GPHQ 3: Rocky Butte

April 11, 2021

Well, this could be quite a lengthy quest, and more than I envisioned when I dreamed it up. Greater Portland is surrounded by hills of course, and new additions to the list keep coming to mind or are being suggested by knowledgeable locals (keep those suggestions coming, folks!). I’ll fit in what I can during this two month residency, but we could be looking at a multiyear event here.

The weather is being very cooperative so I’m off again today, making videos while the sun is shining. Today I bike east along the Columbia to the Glenn Jackson Bridge and then turn south toward today’s target, Rocky Butte. It’s a gorgeous, clear day with spectacular views upriver to Mount Hood. The roadside weeds are in bloom, lining the bike path with a ribbon of gold.

At one point I stop for a camera break, and three elderly cyclists stop also. They have a camera of their own, and would like me to take their photo - try to include the mountain too, they request. They’re a friendly trio, and we have a pleasant encounter. The guy also has a Bike Friday that he converted to an e-bike, so I say something about it and the fact that we’re both riding Fridays. We chat for a bit and then I pull free and bike off, but then notice that I’ve got the Rodriguez between my legs, not the BF. No wonder he looked puzzled. I double back, clarify the situation. More chatting, and finally I break free for good.

Image not found :( — I was excited passing the Multnomah Channel to see this brilliant yellow ribbon lining it. I was delighted to see it continue for much of the ride along the Columbia.

I imagine everyone but me knows what this is. You’ve probably told me in the past too, so remind me.

Yes, this looks like a very pleasant way to pass the afternoon.

I love Rocky Butte, especially on a day like this when there’s huge visibility and the high country is still capped with snow. I don’t care for the approach from this direction though, especially now. It involves a mile or two on the I-205 bike path, which we used to ride regularly but now is nearly unbikeable because the homeless situation is so out of control here. There are wild, sprawling encampments under every overpass that encroach on the trail so that you have to carefully weave between rotting sleeping bags and mattresses, rusting bed springs, broken glass, and just trash. It’s so depressing, and only marginally safe at best. If there’s any one thing that would keep us from returning to Portland some day when we’re of a mind to resettle, it would be this.

So let’s look past that and just look at Rocky Butte instead, which is absolutely glorious today - the prettiest day I remember seeing here. Rocky Butte is the remains of an old cinder cone, part of the Boring Lava Fields that last erupted perhaps a half million years ago. In its more recent past it was the home for the Rocky Butte Jail, but now is a small state park centered around construction works from the WPA back in FDR’s day. I love sites like this that still profit from Roosevelt’s visionary projects to lift us out of the Great Depression. It gives me hope that we might be at the beginning of a similar era of recovery, and that many of the legion of the homeless might find new purpose soon on similar projects. Go, Green New Deal!

The view upriver from Rocky Butte can’t be beaten on a day like this.

The view across the Columbia. It’s Sunday afternoon, and I’ve got a lot of company up here today.

There are two ways to reach the summit of Rocky Butte. From the north you can climb up Fremont; and from the south up Rocky Butte Road. I arrived by Fremont and intended to descend Rocky Butte Road, which is much more interesting - it includes a tight loop where it crosses beneath itself through a short tunnel, that I thought would make a fun video.

We’re not getting to see that one after all though. You’d think that with only two ways off the hill it would be easy enough to keep them straight, but somehow I went back down the way I went up. In my defense, it’s an easy mistake. Both routes curve tightly around the top of the cinder cone. The northern route starts on the south side, and the southern one starts from the north. the sort of mistake anyone might make.

By the time I realized it I wasn’t inclined to turn around and climb back up, but this way is a pretty fine descent too. Maybe I’ll make it back up here later in the quest and drop off the south side. If I can remember and get it right next time.

Video sound track: Camptown Races, by the Dave Brubeck Quartet

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Ride stats today: 26 miles, 1,000’

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Andrea BrownI’ve never gone up that side before, always the tunnel side. Always a lovely ride.
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