Mary S. Young State Park

April 18, 2018

After weeks of unstable weather and a long string of damp, chilly days, the pattern looks like it is breaking for the better. Starting today, we’re looking at great riding conditions from now until we depart for Chania. It’s about time. I in particular need to put some miles in, beginning today.

First though I have a coffee date with my friend Bruce, who volunteered to bike down to my neighborhood and meet me at Kahveology. Forgetting that I’d offered to buy his coffee until it’s too late, I take a few surreptitious photos of Bruce while he’s checking out the wares. None of them comes out well because I used the camera on the iPad and he’s too far off for decent resolution. So, no pics of Bruce; but we can at least admire his beautiful Bike Friday parked outside.

Back in Kahveology again. It has a nice, somewhat industrial feel to it - like this coffee table, for example.

Bruce’s ride for the morning. Nice composition, with the evenly spaced circles.

When I return from Kahveology Rachael is already gone, off on her own ride to the river. I want/need to start getting in some hill work but she’s been working out some muscle soreness and wants to stick to the flats. We’ve been mostly riding on our own lately, but we’ll be seeing plenty of each other’s company soon enough.

I hang around Amy’s for another hour letting the day warm up further, and then strike out south for Oregon City. My plan for the day is a pretty modest loop: south to Oregon City, west to Lake Oswego, and then back home by climbing up through Tryon Creek Park and dropping down to the river through Riverside Cemetary. Not too strenuous, but more than I’ve been doing lately.

I’m mostly out today to get a ride in, but I take the camera along because you should always take the camera along, because you never know. Today, I’m happy to see that the sea lions are back on the docks in Oregon City. We saw them here for the first time last year sometime, and I’ve been watching for them ever since. I was surprised to see that they come this far upriver - it must be a hundred miles to this point from the mouth of the Columbia.

I loiter around for about fifteen minutes, watching them lie around in the sun, occasionally rolling over or lifting a flipper. Finally we get some activity when a couple swim in from the river and try to claim a corner of the dock. Much excitement ensues.

Moving on, I cross the recently renovated arch bridge across the Willamette, pass through West Linn, and come to the entrance to tiny Mary S. Young State Park. This is another of those places that I’ve just cycled past many times without ever stopping in to look around. Wondering what I’ve been missing all these years, I decide to drop the two hundred feet down to the river and check it out.

It’s well worth the detour, and I give myself a mental kick in the butt for not having done this before now. It’s a pretty little spot, sort of a pocket wilderness at the mouth of Mary Young Creek. Nothing really dramatic, but it’s surprising how secluded and wild it seems here, just a few hundred yards off the highway.

Passing the beaver pond I startle a bullfrog, who in turn startles me when he splats off his log into the water. I stare into the murk for awhile without seeing anything but a few bubbles rising to the surface. When I look around though, a bracket fungus on a rotting pondside log catches my attention. I pull out the camera and spend a few minutes taking shots from various angles. Finally turning around, I’m startled again - this time by two small dogs on leash and the woman walking them. She’s apparently been standing behind me for awhile, trying to see what exciting creature I’m focused on. She’s been very quiet, hoping to not scare it away. I assure her that she can relax - bracket fungi aren’t too skitterish.

That’s it for photos today though. From here I bike straight through back to Amy’s - I’ve spent my discretionary time, and I won’t get much conditioning in if I keep stopping every few miles.

In Helen S. Young State Park, looking across the Willamette toward Meldrum Bar

In Helen S. Young State Park. I’m always surprised at all the blue there is when I see mallards from this angle and light.

I think it’s just been in the last year or two that I’ve started photographing flowers with regularity. It’s amazing how much color and texture there is when you look more closely.

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