of one of them from the trail.

{fern land}

My favorite trail in the neighborhood is the upper part of the "Deer Trail". Steps away from the houses, it's just another world. The banks are extremely steep and the trees are romantically cloaked in green moss.

{beauty}

The most restful sound- a creek joyfully spilling down the slope.

 How beautiful are these yellow woodland violets?

{Spring!}

Or this trillium?

{upper Deer Trail}

This trail was amazingly serene, with just glimpses of all the houses crowding the tops of the hills on both sides of the steep ravine.

And once the trees leaf out, you will not see any homes from the trail at all, and it will be even more magical.  I'm glad to be home, but I'm already planning my next trip to Portland! 

Loretta