It was “kids weekend”. Emee and her ex split custody, and Saturday March 6 we had the kids. We try to have a little adventure with them to counter all the computer time they get. For me it’s an opportunity to use the van to explore some areas I haven’t been to or haven’t been to in a bit. As of late, I seem to be gravitating to deep SW, probably due to the fact that my camera repair shops are out that way. This particular Saturday had okay weather: a mix of sun and clouds with intermittent showers, a high around 50F/10C. Pretty typical stuff for this time of year.
We decided to hit Marshall Park. It’s a fairly obscure (especially for us east siders) park near-ish Lewis and Clark College (which means Stasia has probably been here a bit.) I’ve only been to it a few times, the last one in 2015. Tryon Creek runs through it before it heads down to the better-known Tryon Creek State Park. And this would be the first time I’d be driving to it, so I didn’t need to take three different buses to get there!
We parked on the east side of the park at the SW 12 Drive trailhead. This access point brought us immediately into the heart of the park. Besides the playground, here is the Marshall Cascades, where Tryon Creek drops steeply in a little canyon. It’s very picturesque.
We then headed south on the main trail that parallels the creek, crossing SW 12 Place. Here is where things get a bit sketchy: the trail is pretty muddy, and if we continued we’d have to figure out a way to get across the creek. I’ve done this adventure once and that was enough. The plan is to connect Marshall Park and Tryon Creek via trail, but that seems to be years away. We could have connected to the state park via streets, but we decided that this was going to be a wee adventure, so we headed back.
I hope to get back here again soonish (at least sooner than six years!) Marshall Park’s trails are notorious for mud in the wetter months, so perhaps a summer or early fall expedition?
For photos of this Marshall Park visit, see the dynamic album below. Or, click here.
Urban Adventure League 
ha! You do an excellent job remembering comments;) I had, of course, totally forgotten I’d ever written such a thing, though I still stand by it (although now I might tone down the “eastside elitist” rhetoric, heh. Though also maybe not…;)
Also, I’m excited for your Marshall Park adventure:) You know, I meant to but I think I never did write about my quarantine walk-and-bike quest to find the actual headwaters of Tryon Creek–but I started in Marshall Park and biked my way up (parking sometimes to explore by foot), following a lot of sweet little paths. Highly recommend.
You should write about that!
Also, I stand by my reply to that comment. 😉