Forest Park Scenes

Portland's Forest Park is rich with visual incident. The first two photos are from last October, the third from last weekend. The first reminds me of a medieval tapestry, the second of a Monet painting. The third is just a surprise.

Forest Park Freshness

A lot of the visual interest of Forest Park in Portland is due to its somewhat spooky gestures of overhanging mossy branches. In the spring, when the vegetation freshens up and the rains give way to sunny days, there's a different appeal of bright green leaves, with splashes of other colors, against an architecture of darker trees. Here are some examples from a hike a week ago.

Sunlit Ferns

Little clusters of emerging ferns lit by the sun in Forest Park.

Recycling in the Forest

Forest Park is a mature forest, so old trees decay to provide the materials for new growth.

Trilliums

This past Sunday we took our first hike in several months in Portland's Forest Park. We figured the trilliums (trillia?) would be out, it being springtime, so we took the Trillium Trail. There were indeed some pretty displays, both on the Trillium Trail and the connecting Wildwood Trail.

Council Crest

This past Sunday we hiked with friends to Council Crest Park, the highest point in the city of Portland and the highest point in the Tualatin Mountains (West Hills) that run parallel to the Willamette River. There used to be an amusement park here, until 1929, and the base of the water tower was previously the base of an observatory tower.

On the way up, I was struck by the moss-colored fence—nearly the same yellow-green as the spring foliage behind—and by the complex pink blossoms against the dense sprinkling of green.

People at the Farmers Market

A miscellany of people, food, and colors.