Biking Through the Magical Colors of Denali in Autumn

post by Corrine

When I first moved to Alaska, I was worried I wouldn’t love autumn here. 

That season was always my favorite while growing up in Michigan. I have so many fond memories. Bluebird skies with crisp, cool temperatures. Leaves crunching underfoot. Outings to the apple orchards to drink cider and eat donuts. Friday nights in the marching band at football games. And especially the riot of colors. Orange oaks, red maples, and yellow birch trees.

Alaska doesn’t have big apple orchards. And I was long past marching bands. Alaska also doesn’t have oaks and maples. What would there be to love about Alaska falls? Would it be a bland season made even more bland by a monochrome scene of yellow birch?

I’m so happy I was wrong. Yes, fall in Interior Alaska comes early and is fleeting. But it is stunning in its own way. I think that early September is the best time of year to visit Alaska. I love that unforgettable distinct smell of high bush cranberries. Seeing the cranes and waterfowl gather at Creamers Field and then take off to migrate south is amazing. Night finally gets dark enough to once again see the auroras. And the colors, especially if you get into the tundra, rival anything you might see in the Midwest or Northeast.

Time to Go to Denali

So, as autumn came upon us, it was time to go to Denali National Park where autumn colors are fabulous. But it wasn’t the fall colors that had me planning a bikepacking trip over Labor Day weekend. Those were just a wonderful side benefit. The park was calling for several other reasons. 

First, it would be a good shakedown trip. Eric and I would soon be heading out on the Klamath Mountain Loop, a 330-mile bikepacking trip recently developed by Adventure Cycling Association. Joining us on that trip would be Nikki and Jay, so I invited them to Denali. An overnight bike to Igloo Creek Campground would give us the perfect chance to check out our bikes and gear. 

Second, there looked to be a small window of good weather over the weekend. The week prior had been cool and rainy and the week after was going to be more of the same, but there was a day-and-a-half in which it might be halfway decent. I felt we should take advantage of that.

Third, the new 475-foot steel truss bridge over the Pretty Rocks slide area was finally open to minimal traffic, including foot and bikes. The park road has been closed at mile 45 since August 2021 due to landslide activity. For years the land had been slipping slowly downhill, requiring continual maintenance. But then the slow landslide started accelerating rapidly –from inches per year to more than half an inch per hour – making safe vehicle passage impossible. The road was closed and a plan to cross the landslide area with a bridge was fast-tracked by Congress. Now, the bridge is done. It won’t be open for buses until next season, but hikers and bikers can cross it now. We wanted to see the new bridge and bike across it. 

And, of course, there is the autumn scenery. Labor Day weekend is generally when the fall colors peak in Denali. We have made numerous trips over the long weekend in the past, but it had been several years. It was time to experience fall in Denali again.

I contacted our other Klamath Mountain bikepack buddies, Nikki and Jay. Nikki and her husband Mike were on board with doing an overnight in Denali. Jay said that he and his wife Nancy had already planned to be at Igloo Creek campground that weekend and that another friend of ours, Tom, was also joining them. It was going to be a fun group to camp and bike with. 

Biking to Igloo Creek Campground

By the time Sunday morning rolled around, our group had changed a bit. Jay and Nancy had bailed due to Jay feeling a bit under the weather. Tom had biked in the night before. But Nikki and Mike were still coming Sunday, so we met them at the park entrance and started biking. 

First up was the 9-mile paved uphill climb. It’s quite the grind but we had a nice tailwind. Personal vehicles are allowed on the first 15 miles of the park road, and it was more crowded than we expected. I guess everybody was taking advantage of the decent weather and fall colors. Fortunately, most people driving in the park are polite about sharing the road with bikers. Still, we were happy to lose the traffic when we crossed the Savage River where all vehicles except the park buses and a few others turn back. 

So many cars and people out enjoying the nice fall weather

The climb up from Savage River had us stopping in awe several times. We reveled in the beauty of the mountains and tundra. Bright yellows, glowing reds. I kept exclaiming what an amazing day it was. We stopped for lunch at a pullout just as two tour buses pulled up and the passengers piled out. But we found a nice quiet spot to eat. Then a crowd led by a guide came around the corner. Oh well, so much for a quiet lunch time. They spotted a caribou on a distant hillside on the other side of us. We felt like we were part of their viewing experience in the park! Alaskans grazing on Alaskan Subway sandwiches! 

Were we part of the viewing experience for tourists as we tried to have a quiet lunch? 

