The arrival of a heat dome on July 4th had us rethinking our hiking plans. We’d had a nice but warm hike on the Olallie Trail on the 4th (post), but the heat was only forecasted to get worse over the next few days. We were still recovering from that hike but still wanted to get out for a short stroll to stretch our legs, so we decided to make the fifteen minute drive to Independence, OR for a walk along the Willamette River.
The city of Independence has been developing parks along the river over the last 20+ years starting with Riverview Park which opened in 2005. Our plan was to start at this park and hike north past the community dog park and around the Independence Sports Park which is still under development. Due to the city’s 4th of July celebrations we weren’t able to park at the park so we began our hike from South D Street and walked down Osprey Lane to reach the park.
From the northern end of the park’s parking area we crossed Ash Creek on a footbridge.
Ash Creek
On the far side of the bridge we spotted a doe who was on her way to the creek.
After watching the doe for a while we continued on. The wide paved path made for an easy stroll. It was early enough that it wasn’t too warm yet, and most of the path was in the shade which also helped.
In addition to the single doe we spotted a variety of birds along our route.
Passing the dog park.
Sign at the start of the sports park.
Bird in a nest.
Interpretive sign along the trail.
Shortly after entering the sports park we forked right onto the soft surface Willamette River Trail
Stellar’s jay
Flowers along the path.
Eventually the field on the left will be developed into sports fields.
Vetch
Morning sunlight showing why it’s a robin “red breast”.
Sparrow
Going around the open field brought is into the sunlight, but it still hadn’t warmed up too much.
Swallows
Spotted towhee with breakfast.
When we got back to Riverview Park instead of taking Osprey Lane back to our car we took a paved path from the southern end of the parking area.
Amphitheater at Riverview Park.
This paved path passed between the river and apartments for a little over a third of a mile to South Main Street where we turned right (north) for a block to return to South D Street and our car.
Willamette River
Killdeer
Pointers on South Main Street.
This was a perfect recovery walk coming in a 3.1-miles with virtually no elevation gain.
We were pleasantly surprised with the number of birds and how nice the parks looked even after having just hosted the 4th of July celebrations. Hopefully the heat dome will move on soon and that will be the end of abnormally warm weather for the Summer, but it’s nice to have options such as this available. Happy Trails!
Flickr: Independence Riverfront Parks
wanderingyuncks 