Lake Oswego - First Addition and Tryon Creek

This walk combines the city and the wilderness. Much of the walk goes through Lake Oswego's First Addition neighborhood, a grid of streets where many modest homes have been either upgraded or replaced with attractive newer homes, most of which remain in scale with the neighborhood. The rest of the walk rambles along the Iron Mountain trail portion of Tryon Creek State Park, where an area logged and burned in the late 19th century has regrown into a peaceful forest. The walk is 3.6 miles long, and it has some ups and downs along its route.

The walk starts as Christ Church Episcopal Parish at the corner of 10th Street and Chandler Road in Lake Oswego. The church has been here since the 1940's and is the second largest Episcopal congregation in Oregon (first is Trinity Cathedral in Northwest Portland).

From the Chandler Road frontage of the church proceed east and then turn left onto 10th Street. On your left is the Oswego Heritage House. This stately landmark at the head of "A" Avenue was constructed in 1920 to serve as the real estate office for the sale of residential lots in and around Oswego Lake. From 1941 to the 1980s it served as a residence and doctor's office. In 1999 it was purchased by the Oswego Heritage Council and restored to its current appearance.

Continue along 10th Street across busy "A" Avenue to "B" Avenue, where you will turn right. On your right, between the sidewalk and the pavement, is an example of a "green streets" landscape strip to collect and absorb stormwater instead of letting it run off and pollute local streams and rivers. "B" Avenue is a typical street in Lake Oswego's First Addition neighborhood, which you are now entering.

Continue on "B" Avenue three blocks to 7th Street, then turn right. 20 years ago the First Addition was one of Lake Oswego's less popular neighborhoods, but its proximity to downtown and its walkable grid of streets have led to a great resurgence in desirability. Walk one block on 7th Street to "A" Avenue. Before you reach the end of the block you will see this house on your right. Until the late 1990's it was located adjacent to Christ Church Episcopal Parish, but was moved to this site when the Church built a new parish hall. It is bordered on both sides by newer, larger houses that were built since its relocation to this site.

At the intersection of 7th Street and "A" Avenue you will see Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church, another long-time Lake Oswego religious institution. The church's school for Kindergarten through 8th grade is adjacent to the sanctuary. The parish has had a presence in Lake Oswego since 1890, and you will be going by its original home at 1st Street and "E" Avenue later on the route of this walk. The current building on this site was finished in 1956.

At "A" Avenue turn left and head down the street. At 6th and "A" is Kyra's Bake Shop. Started just a few years ago, in 2010-2012 the shop finished first once and second twice in the Food Network's Cupcake Wars. And it won with an entirely gluten-free product, which is the shop specialty. Kyra's story can be found here.

Continue on "A" Avenue another block to 5th Street, where you will turn left. On the corner, in front of a Safeway parking lot, is the Lake Oswego Holiday Tree, lit up every year at Christmas time. The renaming of this tree, formerly known as the "Lake Oswego Christmas Tree," happened 15 years ago, but still sparks occasional controversy and angry letters to the local newspaper over the alleged "War on Christmas" the renaming supposedly represents. Continue on Fifth Street one block to "B" Avenue, then turn right.

Proceed three blocks on "B" Avenue to 2nd Street, then turn left. The next block on 2nd features two large new developments on either side of the street. To the left is a development of condominiums with ground floor "live-work" small commercial spaces associated with some of the residences above. To the right is a four-story residential development of luxury condominiums. Expect to see several more such developments in the downtown Lake Oswego area in the near future.

Continue on 2nd Street for another two blocks to "E" Avenue, then turn right. Go one block on "E" Avenue, then turn right again onto First Street. At the corner is the original 1890 Lake Oswego Roman Catholic church, converted in the 1990s into a single-family residence. It was recently for sale for almost $900,000.

After one block on First Street turn left on "D" Avenue and head one long block down the hill to State Street. On the way you will have a great view of the Willamette River and the Lake Oswego Railroad Bridge. Built in 1910, the bridge serves a couple of freight trains each day. Attempts to get the railroad to agree to a bicycle and pedestrian crossing on this bridge between Lake Oswego and Milwaukie have come to nought.

At State Street turn left and head north. After crossing "E" Avenue you will get to the intersection of State and Terwilliger Parkway. Follow the trail that heads up the left side of Terwilliger. You are now entering Tryon Creek State Park. The trail parallels Terwilliger all the way north to Lewis and Clark Law School, but is far enough from the road that you will hear just a bit of traffic noise. The paved pathway is shared with bicycles, so keep your eyes open, especially looking for speeding bicycles heading in the opposite direction down the hill.