They watched the caribou for a bit but finally moved on. We finished our lunches and hit the road. While seeing a lot of tourists is common in Denali, we were surprised at all the bikers we saw. There’s always a few, but biking has become very popular on the park road. We must have passed about 50 bikers on our way in. Many were out for the day, some on e-bikes. Others were doing multi-day bikepack trips past the bridge where buses were still not allowed to travel. We stopped to chat with a few of them. Everybody was enjoying the spectacular day. 

A couple of bikers that we stopped to chat with along the way

After crossing the Teklanika River our tailwind turned into a headwind, but it didn’t dampen our spirits. A few miles later, we arrived at Igloo Creek Campground at mile 34.6 and unloaded our bikes and set up camp. Eric and Mike decided they had done enough biking for the day and opted to stay in camp rather than bike to the Pretty Rocks bridge. (They ended up doing a nice hike from the campground.) 

To the Bridge and Back

Nikki and I still wanted to ride out to the new bridge, so we got back on our bikes, which felt so much lighter without all the bikepacking gear. We cycled up Sable Pass and then down towards the East Fork of the Toklat River where the buses turn around. We ran into our friend Tom who had ridden from Igloo Campground out to Eielson that morning and was on his way back. He told us about a biker who said he had been chased by a wolf for about a mile. Interesting!  It almost seemed a little scary, but wolf attacks on humans are incredibly rare. We guessed the wolf was more curious than aggressive. 

The climb up Polychrome was longer than Nikki and I remembered, but it was well worth it to see the new bridge. It is an amazing structure. We tried to remember how a road used to cut across a slope which has now mostly slipped downhill. It’s hard to believe now that a road used to be there.

It's hard to believe that there was a road here once!

It was getting late so after a few pictures we headed the 12 miles back to camp. Climbing up to Sable Pass a second time had me complaining but mainly because of the headwind. We had had a headwind coming up the other side. How is that fair?! But even double headwinds didn’t take away from my joy of a great day of biking. When we got back to camp, Mike, Eric, and Tom had just finished eating. They quickly heated water for us, so that Nikki and I could hungrily dig into our freeze-dried dinners.  

Biking Out

While our trip was mostly without drama, we did have a little bit in the morning. Someone had seen a bear out on the road. A few people went up to take a look. Mike even got a photo of it. It walked off and everyone headed back for breakfast at the covered eating area. As people were finishing up breakfast, Eric came back from the getting water at the creek and said in a relaxed tone: “Well, there’s the bear.” 

We looked up to see a bear coming out of the woods about 20 feet from the covered area where we were at. It continued to saunter past us and into the woods toward the creek, while we called to a woman who was still at the creek. She hurried back to the group, but the bear wasn’t interested. It crossed the creek and headed off into the woods. It happened so fast that none of us got a photo! We were glad we got to see it up close and that it just continued on.

Igloo Creek

The ride out was uneventful and Denali even peaked out a little from the clouds. Headwinds started to pick up the closer we got to our car but weren’t too bad. And we all enjoyed the last 9 miles, which were now downhill for us! 

Denali peeks out from the clouds

It ended up being a spectacular weekend in the park. The weather was even better than predicted. The colors of the birch and aspen were brilliant yellow and the tundra glowed with reds and oranges. I’m so glad we went. A trip to Denali National Park in September reminds me of how much I love Alaska autumns. 

The Rabbit Trail is Dead – But I’m Not!

 

Post by Eric  

Sometimes big, stupid adventures come in small packages. 

 

On a recent Tuesday night, I took my bike on a trip that took only 2 hours and 40 minutes and was only a little over 5 miles long. I say “took a trip” because I rode only about 4 miles of that. For that other mile or so, I was on the bike for about 5 minutes. The rest of the time I was taking my bike for a walk. More accurately, I was taking my bike for a shove. A shove through bushes and branches and over trees. 

 

Canceled Ride Offers a Chance for Reroute Investigation 

I lead a weekly summer ride for the Fairbanks Cycle Club called the Tuesday Night Mountain Bike Ride. I’ve been doing the rides since the 1990s and have been co-leading since 2007. On this particular Tuesday night, no one showed. I wasn’t surprised. It was rainy and chilly and windy. Since it was just me, I decided that instead of doing the planned ride, I would investigate a possible reroute for it. 

