by Cathy Schar and Arlin Brown
Distance: A round-trip walk of 3.38 miles from our North Pocket homes
(Editor’s note: Cathy Schar and Arlin and Cindy Brown walk most mornings in our neighborhood. This is the first of a series of articles on potential walking routes.)
Start on Schroeder, turn left on Courtney, crossing River Road, then right on Rupert, left on SE Park Entrance St. Take a right that soon bends into SE Laurel, which dead ends; however, there is a small walking path directly to the back of the parking lot of Starbucks. Take another left on McLoughlin to Oak Grove Blvd and cross Mcloughlin to Fred Meyers at the traffic light.
Return beginning at Oak Grove Blvd, crossing Mcloughlin, continuing until taking a right on Linden Lane, then left on SE Laurel, left again on SE Park Entrance St., right on Rupert, then left on Maple St., crossing River Rd., then right on Laurie Ave. and back to Rose Villa.
By taking smaller neighborhood streets like Rupert & SE Park Entrance St., we can hear one another talk. A review of time spent since our last daily walk is usually instructive; we try to keep politics to only minutes but sometimes fail; dumb jokes and puns abound. Lots of laughter. Moving through the Starbucks lot, there is an option to stop for a cuppa, and we’re looking straight at “BigPink”-Voodoo Donuts. Sometimes it’s best to eat before the walk… or not. At any rate, there are interesting businesses along the way to Fred’s…or on the way to the “V” word [where, rumor has it, on Sundays you can get a 5 Gal. bucket of day-old donuts for $10. Just sayin’.] Walking at the same time each day, over time we run into familiar faces including animals: dogs, neighborhood cats, AWOL chickens, plus joggers with babies.
The spring weather is often delightfully calm at 8:00 AM-ish with clearing skies and/or wonderful clouds. Spring birdsong is heard against beautiful backdrops of dark green evergreens, budding deciduous trees, and blooming cherries, magnolias & other trees and shrubs.
Interesting sights along the way include RV Phase 3 construction progress, Good Roots Community Church & Garden, the unique Maple St. car covered with rubber ducks, the Oak Lodge Water Services District building, and the charter school construction progress at New Urban High School.
Walking along and looking at the flora and fauna, we see Oak trees, Maple trees, flowering quince and blooming bulbs of all kinds. It’s hard to miss the morning chorus from our local aviary—varied Thrushes, Black-capped Chickadees, both Red-and-white-breasted Nuthatches, Song Sparrows, House Finches, American and Lesser Goldfinches, Pine Siskins and more. And of course, the ubiquitous American Crow. Mallard ducks near water sources meander here and there checking out potential nesting sites along the walk.