After almost a mile of the paved trail you will see this trail junction to the left with the Iron Mountain Trail. Take the Iron Mountain Trail, and you will soon leave all traces of traffic noise and all potential bicycle conflicts behind. The Iron Mountain Trail traverses Tryon Creek State Park, a 635 acre oasis of nature between Portland and Lake Oswego. After about 1/4 mile you will see an explanatory sign and a mound to the right in the forest. This is the site of old charcoal pit, used in the late 19th century to produce charcoal for the Oregon Iron Company's smelter to the south in what is now Lake Oswego. It's hard to imagine now, but by the time the charcoal makers had finished their work by 1900 this area was a clear-cut wasteland of charred stumps.

Continue on the Iron Mountain Trail. You will soon get to the Iron Mountain bridge, which crosses Tryon Creek. Hikers are advised by signage to stay on the pathway, so that natural vegetation elsewhere can flourish. Tyron Creek usually has water in it, which may come from springs but is also at least partially constituted of urban runoff from surrounding developed areas.

After crossing Tryon Creek you will see, every couple hundred feet, a sewer manhole cover paralleling the trail. Underneath the trail from Tryon Creek to the developed area to the west is a City of Lake Oswego sewer line. It is a clue that this area was not originally intended to be preserved as a nature park. In addition, Iron Mountain Boulevard stubs into the park both at the west end and the east end of this trail. Along with the sewer line, it is evidence that this area could have at one point been developed with a large residential subdivision, and Iron Mountain Boulevard would have traversed the route of this pathway. And in fact the route of this trail approximates the original logging road used by the Oregon Iron Company's charcoal production workers.

Continuing along the trail you will cross another bridge, labeled the "Stone Bridge" on maps, although the bridge appears to be constructed entirely of wood. Soon you will come to a nice bench along the trail, which is dedicated to Pamela Claire Blake. Ms. Blake apparently helped lead the successful efforts to preserve this part of the park.

As you near the edge of Tryon Creek Park you will start so see houses hanging over a slope edge to the right.

Eventually you will exit the park onto Andrews Road. Turn right and go a short distance to Iron Mountain Boulevard, then turn left. Follow the curve of Iron Mountain until it intersects Country Club Road in a very wide, oblique intersection. Cross the intersection and continue on Iron Mountain - the intersection is an all-way stop, so the cars should stop for you. Follow Iron Mountain south to its intersection with Chandler Road, then turn left and return to your starting point at Christ Church.

Iron Mountain - Lake Oswego

Lake Oswego is a posh place today, but it has an interesting and varied history. As you walk along the side of Iron Mountain, among the tall trees, it's hard to imagine that in the late 19th century this forested hillside was the clear-cut site of a large iron mine and railway that led down to an iron smelter along the Willamette River. It's a testament to the restorative powers of mother nature. This 4.5 mile walk also will take you through some of the upper-end Lake Oswego neighborhoods that replaced the industrial uses, and also swings by Oswego Lake. The walk has some significant up and down topography.

The walk consists of two loops with a common center route along the Iron Mountain trail. This first map shows the whole route.

Here is a close-up map of the east half of the walk.

And here is a close-up map of the west half of the walk.

The walk begins at Christ Church Episcopal Parish, Lake Oswego's episcopal church. The building was originally constructed in 1950, with a major addition on the south side of the building in 2001. It is the second largest Episcopal congregation in Oregon, behind only Trinity Cathedral. The upper parking lot is a designated Trimet park and ride facility, and is never full except on Sunday mornings. It's a good place to park if you are arriving by auto.

The church is located at the corner of Tenth Avenue and Chandler Road. Cross Tenth, going eastward, and then proceed right on the sidewalk along Tenth. across from the church. Next to the sidewalk is this elaborate landscaped "green streets" storm drainage facility, built by Lake Oswego a few years ago. Many of these landscaped drainage depressions are popping up around the Portland metro area, as communities work to prevent untreated storm water runoff from polluting lakes and rivers.