 

The Moose Mountain Motoring ride has been on our schedule for years. It is a loop that takes us up Moose Mountain, along a power line trail, across part of Old Murphy Dome Road (OMDR), and then back to the start via a couple of rough trails. One of those trails is called the Rabbit Trail – not officially, it’s just the name people have given it. I first heard the name from Rocky Reifenstuhl.  For several years, Rocky, who died in 2014, organized a race that used the Rabbit Trail. Later, it was used by the Sluice Box 100 multi-sport race. And we used it on our Tuesday Night MTB Ride. 

Dave and Mark on the Rabbit Trail during a TNR when the trail was still good back in 2021. 

However, the Sluice Box 100 was run only 3 times, the last being in 2014. Since then, hardly anyone besides us was using the Rabbit Trail. It was only ever a glorified game trail – more useful to moose than people. Without regular use and maintenance, the trail started getting brushy and trees started falling across it. Several years ago, a few of us took chainsaws out and cleaned it up, but it was a lot of work. Then we had a few storms that took down more trees in the area. Last year, only two of us showed up for the Moose Mountain ride – Dean and me. We had a hard time even finding the entrance to the Rabbit Trail from OMDR. We finally found it and ran into three places where trees had fallen across the trail right near the beginning. We bailed. We rode out to the road system, taking Spinach Creek and Moose Mountain roads back to the start. 

Can you see Dean? Can you see the trail? 

Since then, I wondered what would happen to this ride – one of our favorites. The Rabbit Trail was an important part of the ride – we loved it and hated it in equal measures – but the ride has a lot of other great parts. We like loops and without the Rabbit Trail I didn’t know if we could make a loop without the last part being all on roads – a horrible fate for mountain bikers. 

 

I had one hope. At its bottom end the Rabbit Trail comes out onto a power line cut. (A different power line from the one we do earlier in the ride.) From there our ride hooked up to a trail going downhill that weaves on and off the power line cut. And the power line goes up to OMDR. But the trail didn’t seem to connect from the Rabbit Trail up to Old Murphy Dome Road. Snowmachiners and mushers often put a trail on the power line in winter, but no one seems to use it in summer. Probably because at the lower end a creek runs across the power line cut and creates a swamp. There isn’t any way around it. (Something else we love and hate about this ride!)

 

Still, I kept looking at satellite images. Was there a faint trail there? Could we use the power line cut as a reroute? With no one else on the ride, I was free to try! 

Checking Out a Possible Power Line Reroute

When no one showed, I drove to the intersection of McCall and Old Murphy Dome Road, where the trail-ish section of OMDR starts. I rode down to the power line. 

 

ATVers have created a little loop where the power line meets OMDR, but no trail goes down the power line cut. However, as I looked out on the sea of grass that covered the power line cut, I could see that someone had headed down through the grass. It was just a single line, clearly not an ATV. But all I needed was a single line. I started riding down. 

The start of my power line reroute exploration

Well, I can report that the power line is a great reroute. There really isn't much of a trail. There are bits of trail here and there. I mostly followed that track in the grass left by someone else. But it was easy to ride. The base is mostly even. No big surprise divots. I only had to walk my bike through one short area. (Which I'm happy to say is a bit swampy!) Otherwise, it was mostly fine all the way down to where the Rabbit Trail comes out onto the power line. The exit of the Rabbit Trail was barely there, but that’s always been the case. 

 

I turned around and started to head back up the power line cut when I had a thought: Is the whole Rabbit Trail in bad shape or just the part at the top? How would I know unless I tried! 

The lower entrance to the Rabbit Trail

The Rabbit Trail Adventure

I turned around and started up the Rabbit Trail. The lower part is through a black spruce forest. I should have turned around after about the fifth area of downed black spruce trees. (Sometimes there was one across the trail, sometimes there were three or four crisscrossing each other.) But I started to think: "Maybe, it's just the black spruce section.” Sadly, no one was there to talk me out of this flawed thinking. 

 

The black spruce section was a battle. I shoved my way through some blockages. Sometimes I crawled under them and shoved or dragged my bike through. Other times the blockages were so bad I just had to bushwhack around them – not an easy thing to do in a black spruce forest. 

Under this one

I occasionally thought about turning around, but then I would hit a short section of unblocked trail. “Finally!” I would think. Then I would hit another blockage. But those short moments of clear trail kept fueling my optimism, so I continued. 

 

Then I got to the turn where the trail leaves the black spruce section into more open forest. My spirits lifted! Surely, things will be better! 

 

I turned the corner and saw the trees. A couple of big white spruce trees across the trail. Surely, dear reader, you are thinking that I turned around then. Oh, if only you had been whispering in my ear. I went over and around those two trees and the three or four more after that. 

