Trip to Portland, OR: Portland Area

I enjoyed a few jogs through Portland parks and along the Willamette River. Wile I did not have much time to look at native fauna and flora, here are some impressions.

I ran several times in Washington Park, which is home to the Hoyt Arboretum and the Portland Zoo. I was impressed with the old-growth spruce and cedars. Walls and bluffs are thickly covered with English ivy (Hedera helix). The latter is an invasive species, listed by USDA and Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA). While the ivy cover looks pretty it should not be forgotten that the plant is as destructive as Kudzu in the US South.

I did notice at least three varieties of wild geranium.

Willamette River is a large river, seemingly larger than my point of reference, the Mississippi at St. Paul, MN. But that is just by appearance, maybe because of its width: the record discharge for the Mississippi was 170 kcfs while that of the Willamette was 39 kcfs.