Freaky Ferns and Fungus in Forest Park

My route though Forest Park - 6.6mi

I planned to meet Aaron at the Saltzman road entrance. He got stuck in a meeting though, so I decided to start without him. I figured I'd walk slowly and take lots of pictures and he could catch up.

Fungus near the Saltzman road gate.

I went down firelane 5, but parked my truck in the direction of Saltzman. I figured Aaron would start that way, and meet up with me on Wildwood trail.

He did go down Saltzman, but walked all the way down to Leif Erikson - so we ended up hiking the loop in opposite directions.

Banana Slug

Not sure if this is the regular Pacific Banana Slug (Ariolimax columbianus) or if it's the Slender Banana Slug (Ariolimax dolichophallus)

Unidentified Mushroom

Very similar to the one I saw in Tualatin Hills nature park on Monday.

Backside of an old trillium.

Trillium ovatum starts out white but turns purple as it ages. It's very pretty

Another old trillium

The forest is just full of trilliums this time of year. They're everywhere along the path.

Unidentified fern on firelane 5

Sword Fern - Polystichum munitum

Norhern Maidenhair Fern - Adiantum pedatum

I just love these delicate ferns with their distinctive blue stems.

Here's another maidenhair starting to unfurl.

Unidentified fern on Wildwood trail.

Another unidentified fern on Wildwood trail.

This one looks very similar to the last, but with dark brown hairs.

Unidentified Mushroom

Magnificient Moss - Plagiomnium venustum

It really is magnificient!

Wildwood trail, east of Saltzman Rd.

Tualatin Hills Nature Park

Sitka Mountain Ash - Sorbus sitchensis

I was tired and the ground was pretty wet so I asked Aaron to meet me at Tualatin Hills Nature Park instead of our usual Forest Park.

Skunk Cabbage - Lysichiton americanus

This plant really does smell like a skunk. It also produces heat and will melt snow nearby.

Side view of skunk cabbage.

White Fawn Lily - Erythronium oregonum

This one was fenced off. I don't know if there have been problems with people picking them in the park or not.

Bigleaf Maple Flower - Acer macrophyllum

Deer Track

We also saw a raccoon track.

No birds here today.

Red-Tailed Hawk - Buteo jamaicensis

Not a good picture, but that's what he was. We also saw a Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) but it kept hopping behind branches and I couldn't get a decent photo of it either.

Hiking Springville to Germantown and Back

Our path today.

Aaron and I hiked a total of about 6.6 miles today.

We started out at Old Springville Road and hiked down Hardesty to Leif Erickson. We followed Leif Erickson all the way to Germantown Road. From there we took the new Canon trail up to Wildwood and followed WW all the way back to Springville.

Stream Violet - Viola glabella

AKA - Yellow Wood Violet

Thyme-Leaved Speedwell - Veronica serpyllifolia

Indian Plum - Oemleria cerasiformis

Western Trillium - Trillium ovatum

Salmonberry - Rubus spectabilis

More Trilliums

English Ivy - Hedera helix

More Salmonberries

Indian Plum

Mud

Red Flowering Currant - Ribes sanguineum

Pileated Woodpecker - Dryocopus pileatus

Aaron saw this one first (and ID'd it).

Unfortunately I made too much noise while catching up and only had the chance to snap this one blurry picture.

Oregon Grape - Mahonia nervosa

Sword Fern - Polystichum munitum

Blue Skies

Licorice Fern - Polypodium glycyrrhiza

Hike to Warrior Rock Lighthouse

On Saturday, the weather was supposed to be warm and sunny. We decided to go to Sauvie Island. We'd been there a couple other times to pick berries and to geocache. The wildlife area is supposed to be a great place to see birds, especially in the fall and winter.

We decided to park at the end of Reeder road and hike the trail to Warrior Rock Lighthouse. The map is from our copy of Best Easy Day Hikes - Portland, Oregon. It's a nice flat hike with some sections along the beach and others in the forest.

As soon as we got out of the car, it started sleeting. Not a good sign, but we were already there and properly dressed so we decided to keep going.

Snow Geese - Chen caerulescens

and

Canada Geese - Branta canadensis

When we were about halfway up Reeder Road, we saw all these geese grazing in the fields. As it turned out, they were nearly the only birds we saw the entire day.

Poor Little Fish

I was surprised to see this little guy just laying on the beach. He was dead already, but I would have figured some bird would've been glad to have such an easy dinner.

Normally Sami doesn't like to hike, but he decided that this trail was flat and therefore OK. We hiked a total of about 7.5 miles

Black Cottonwood - Populus balsamifera ssp. trichocarpa

The trail was completely covered in these beautiful yellow hearts.

Interesting orange mushrooms

We are now the owners of two very good mushroom books, All That the Rain Promises and More and Mushrooms of Northwest North America. Although I searched both books to try and identify this species, I still have no idea what it might be.

Warrior Rock Lighthouse seen from River View cache.

The lighthouse didn't seem so exciting, so we continued past it to a nearby geocache.

Just as we arrived at the cache site, this kayaker approached the tip of the island. We waited for him to pass before retrieving the cache.

Bricks and other debris at the North end of Sauvie Island

There were several fan shaped concrete slabs and an old broken down pier at this end of the island, but I haven't found any information as to why they were there. I can only assume they were part of homes or businesses built before this was a wildlife area.

Boise Cascade Mill

We headed to another geocache on the west side of the point and came across this mill. It's not on the island, but across the Multnomah Channel in St. Helens, OR.

Natural Bird House

On our hike back Sami noticed this hole in an old snag. Some bird definitely lives there. However, like all the other birds, he was not to be seen on this hike.

Barge heading South on the Columbia River

Snowberry - Symphoricarpos albus

Sometimes we forget that Portland is a major port. Then we see a boat like this and we're reminded once again.

Sunset at the Eastside Viewing Platform

We couldn't walk beyond the platform into the wildlife area because it's hunting season, but we did see a very nice (and very quick) sunset.

Ironically, it's mainly the hunters and not the birders or other environmentalists that pay for the protection of these great wildlife areas.