After I turned the corner

But then I finally got to some open trail! Well, open-ish. Trees still occasionally blocked the trail, and brush had closed in on some areas, but I was making better time. Not riding but pushing faster. At this point I knew the Rabbit Trail was a lost cause, but I wasn’t going back through the black spruce. Compared to that, I had a relatively clear path in front of me. 

 

Then I started to temporarily lose the trail. With no one using it, the grass has started to grow, concealing the narrow path. I kept losing it and then re-finding it. But I knew I was getting close to the end. I might have to re-find the trail a few times, but I could do that! My optimism fueled me. 

Easy going! 

One Last Cruel Kick – Or Two

Then I couldn't re-find the trail. I looked and looked but couldn't find anything that resembled any kind of path through the woods. I left my bike and searched in a big circle. Nothing. 

 

Still, I knew I was within a quarter mile of OMDR. I wasn't worried about being lost. I knew I just had to keep going uphill. Of course, uphill led right into a black spruce forest. Fortunately, this black spruce forest wasn’t nearly as thick as the lower one. Unfortunately, this black spruce forest had a lot of downed trees. A lot! 

 

I slowly battled my way forward, trying to find an open path, but I could go only a short way before another downed tree (or several) blocked my path. Each time I got to a blockage, I lifted my bike up and then shoved it as far as it could go. Then I scrambled after it. I did this over and over and over. I said a word a lot that I won't repeat here. It kind of helped.

The second black spruce forest

Then I saw a break in the trees up ahead. I knew it had to be OMDR! It was still a hundred yards or so away, through all those downed trees, but just seeing it gave me energy. I pushed and shoved and cursed my way until I got to the alders that lined the road. 

 

Normally, I would hate to bushwhack through a line of alders, but I knew what was on the other side. These alders were my friends! They were harbingers of a clear path! Of course, being alders, they were twisted, cruel, evil friends, but still friends! I shoved (and fell) my way through the alders, and suddenly I was out on OMDR. Hooray! 

Shoving through the alders

$%#@ alders!

Finally Out!

As I biked back toward my truck, I passed the Rabbit Trail entrance after less than 100 feet of biking. So close! I briefly thought about heading down it to see where I had lost my way, but apparently even I am not that stupid. 

 

But I did it! I verified that the power line is a good reroute! And that the Rabbit Trail is definitely not a route any person should take. At least not a person with any lick of sense. 

At the bottom of the power line reroute. Look at that smile! It's a piece of cake!

Weird, Quirky, Fun Portland

post by Corrine

How bare do I dare? 

I pondered that question as I bicycled from my hotel towards Oregon Park in Portland. Keep Portland Weird is the unofficial cultural slogan of the city and I wanted to experience that vibe. So, I was on my way to the World Naked Bike Ride Portland bike ride.

But could I ride naked in public? I’m not that modest but still. . . 

When I arrived at the park, I chatted with another first-time rider, and we discussed the dilemma of what to do. As we did, more and more people showed up who were in all states of undress. And when surrounded by hundreds of other mostly naked humans, it was easy to disrobe. I ended up riding in just my underwear, and it was such a joyous, fun occasion. A great way to experience the weird, eclectic, whimsical city of Portland.

Portland – Biking, Weirdness, and Biking Weirdness

Since retiring, my daughter Montana and I have made a point of meeting up in new-to-us cities for some mother-daughter bonding and as a chance to explore new places. Last fall we headed to Denver for a few days and this summer we decided to visit Portland. We always try to find weird, fun things to do. That was easy in Portland. I hadn’t ever watched the show Portlandia, so I didn’t really know what a fun and strange place it could be. Lots to choose from!

While researching what to do in Portland, I found out that besides having lots of weird, it also is pretty bike crazy. In fact, Portland actually has two naked bike rides. The first, Portland World Naked Bike Ride, is larger and is mainly a celebration of bikes and bodies. It occurred in July, so I missed it. The one in which I participated, World Naked Bike Ride Portland, is more focused on protest. (It split off from the other one a couple of years ago.) While the second also celebrates bodies of all shapes and sizes, it also serves as a protest for marginalized communities such as LGBTQ+ and immigrants. This year it was also protesting the taking over of our country by billionaires and the closing of the beloved Lloyd Center Mall in Portland. So, besides biking naked, I was also protesting! 

It was while researching things to do in Portland with Montana that I learned the World Naked Bike Ride Portland was happening the weekend prior to our visit. I looked for other biking opportunities, too, and found several. So, I decided to fly down early with my bike.