Continuing on Tenth Avenue, after two blocks you will reach a triangular intersection with a center landscaped area. Turn left, onto Berwick Road. If you take this walk during 2014, you will see this political sign in several front yards along the route. It refers to a local controversy about redevelopment of the Wizer's market site in downtown Lake Oswego on "A" Avenue. Without getting into the merits of the actual argument, perhaps all can agree that the angry "highrise" on the sign looks more like an angry domino.

Continue down the hill on Berwick as it winds to the right. While this street, and most of the streets on this walk, have no sidewalks, the roads are lightly traveled with slow-moving vehicles, and an alert pedestrian should have no trouble staying safe. At the bottom of the hill you will get to this railroad crossing. Continue over the crossing and stay on the road that eventually turns to the right, which is Northshore Road.

Along Northshore you will get glimpses of Oswego Lake. I say "glimpses," because the lake itself is a private water body, open only to adjacent property owners and other nearby property owners that have a legal right to access the water body. The property status of the lake is currently being litigated by local residents claiming that the lake is actually a public water body, but the case will most likely take several more years to be resolved through the Oregon court system. For most of this stretch of roadway views of the lake are blocked by mansions such as this one.

Eventually you will get to a break in the mansions, and the lake will be visible on the left through the chain link fence guarding the Forest Hills lake easement. This is an authorized access point, one of several around the lake, for property owners without direct access, but with access rights deeded to the properties they own in the vicinity. These easement areas vary in size from small mini-parks such as this one to others with just a small dock and three or four boat slips. What's most interesting about this easement is what's next door to the right - a huge mansion built in 2007 on the site of an old private boat club. The tale involves placing fill into the lake, illegal cutting of trees, and lots of local controversy. Unfortunately you, as a member of the unwashed public, can't get a good look at what this monstrous mansion looks like, because it reveals itself in its full glory only from the inside of the Forest Hills lake easement or from the vantage point of a boat on the water.

Continue on Northshore Road until you get to Mulligan Lane, then take a right Once again you will cross the railroad tracks. These tracks now belong to the Union Pacific railroad, but were originally part of the Southern Pacific Railroad system (purchased by Union Pacific in the 1990's). Branching out from the old Southern Pacific west coast mainline in Milwaukie, this route crosses the Willamette on a bridge also in Lake Oswego and then continues west to serve local lines in Washington and Yamhill Counties. Several freight trains a day use the tracks. A proposal to put new high speed passenger routes on these tracks sparked some local consternation a few years ago, but the high speed rail planners are apparently now looking elsewhere.

Traverse the entire short length of Mulligan Lane to Iron Mountain Road, carefully cross the street to the "pathway" (really just a striped lane on the roadway) and then quickly turn right up Fairway Drive. On your left are large mansions. On your right is the Oswego Lake Country Club. This private and exclusive club, whose main feature is a full 18-hole golf course, was first established in 1924. First you will pass the back side of the main clubhouse, and then you will be along part of the golf course. While the beautiful manicured grounds might be inviting for a walking detour, I would recommend against it - first, you would be trespassing on private property, and second you might get injured by a flying golf ball.

Continue on Fairway Drive to the end of the street, where you will see a very large mansion directly ahead. But to the right is the trailhead for the Iron Mountain trail.

Start up the trail. The first portion of the trail also serves as a driveway for this cottage. It appears to be some sort of caretaker cottage for the park. Pass it and continue up the trail. The route you are following was a railway in the late 19th century, surrounded by a clear-cut hillside. It's quite a contrast from today's scenery.

The trail continues up a gentle slope, through the trees providing ample shade. When you reach a trail junction continue straight ahead rather than turning left and heading down the hill. Remember this spot - you will be returning to this location from the other direction later in the walk.

Continuing up the Iron Mountain trail, you will eventually reach a resting spot and interpretive display on the site of the Prosser Iron Mine. The railway ended at this location, and the now almost pristine hillside you are on was the site of a warren of mine shafts and associated activity. The mine shafts themselves have been sealed up and are inaccessible. Continuing beyond the mine site, you will come to another stopping point with benches. It is meant to be a scenic overlook, but all the trees on the hillside pretty much block out any views of Oswego Lake. This deck was originally built by a group of boy scouts as part of an eagle scout project, but was later modified by the City of Lake Oswego. Continuing on the trail, you will soon reach its end, on Glen Eagles Road. At the roadway, turn left.

