I introduced Sage (and her human) to one of my favorite urban hikes in Portland. We took the Marquam Trail up to Council Crest which was roughly 6.5 miles and about 1,100 feet in elevation gain. It boasts lovely scenery, relative seclusion, a good workout and a glimpse of a house with totem poles. What more can you ask from a hike?
My camera's settings were wonky so I ended up with this picture but I kind of like it. It makes Mr. N look like he's traveling super fast.
Mr. N as usual is staring intently at the camera and Sage is like oh but there's water over there! I want to dive in!
At the summit, there's an off leash dog park. Sage ran around looking for squirrels and Mr. N performed his war dance.
We were on a bit of a tight schedule so after letting the dogs play for a few minutes, we headed over to the central part of the park.
Council Crest supposedly is the highest point in Portland at 1,073 feet above sea level. There used to be an amusement park up here but now it's a park.
On what the boyfriend calls a "five mountain day," you can see Mt Hood, Mt St. Helens, Mt Adams, Mt Jefferson and Mt. Rainier as well as an excellent view of the Portland skyline from up here.
The dogs with the mother and child statue and water fountain by Frederick Littman. It was stolen once then found during a narcotics raid ten years later and returned to the park.
On the way back, Mr. N tried to climb this tree. Thwarted by a squirrel once again!
Sage's human hurt her knee (not on the hike) so our hiking activities may be curtailed for a bit. Hop over to her blog and send her healing thoughts!
Well, another check on the Portland side of the awesome Cascadian cities board- a five mountain day! I suppose if I counted up all the Olympic and Cascade peaks we can see we'd have more but that's a lot of majestic volcanos from one spot! And a dog park at the summit? I love it! Time for humans to catch their breath while the fit dogs keep doing their thing.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what happened. The dogs ran around while I tried to get some air into my lungs.
DeleteOnce again, a great hike for you guys. Love all the different places you take us. That totem is pretty cool. Thanks for joining the Hop.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your visit. What a beautiful place.
ReplyDeleteSo lush and green! Looks like a beautiful place to walk
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you caught Sage looking longingly at a water source--she could find water in the Sahara! It was a fun hike--glad we did it. And we'll be back on the trail in the near future!
ReplyDeleteShe could be a canine dowser.
DeleteWonderful hike. Very interesting info about the fountain. How do you steal a fountain? I hope everyone heals quickly so you can get back out on the trail.
ReplyDeleteThey used hacksaws to saw through it.
DeleteThat looks like an awesome walk! At least you had pictures! Love Dolly
ReplyDeleteSo cool... we hope to be heading up to Portland at the beginning of August and this seems like a great place to visit!!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a pawsome hike!
ReplyDeleteAnother gorgeous place! I love Mr. N's "dance"--he's so adorable.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great hike! We were looking at harnesses like yours today but they didn't have Rocco's size. Love all the photos!
ReplyDeleteDiane and Rocco