Biking Portland

One of the biking opportunities I found was the Bridge Pedal Ride. For the past 30 years on the second Sunday of August, Portland has closed all seven bridges across the Willamette River and the surrounding roads (including Interstate 405) to traffic for the Bridge Pedal Ride, a non-competitive celebration of cycling and walking that benefits local health programs. About 10,000 bicyclists participate in this event, following a route that encompasses all the bridges. When I found out it was also happening the weekend I would arrive in Portland, I had to sign up to do it. 

The morning after arriving in Portland, I headed out by bike to pick up my registration material for the Bridge Pedal Ride. I decided to further explore Portland, so I cycled along the riverfront and along the Springwater Corridor bike path. As I was biking along, I realized that I had been on this bike path the previous year when coming through Portland on the first day of my Bike NonStop US bike race. That brought back some fun memories. After reaching the Powell Butte Nature Park and riding some single track, I decided I better turn around as I still had the naked bike ride to do that night. I ended up biking a total of 43 miles that first day.

Portland has one of the best biking infrastructures of any U.S. city I’ve been to. Almost everywhere I biked, I was on either a bike path, a bike route, or a neighborhood greenway. And everywhere I biked, I saw other cyclists. I don’t think I ever went more than five minutes without seeing somebody else on a bike. Portland really is a bike-centric. Between biking and public transportation, I had no need to rent a car.

One of the many beautiful bike paths I cycled on

Early Sunday morning I cycled to the start of the Bridge Pedal Ride meeting more and more cyclists as I got closer. I had breakfast while watching the sun rise on the Fremont Bridge then cycled 23 miles with other bikers for an absolutely fun ride. There was live music on some of the bridges and the views were spectacular. It was fun to see so many families out on bikes. I was finished by 9 AM and since I had the whole afternoon free, I decided to do another bike ride up to Mount Tabor, an extinct volcano within Portland city limits. How weird is that? The area has been turned into a city park and was quite busy on a sunny, Sunday afternoon. By the time I got back to my hotel, I had biked a total of 47 miles for the day.

Live music on the bridge!

Montana wasn’t due to arrive until later Monday, so I had plenty of time Monday morning to bike out and explore some of the trails in Forest Park. This park is within the city limits, yet you feel like you are in the wilderness. So many trails to explore but I had time only for a shorter 27-mile ride before dropping my bike off at our hotel, getting a shower and hopping on the light rail to meet Montana at the airport. It was fun to see so many different areas of Portland by bike and explore some of its city parks. 

Fun With Montana

Montana is not a biker, but Portland has a lot of other things to do. In fact, once Montana arrived, things got even busier. We had made a list of all the fun, weird things we wanted to do in Portland but were limited because Montana was there for less than three days. We certainly tried our best to do as much as we could.

That first night, Montana arrived at 6:30 PM and as soon as we got back downtown, we headed out to catch some live comedy at Al's Den in the basement of McMenamins Crystal Hotel. We got to hear comedians trying out their raw, fresh, unfiltered work. Some of it was good and some of it was pretty bad, but that was part of the fun. Immediately afterward, we walked to the Toasted S’Mores Bar. Who knew such a place existed? Only in weird Portland. Having sweet tooths, we knew we had to experience it. And to our surprise, it just happened to be National S’More Day. How serendipitous! It also meant we got a 25% discount, too! 

The next day was warm and sunny, so we took the train north to the Columbia River to go kayaking. So fun to be out on the water for a few hours. After a late lunch at a Tiki-themed restaurant, we headed back to decide on our evening entertainment. Montana is a singer/songwriter (www.aeyreofficial.com) and wanted to hear live music. I was game for hearing new bands, too. Even on a Tuesday night, there were several options. We finally decided to head to Mississippi Studios to hear three indie rock bands, none of which either of us had ever heard. 

Kayaking on the Columbia River

It was a lot of fun to hear live music and we both agreed that we liked the first band, The Flooks, the best. They performed with paper bags on their heads which was weird yet fun. The venue was full of twenty- and thirty-somethings but nobody seemed to care that an old lady (me) was rocking out, too! By the time we took the bus back to our hotel, it was way past my bedtime!

The 4T Plus 

The next day, I wanted us to do the 4T. This official route includes a Train, a Trail, a Tram, and a Trolley to make a big loop. It sounded like a fun, weird thing that would allow us to see more sights around Portland.

