A trip to the LBS / Sauvie Island

November 10, 2023

Sellwood Cycle

Today we’re off to Sellwood Cycle Repair to pick up my Bike Friday and drop off Rachael’s. Actually, Sellwood Cycle isn’t particularly local; but I like it better than any of the ones nearer by I’ve been to, and I trust their work. We used to take our bikes in to the Pearl District REI just because it was so convenient, but that’s out now since they shuttered the store this summer. I suspect going forward Sellwood will be our go to shop when we’re in town even though it’s about a fifteen or twenty minute drive getting there.

Dropping my bike off was one of the first things I did after we arrived in town. It developed a shifting problem about halfway through our tour of Spain that I needed them to look at, but also I wanted them to check it out in preparation for next spring. After I bring it home I’ll suitcase it for the winter, since I’ll be taking the Rodriguez to California and Tucson.

They let us know it was done yesterday. It didn’t need much this time - a basic tune-up, a new chain, and the cost of having them install the two new tires on it that I left with them. Rachael’s will need even less work I think, and for now it just needs to be ready for the riding we’ll be doing over the winter. We’ll take it back in February for another round before we leave for Barcelona.

I could just go down by myself, but Rachael tags along because she wants to talk with them about the possibility of getting lower gearing (she’s apprehensive about the hills of England for some reason) and getting smaller brake levers that her hands can manage better. After some discussion she decides to do neither at this time, and as soon as we’re done sets off on her walk. The walk is my suggestion. Once she decided to drive down with me I came up with some ideas for her to walk home from there so that she could see some different terrain for a change.

I was glad to hear at the end of the day that the route I came up with was a big hit. It took her through Westmoreland and Reed College, up Mount Tabor, and then back west to Tilikum Crossing before walking up the west side of the river back to home. I won’t be surprised if she doesn’t decide to drive back down to Sellwood when I return to pick up her bike so she can repeat the walk.

And she had her new phone with her, and bundled up the results in a slide show she’s particularly pleased with:

Video sound track: Autumn Leaves, by Eva Cassidy

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Sauvie Island

After leaving Sellwood I drive back home to drop off my bike and then head north out to Sauvie Island, continuing on my round of exploring places on foot that I normally see from the saddle. I’m snooping around for birds of course, with a particular species in mind that I’ve seen is in town now: the Short-billed gull, which I’d never heard of before and was startled to start seeing cited on local birding lists.

I’ve never heard of the Short-billed gull because it’s a new species! Not a new bird of course, because they don’t manufacture new ones that fast these days - they haven’t figured out how to make them with a 3-D printer yet. It’s just a new name for an old bird that until two years ago was known as the Mew gull. The species was split in 2021, and now they’re the Short-billed gull which frequents the west coast of North America and comes south from Alaska for the winter; and the Common gull, which like common sense is not so common in these parts.

I’ve got a mental list of places on Sauvie Island I want to check out today, starting with the trailhead to the Wapato Greenway, a walking path along the Multnomah Channel that we bike past without stopping nearly every time we’re on the island. And if my memory is correct, it’s not quite right to say I’ve never been here before. I think came here on foot exactly once decades ago, although I can’t get back when or why that could be. It could even be before Rachael and I got together, and maybe I was out here with Shasta? A mystery that’s unlikely to be solved at this point.

The mystery for today is why I don’t see more birds here as I slow-walk the two and a half mile loop - not even on the slough itself, which I get a good look at from the short pier at Hadley’s Landing. A few cormorants, some crows, starlings and song sparrows; a lone swan crossing the sky far above, too far off for a good shot; and a few gulls, but all with frustratingly large bills. Nice walk though, especially at this time of year. I don’t see another person on the entire loop, until I come to the pier and there are a pair of young women and their small dog sitting there, just watching the world turn.

The bigleaf maples are shedding their burdens. It won’t be long now until a lot of the gold leaches out of the west hills, since this is where most of the color comes from.

I recognize this barn. We’ve seen it often, but from the other side when we bike up the west side of the island.

When I first saw this small leafless tree up ahead of me I thought it was an apple because there were about a dozen oak galls hanging off it like rotting fruit.

A magnificent Oregon white oak. Trees like this are so dramatic in the winter when you can see all their bones exposed.

Multnomah Channel, from Harley’s Landing.

Across the water from Hadley’s Landing. Nice, but wouldn’t it look really great with a row of Short-billed gulls strung along its roofline?

I wonder what the story of this vessel is. Does anyone recognize the logo on its smokestacks? I do, but can’t remember from where. There’s a short dead-end road in to it that drops off Highway 30. I should head over there someday and get a better look.

Black cottonwood, one of the tallest, fastest growing hardwoods in the west.

For some reason I’ve got my eye on fallen leaves today, admiring their translucency as they disintegrate.

This one’s been held up on its way to ground, suspended for the time being on that thin twig that’s skewered it.

I’m longer on the Wapato Greenway than I expected, and by the time I’m back at the car I’m starting to run out of day. I drop the thought of going out to the end of Oak Island Road and decide to just head out Reeder Rod to the birding blind there and maybe climb up atop the berm to look out across the Columbia. On the way I stop for a look at some colorful rotting squash, pulling off onto a muddy shoulder. I take my shots and drive on, being startled and mildly concerned at first by some thumping sounds from beneath the car - but it’s just clumps of mud breaking free of the tires and quickly tapers off.

One of my favorite sights on Sauvie in the winter.

So why would just one be split in half like this?

I pull off at the bird blind, optimistic that I’ll see something interesting - this is the best part of the island for seeing hoards of snow geese in the winter, and the sandhill cranes often hang out here too. Not today though - there are large V’s of Canada geese drifting across the sky in the distance and I hear one crane off somewhere that I can’t spot, and there’s definitely a nice view across to the West Hills. No snow geese though, so maybe it’s still too early in the winter and they haven’t made it this far south yet.

Afterwards I drive further north on Reeder, stop for some mergansers and then again for an eagle perched calmly on a snag, and eventually do make it up to the top of the berm to look across the river where I see - nothing in particular.

The view west across the north end of Sauvie Island.

It’s always a good day when I see one of these.

So that’s it. It’s getting late in the day, and coincidentally it’s the top of the hour so if I leave now I can ‘enjoy’ catching up on the news on NPR as I drive home. There’s one more reason to stop on the way back though, for a scene worth missing out on a few minutes of war correspondence.

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Bob DistelbergWow, looks like Portland has some excellent leaf color. Some spectacular photos in Rachael’s slide show.
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5 months ago

Jen RahnLove the slideshow, Rachael.

And your walking route! One of Portland's so many beautiful areas.
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5 months ago

Rachael AndersonTo Jen RahnI’m glad you liked it! Scott does a wonderful job at finding great walking routes and the fall colors are amazing now.
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5 months ago

Rachael AndersonTo Bob DistelbergI’m glad you liked the slideshow! It was an amazing walk for beautiful fall colors.
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5 months ago

Janice BranhamDreamy show Rachel. Eva Cassidy's Autumn Leaves is the perfect soundtrack for it.
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5 months ago