Urban hiking through and between three Eugene city parks, Gillespie Butte, Alton Baker & Hendricks Parks, on a dry March morning with great blue herons stealing the show. *reminder, clicking on photos opens higher quality item
The Route through the parks
An urban hike of 15+ miles started just before sunrise (which was before 0700 today the week before time change) on Spyglass / Gillespie Butte for dawn. Then down to Alton Baker Park and Pre’s Trail bark dust following along the Mill Race as much as possible, turning around to head across the Autzen footbridge. From the bridge, through UO campus to Hendricks Park then back down to Pre’s Trail and home.
No car, no carbon karma tax … walked out my front door.
Pre-dawn from Gillespie Butte
Traffic was low (both cars and humans). The usual dog-walkers and early morning walkers stayed home until later I think. Going up the north side of Spyglass first to get a feel for what sunrise might show.
Seemed like sunrise was going to be good, so time to head back down to then climb up Gillespie north’s side. At the top, another sunrise watcher hung out under a tree, while my camera got busy
Pre’s Trail and Alton Baker Park
Once at Alton Baker along the Mill Race, the Great Blue Herons literally stole the show. During a 15-20 minute stretch, there were 4 herons on the Mill Race. One found a great perch maybe thinking it a duck because fishing up there would be hard for a heron.
Trails were in great condition and the UO runners were just leaving campus as I headed across toward Hendricks Park.
Up and around Hendricks Park was uneventful. Too early for flowers, and the human traffic was much higher with runners and dog walkers on every trail section.
Geese on the river
For reasons I can’t understand, Canada Geese love tiny rock islands in the Willamette River – I guess they feel safer from the roving predators, but the river level changes in the spring – often. Not where I would build my nest, however.
Human Art around Alton Baker
One of the street underpasses held a human-made surprise. I don’t often take pictures of human artifacts, but this one took my breath away … forced me to look at it over and over. Don’t know who the artist is, and have not seen anybody working on it before, just amazing.
Urban hiking through and between three Eugene city parks, Gillespie Butte, Alton Baker & Hendricks Parks, on a dry March morning with great blue herons putting on a show … sunrise sky-art and a bit of human art, too – all to see just by walking out my front door with a camera. Truly amazing and so wonderful living in Eugene.