We started by taking the train to Washington Park where we exited 260 feet below ground after going through a three-mile tunnel. (Weird fun fact - this station is the deepest transit station in North America!) You could spend several days exploring Washington Park, a large historic greenspace that features major cultural attractions, but we only had time for a couple of things. 

We take the Train (our first T) to the deepest transit station in North America

We started by visiting the Portland Zoo, which surprised us. It was larger and nicer than we both expected. Both Montana and I have mixed feelings about zoos. We know they are great for advocating for wild animals and educating the public, but we don’t like seeing wild animals fenced in. The animals we were most fascinated by were the weird-looking lamprey eels in the stream and pond section. 

After walking quickly around the zoo to see all the exhibits, we took a shuttle to the International Rose Test Garden. We had no idea that the climate of Portland, with cool, rainy winters and warm summers, was perfect for growing roses. They have a huge garden with over 600 varieties of roses. June is the best month to visit the garden, but there were still plenty of blooms in August. We tried to find the most fragrant roses. It was a beautiful, peaceful place to spend some time, but the 4T trail was calling us.

Just a very small section of the rose garden

Next up was the hike up Marquam Trail. We accessed it from the on ramp to Highway 26 which felt a bit weird. The 4-mile trail climbs to Council Crest at 1076 feet, the highest point in Portland. The section of trail past the high point was closed due to a water main repair, so we had to walk on a steep, busy, winding road with no shoulder instead. Oh well, all part of the adventure. After the high point, the trail drops back down to the Oregon Health and Science University where we accessed the tram

The hiking Trail starts by the on ramp for a busy highway!

After taking the tram back down to the downtown area, we just had a short trolley ride back to our hotel. It was a weird but fun thing to have completed. We were tired but there was no rest for the weary. 

Tram ride back down to downtown Portland

And lastly, our Tram (streetcar) ride back to our hotel

More Exploring and Fun

Next up, we wanted to have dinner at the Hawthorne Asylum Food Carts. Yes, this really was the site of a psychiatric hospital that operated from 1861 to 1883, but it now houses around 20 food carts serving food from Burmese to Greek to Korean Fusion. Another weird Portland oddity but with really good food! Montana had a gyro while I had a Japanese fusion bowl.

And next up for the evening was live improv at the Curious Comedy Theater. We saw online that on Wednesdays the theater welcomes both new and seasoned performers, so we decided to give it a try even though it was outside our comfort zones. Pretty much everybody else at the venue had done improv before, but they welcomed us newbies and it ended up being a lot of fun. It was a totally different group of people than I normally hang out with, but Montana and I really enjoyed participating. We managed to not embarrass ourselves too badly, and even if we had, it wouldn’t have mattered. 

Earlier Montana had noted that there were ghost tours available in downtown Portland. We weren’t sure we could make it in time, but as soon as the improv finished, we rushed out to catch a bus back downtown and made it just in time to buy tickets five minutes before the tour. Whew! The ghost tour wasn’t very scary, but our tour guide was a great storyteller, and we learned quite a bit of history about downtown Portland, including unsolved murders of the past and stories about people seeing and feeling the haunted spirits of those who had died violently and tragically. It was great fun, but I was exhausted by the time we got back to our hotel at 11 PM. We had been going non-stop all day.

There’s Still More

While walking around and exploring Portland we kept seeing these large six-foot painted crows. We found out they are part of an art installation that had been put up the week before we arrived. There are 30 painted crows that all have names and back stories and have been installed in iconic locations all around Portland. They are celebrating an upcoming stop-motion fantasy adventure film based on the novel, Wildwood, that is set in a magical forest around Portland. I downloaded the app and we found a few of the crows on our adventures. 

Finally, Thursday came and it was time for Montana to leave. But my fun wasn’t done. Earlier, I created a biking route that would take me past all the crows. After dropping Montana off at the airport, I went on a quest with my bike to find them all. After 42 miles and 2400 feet of climbing, I had "collected" all the crows.  It was a fun, whimsical adventure to do, and it took me by several well-known Portland landmarks such as the Pittock Mansion, the courthouse, and Voodoo Doughnuts. It was a great way to finish up my time in Portland.

Several of the thirty crow sculptures that I "collected"

I 🩷 Portland

I don’t know if it was the perfect weather (sunny and low 80’s F every day) or the fact that I didn’t have to drive a car in traffic, but I loved Portland. It was quirky and weird and fun. I highly recommend a trip here. I might have to come back. After all, I haven’t experienced the Freakybuttrue Peculiarium or Mill Ends Park, the smallest urban park that consists of just one tree! So many weird and fun things to do. I highly recommend a visit.