A Walk Around A Better Than Normal Suburb

 

Trail along Rock Creek

The wild trail above dead ends in a strip mall parking lot up against the stroad of Sunnyside Road. Across the road, the trail along the creek continues. One can either break the law and run across or walk a quarter mile to a stop light. I chose the first. Taco Bell bean burritos are excellent trail food.

Happy Valley, Oregon is a middle-class suburb about a half hour drive from Portland. It is a community of mostly single-family homes that has Oregon's largest percentage Asian population at around 18 percent. It is a nice place, with parks and trails, but like most suburbs, it still favors the car above all else including people. To stay in shape, I walked several miles each day crossing neighborhoods to reach each of the local trails. Unfortunately, this time, I wasn't able to get to Mount Talbert, in part because getting there involves a walk along busy Sunnyside Road with several intersections and the incessant rain.

 In many areas there are sidewalks like this one that allow one to avoid the street and cut through a neighborhood. More of these would allow for a more connected walking experience.

Whenever I travel, I like to make the streets and trails of the place my gym. Walking and exploring the urban area on foot is the best way to get to know it and exercise at the same time. We visit family in Happy Valley almost every year, so these trails are my lifeline. The best places are those that offer a trail system that allows crossing the urban landscape and avoiding streets. While in Austin last year, I followed the trail along the river right through downtown stepping past the mostly sleeping unhoused living under bridges along the way. Happy Valley has trails that wend up hillsides, connect neighborhoods, wind up the volcanic cone of Mount Talbert and along Rock Creek. As suburbs go, it is much better than most but still suffers from the Achilles heels of suburbs: wide, difficult to cross stroads, areas without sidewalks and streets that dead end into cul-de-sacs offering no straight line from one area to another. Cut through sidewalks like above would make it better. For example, there is no easy way to go from one trail to the other without crossing or walking along Sunnyside Road, the major local four lane stroad. Some photos below of the various trails and scenes from my daily walks.