You are now in Lake Oswego's Uplands neighborhood, characterized originally by mid-sized houses on large lots, but the more recently some of those houses have been the subject of extensive house enlargements and "tear-downs" in favor of new luxury dwellings. The neighborhood is now a sometimes uncomfortable mixture of the modest and the extravagant in terms of single-family residential development. You will see this contrast as you walk down Glen Eagles. At Wembley Park Road turn left, and stay on the left side of the street, which has a walking path.

Wembley Park tees into Twin Fir Road - turn left here. You will be only a short distance on this roadway, but it has a curve and not much of a shoulder, so be careful. At Edgemont Road turn left. This is a quiet dead-end street continuing the juxtaposition between older modest homes and newer more substantial dwellings.

At the end of Edgemont a trail leaves the roadway on the right - this is the route you will take. The trail is fairly steep and narrow with a few switchbacks as it heads down a hill, so watch your step. You are now back in the Iron Mountain open space area, with tall trees shading the pathway.

Eventually you will cross a drainageway on a wooden bridge. On the other side the trail forks - it doesn't matter which way you take, because after a few hundred feet the trails meet up again.

As you continue on the trail, to your right down the hill and through the trees you will see the Lake Oswego Hunt Club, a large equestrian facility with stables, pastures, and riding rings. The horses occasionally are ridden onto the trails of the Iron Mountain open space area, so keep your eye on the trail for the occasional horsepie. The Lake Oswego Hunt Club has been a civic institution since the 1920's, and is the only such facility remaining in the area. Since the club owns the property, and interest in equestrian activities remains high, this facility will be staying here for the foreseeable future, not to succumb to urban development as other similar facilities in the Portland area have.

Continuing on the trail, you will come to another nice bench allowing a rest while traversing back up the hill. Eventually you will reach the trail fork we talked about earlier, and you will continue on the portion of the trail you already traversed back to Fairway Road, past the caretaker's cottage. Continue down Fairway Road with the golf course now to your left and the mansions to your right.

At Iron Mountain Road turn left and stay on the left side of the street, where the pathway is located. After a few hundred feet, when you reach the entrance driveway to the Oswego Lake Country Club on your left, carefully cross Iron Mountain and proceed to the right on Pine Valley Road. Stay on Pine Valley as it winds to the left, past intersections with Westward Ho Road and Troon Road. Eventually the road loops back to Iron Mountain Road.

Once again, carefully cross Iron Mountain to the pathway on the left side of the road (actually just a striped bit of pavement) and head to the right. You will eventually reach a three-way intersection where Iron Mountain actually goes to the left and the road going straight ahead changes to Chandler. Stay right and take Chandler back to your starting point at Christ Church.

Tanner Creek - West Linn

West Linn's city motto is "A City of Trees, Hills, and Rivers." This walk will take you past plenty of trees and hills, although the "river" in this case is the pretty puny Tanner Creek (the Willamette and Tualatin, which both border the city, will have to await another walk). What should impress most about this walk is how the city has created a system of paths and trails amidst new suburban development that keep a bit of nature nearby. The walk is 2.7 miles long, and, like the rest of West Linn, has no flat terrain (although the ups and downs aren't too strenuous).

The walk begins in Tanner Creek Park, at a small parking lot near the intersection of Parker Road and Wild Rose Drive. If the lot is full or closed you can park along Wild Rose to the north of Parker Road. Take the trail that leaves the park behind the restroom building. You will be walking along the riparian corridor of Tanner Creek.

Continue straight on the trail until it rejoins Parker Road. At the curve of Parker Road you will see the trail continue on the other side - cross the street here, watching for traffic. After crossing Parker the trail continues to the northwest, between townhomes on the left and a riparian area on the right. If you look closely into the riparian area you will see some ponds among the trees. You are walking on the former roadbed of Parker Road, before it was rerouted in the late 1990's. Instead of losing the right of way, the city showed some foresight and maintained it as a trail.

You will see several of these signs along your route. These are storm drainage detention areas, where runoff from the urban development around West Linn is detained, instead of flowing into a storm drain with all of its pollutants and then eventually to the Willamette. Small flows (the most polluted) seep into the ground, and larger flows slow down and dump some of their sediments before leaving the pond and discharging to Tanner Creek.

