Sunday hike

When I lived in Manhattan, going for a hike wasn't exactly an easy endeavor. It involved a few steps.

1. Determine Metro-North train schedules. 

2. Ride subway uptown, transfer to Metro-North.

3. Take Metro-North for an hour to Breakneck Ridge stop.

4. Walk to trailhead.

5. Enjoy truly spectacular hike at Breakneck Ridge with breathtaking views.

6. Run to catch train at Cold Spring (otherwise wait an hour for next one).

7. Head home on train and subway.

We were never disappointed with our few Hudson River Valley hikes. On the train heading back to the city, however, I often thought of how our lives might be different if we had easier access to the outdoors.

There is something remarkable about the simple act of walking in the woods on a crisp winter day. Whatever is trivial in my life seems to fade, disappear. I tend to gain clarity. Situations or conflicts that had previously confounded me somehow seem to make more sense. I've always viewed nature with a great sense of appreciation. It's humbling. Grounding. 

Sunday morning, we decided to go for a hike in Forest Park, which we can enter about a mile from our apartment. Yesterday's forecast called for showers, so we threw on our rain jackets. (To our delight, the showers never came.) I laced up my hiking boots, filled Lindsay's camelback with plenty of water. We were off.

We started our hike at the Lower MacLeay Trail, which runs alongside the rushing Balch Creek. The trail was muddy, but I was altogether surprised at its upkeep. We passed a number of other hikers, runners, and families. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the dry day, even the small children, now covered in mud.

At the Stone House (above) we continued onto the Wildwood Trail. A little over a mile and a bunch of switchbacks and 800 ft of elevation later, we were in the Pittock Mansion parking lot. We continued on the trail another few miles to the Hoyt Arboretum. 

The 187-acre arboretum is home to about 10,000 individual trees and shrubs of over 1,000 different species grown from seeds collected throughout the world. We wandered through a section of Sequoias and, soon after, Redwoods, and I immediately felt as if we were in the Redwood National Forest in Northern California, not the city of Portland.

We walked out of the arboretum, through Washington Park, back to the city. When we got to our apartment, Lindsay checked her pedometer, which estimated we had walked close to 10 miles (including a trip to the grocery store on our way home, of course). 

I am thankful to be surrounded--quite literally--by natural beauty here. And I don't think I'll ever take that for granted.