hike 1/60 -- tryon creek state park

completed: 1/24/10
time: 1.25 hours
3 stars
moderate (due to some steep inclines!)

so kyle and i were busy last week and started our hikes! we did number 1 last monday because it was supposed to be a pretty nice day out--and it was! it was about 45-50 degrees out and cloudy. the hike was mostly covered by all of the trees though because it was also lighly raining, but we couldn't really tell!

so the first hike we did was at tryon creek state park which was about 20 minutes away from our apartment on the northeast side of town. the state park is located in the southwest part of town and its a little more south than it is west! tryon creek is oregon's only state park in a major city but it doesn't even feel like it. while driving there we exited off the interstate and drove for about 2.5 miles and it felt like we were out in the country on winding roads in a forest. so the whole area had been logged back in the 1880's for an iron company and so the forest now is a second growth forest and is considered young. while hiking through it, the forest didn't seem young to me!

one of the reasons i chose to do this particular hike first was because it was close to town, it is open all year round, it is free, and there are things to see in every season. the author of the book recommends hiking the state park in the spring to see wildflowers (trillium blooms specifically), to go in the fall for the leaves changing colors, and in the winter to look for steelhead trout. unfortunately kyle and i didn't see any trout when we crossed the creek (we crossed a lot of different creeks too!).

the hike we did was about 3 miles long and was a loop (it was the one described in our book). kyle and i definitely want to go back sometime because the park has approximately 8 total miles of hiking trails, so we only scratched the surface! plus i want to go back to see the wildflowers!

the hike did take us longer than what the book said it would take (book said 1 hour but it took us an hour and fifteen minutes) and we also thought it was a little more difficult than the "easy" it was described as. the hike was not even close to being as hard as our hike to neahkahnie mountain was in september, but still not flat. so we described it as moderate. this also worries us both because there are a lot of hikes in the book described as strenuous!

overall we rated this hike 3 out of 5 stars because it wasn't the coolest or most challenging hike we have ever done but it is conveniently located, there are lots of hiking options, and it was a pleasant little workout but not overwhelming!

so now i am going to go plan the hike we are going to do on kyle's birthday (its wednesday...don't forget to wish him a happy birthday!!!!!) because the weather is supposed to be nice and that is one of the things he wants to do! so we are going to do a longer hike since neither of us has to work!

and here are the other pictures we took! oh and one notable thing: kyle and i again noticed a TON of moss growing on the trees (this was first pointed out to us by kyle's dad that the trees are just COVERED in moss) and we couldn't remember from previous hikes if this is always the case. so we don't know if the trees in the winter have more moss on them than normal due to all the rain or what. i could look it up...or it will just be something that we keep an eye on while out hiking!

so as kyle so optimistically put it "1 down, only 59 more to go!" good thing i am looking forward to those!