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.

Orienteering Setting Afton State Park

Today I visited Afton State Park to mark the control locations for the MNOC May 16 orienteering meet. (see also this post on my running blog). A good opportunity to check on how nature is coming along as our early spring is continuing. I traveled about 26 km/16 miles and covered a wide swath of the park.

I saw quite a few deer, a good sized male turkey, a turkey hen, a pileated woodpecker.

Anemones were blossoming all over the place, I saw Wood Anemone Anemone quinquefolia and Sharp-leaved Hepatica (Liverleaf), Hepatica acutiloba, both from the buttercup family. Less pleasant and rather disturbing was the prevalence of the invasive species common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) throughout the park. Unpleasant, but not disturbing were a few patches of prickly ash, Xanthoxylum americanum.

Mellie was along for about half of the outing, she is a great companion in the woods. All in all, a good time out!

In Like a Lamb out Like a ...

Spring has sprung with a vengeance. March came in like a lamb and left like one, too. I just got the gas/electrical bill for that month, last year’s average temp was 2C/36F while this year’s was 8C/46F. Now, almost halfway through the month of April most lakes have declared ice-out, a week earlier than any previous record. One example, Sawbill Lake at the edge of the Boundary Waters was ice-free on April 4. The typical date without ice for that lake is May 1.

Closer to home, I am enjoying a very early greening. Our lilac bushes, always the first to burst their buds, started around April 1 and are by now a solid green wall. The maple trees surrounding our house are in full bloom, and various perennials are practically jumping out of the ground. Lynn has been waiting for the first tulips to open their cups, they can’t be far now.

I can’t shake the feeling that we will pay for all this early-season warmth with a frigid entry into May, possibly when I am sitting in the woods waiting for turkeys. But maybe this is really it, an early start to spring.