Continue on the pathway to the intersection of Salamo Road and Rosemont Road. At the intersection, cross the street and continue right on the pathway alongside Rosemont Road. You will pass by Oppenlander Field, which hosts youth sports activities. At the intersection of Rosemont and Wild Rose Drive, cross the street again and go right. But before you cross, you will see on your left a stakehouse of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, aka the Mormon Church. Constructed several years ago, this building was the subject of significant local controversy, as many neighbors vociferously opposed its location here. But with some design and traffic modifications (including construction of the pathway you have been walking on along Rosemont), the building was finally approved by the city. Among the other requirements was the preservation of the grove of trees along Rosemont to the right of the church, which add considerably to the site's design aesthetics.

Once you cross Rosemont, proceed downhill on Wild Rose Drive to Ridge Lane, where you will turn left. Walk down Ridge Lane, until you reach what appears to be the end of the road, but not really. Ridge Lane continues as a graveled rural cartpath. These kind of jarring roadway changes are not unusual in suburban communities that still have patches of rural development.

Walk down and then up the almost unimproved Ridge Lane, and you will eventually reach civilization again, the form of asphalt. But only for a few hundred feet. The roadway then ends again, and this time turns into a grassy area impassable by vehicles. But this is still Ridge Lane, in the form of an unimproved right of way, so continue straight ahead through the grassy area until you get to Ireland Lane. On your left right before the road ends is a narrow driveway that currently serves as the main access for these homes to Rosemont Road (unless they want to brave the graveled cartpath you earlier traversed. Good access to these houses awaits improvements to either end of Ridge Lane

At Ireland Lane, you reach asphalt again, in the form of a subdivision that is less than ten years old. Turn right on Ireland, and at its end turn right again onto Gardiner. Go a few hundred feet, and then turn to the left down this steep little street with four houses on it. At the end of the street is a pedestrian pathway.

Follow the pedestrian pathway, and you will soon cross this bridge, in the midst of another forested enclave left nestled among the large suburban homes. The pathway will empty upon another small street with six homes on it that leads down to Parker Road.

At Parker Road, cross the street, watching for traffic, and then turn left. Soon on your right you will see a pedestrian pathway between two backyards - take it. At the other end of the pathway turn left, and you are on Winkel Way. This unusual name for a street commemorates Harold Winkel (1918-2004), a longtime civic figure, graduate of West Linn High School in 1935, and city councilor in the 1950's and 1960's. A recent police report from the West Linn newspaper exemplifies the public safety concerns along this street.

Continue on Winkel Way as it makes a 90 degree turn to the right. After a few houses, you will see another pedestrian pathway on the left, consisting of a set of stairs. Take the stairs, and at the top is Sunset Avenue. Turn right.

You are now on the edge of West Linn's Sunset neighborhood. Unlike the other neighborhoods along this walk, Sunset was subdivided in the early 20th century and developed slowly over the years with a wide variety of houses. It is a vestige of the "old" West Linn, which was a Willamette River mill town, as opposed to the high-income suburb it has since been transformed into. And this view shows that, despite more recent suburban development, West Linn retains a tranquil rural atmosphere in many places within the city.

As Sunset Avenue turns left, stay with the street, and then turn right onto Reed Street. This little dead end lane has both old, rural residences and new fancy homes. At the end of the street, you will see another trail connection down the hill. Follow the trail.

This trail is steep downhill, so walk carefully. At the bottom you will be at the end of Landis Street. Cross the street and stay on the trail as it continues downhill back to Tanner Creek. Follow the trail as it turns right and continues between homes uphill on the right and the forested Tanner Creek area on the left. The trail ends at Stonegate Lane, and you will cross this pretty stone bridge to the left.

Where Stonegate Lane meets Beacon Hill Drive, turn right. After a short distance turn right again on Beacon Hill Court. After passing Sabo Lane you will see another trail going off to the left. Follow this trail, once again along Tanner Creek.

This trail is forested on both sides, with the backs of houses on either side barely visible. Eventually you will get to this pedestrian bridge over Tanner Creek, to the right. Cross the bridge, and on the other side the trail turns left and  briefly traverses an access way for several houses before continuing along the creek. Follow the trail.

Eventually you will see a large retaining wall on your right. Above you is the West Linn Skate Park, well-used by young local daredevils. When you reach Wild Rose Drive, turn right and then enter the skate park grounds to enjoy watching the performers. The skate park has been the object of some local controversy because some of the neighbors perceive youngsters having fun as a threat to their suburban peace and tranquility. On the other hand, some have suggested that young people in a town like West Linn can get bored pretty quickly, and these kinds of available recreational activities alleviate that boredom.

You are now back at the start of this walk, across the street from the Tanner Creek Park parking lot.