4 Oregon State Parks in 7 hours

After making sure I had a better map and my hiking stick with me, I headed out to the first of four state parks at 7:30 this morning. The first stop was Bonnie Lure State Natural Site. Just before this stop, I saw a brown Hare hop out of the brush and onto the side of the road; I could tell it was a hare as it's ears were rather small and unfortunately I didn't get a picture. The small parking lot for the park should have told me that it was going to be a small park, but I hiked the very short hiking trail past several plants in bloom to the edge of Eagle Creek.

After taking a few pictures, a went back to my car and took a different way back. This allowed me to see 7 deer foraging in somebody's field.

Mount Hood is in the background.

Once on the highway again, I missed the exit for the freeway and got lost in one of them any suburbs of Portland. I normally leave cities alone, hence the reason I got lost. After following my intuition, I was able to get on the freeway and make it to the next park: Mary S. Young State Park. It seemed more like an over-sized city park with many trails through the forested region. Some of those trails used to be rails from a bygone era. Although, seeing the Trillium in bloom made it worthwhile.

After seeing what I wanted to see there, I left for the next park. (I may go back someday to hike the trails) The next park is one I have wanted to check out for a while now. Champoeg State Park, near the small town of St. Paul, has a long history that includes being the first place in Oregon to have a government. After touring the Visitor Center, I decided to walk a small distance to see some of the plant life and unexpectedly startled a Blue Heron. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a picture fast enough. I definitely want to go back as I didn't see all of this park due to the fact that I was getting quite an apatite and decided to go into the town of St. Paul for some food. I found this nice mobile BBQ called the Burning Boar BBQ and decided to have the sausage with saurkraut and grilled onions. It was quite good and I give the Burning Boar BBQ five stars for quality and low price.

Anyway, the last stop of the day was Willamette Mission State Park. As I didn't see the whole park, I intend to go back. The highlight of the visit was seeing the nation's largest black cottonwood. It is 26 feet, three inches around; 155 feet tall; and supposedly began growing in 1735, making it 278 years old. Two small lakes allow for fishing and kayaking/canoeing. One of these lakes, Mission Lake, was formed during the Great Flood of 1861 when the river changed to it's present course.