Contemplative Hiking Society

***Read ALL driving directions at the bottom***

Come get a soothing nature fix before you face all your relatives on Thanksgiving.

Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge has a relaxing auto tour where you drive around, safari-style, scanning rivers, forests, sloughs, and fields for all sorts of interesting fur and feathers from the comfort and warmth of your car. Because you are required to remain in your vehicle at all times, the animals are calmer and they often come very close.

I've seen raptors, swans, herons, ducks, kingfishers, sandhills, geese, owls, deer, rabbits, coyotes, otters, and a blonde nutria that stood out in the deep green forest like a bleach stain on the couch. Not sure if she's still around but she was a legend. I've heard stories about foxes, and bobcats, too.

We'll meet at the pay kiosk and head out in a slow caravan, stopping often for nature sightings. About 1.3 mi. in, we'll park at a restroom and walk the flat, gravel 400'-long Observation Blind Trail to a raised deck bird blind. The trail has excellent moss, fern, and mushroom action this time of year--I'm lookin' for newts!

Afterwards, we'll drive back into the town of Ridgefield and assemble at Seasons Coffee in the Old Liberty Theater. They offer Pull Caffe beans roasted in Yacolt, WA, in the oldest wood fired coffee roaster in the world! They also have beer, wine, pastries, and sandwiches. Free parking right across the street in a large lot.

Bring $10 cash (and $3 cash Ridgefield entrance fee per car, or $2.50 online), water, binoculars, camera, and WEATHER appropriate clothing. Restrooms at pay kiosk, bird blind hiking trail, and coffee shop. Adults only, please, and no pets, thanks.

DIRECTIONS to Auto Tour meeting spot: From the intersection of S. Hillhurst Road and NW Refuge Road, continue downhill on gravel NW Refuge Road about 0.6 mi., cross over the bridge, and park at the pay kiosk on the left. Look for my deep blue Honda CRV.

DIRECTIONS from Auto Tour to Seasons Coffee (115 N Main Ave, Ridgefield, WA 98642, big yellow building): Backtrack up to S. Hillhurst Road, turn left and go 0.9 mi. to Pioneer Street. Turn left and go 0.4 mi. to S. Main Ave. Turn right and immediately start looking for parking. There is a gravel lot nearby on the right and on-street parking all around. No parking fee.

The full Cold Moon will rise at 3:54 PM on what will hopefully be a clear Thursday afternoon in December. From Killin's parking lot, you can get a pretty tasty view with a scope or telephoto.

First, we'll walk very slowly about 1 mi. total out and back down paved NW Cedar Canyon Road to the west slough to photograph waterfowl, nutria, and maybe an elk or otter. Swans, geese, and winter species have settled in so it should be good birding. (You can come an hour early and explore the little 0.7 mi. trail loop through the park, itself, before we start.) Then we'll return to the parking lot, set up our tripods, snuggle into our chairs and blankets, and watch for the moon to make his grand entrance around 3:15 PM at 49° azimuth.

Bring $5 cash, water, headlamp/light source, binoculars/scope, camping chair with lots of blankets, WEATHER appropriate clothing, and all your photography gear. Restroom on site. Adults only, please, and no pets, please.

***This event is free of charge to those who attended last year, see bottom***

Christmas Ships is a Portland tradition since 1954. If you've never seen them...Wait, what do you mean you've never seen them?

Dozens of local boaters (and the Coast Guard!) decorate their vessels, large and small, with festive lights and music and slowly parade down various routes along the Columbia and Willamette Rivers while crazed fans gather in crowds to hoot and holler at them from the shore. There's quite a bit of drunken shenanigans among the rows of floating houses.

Happily, I've found a more intimate location far from the hordes where each glowing ship slips across the glassy black surface of the Multnomah Channel in perfect peace. Leaves rustle, owls hoot, and the water laps gently on the muddy banks of Sauvie Island while an electric rainbow glides silently by. Ahhhh.

We'll gather in the Wapato Access Greenway State Park parking lot by 4:45 PM (get there early!) and carpool and caravan to a secret location about 15 minutes away. The viewing area is small, so we'll arrive early to stake out a spot. We'll have half an hour or so for birding in the dark down the country road (hopefully, owls!) before the ships appear around the bend. If the weather is dry, there is plenty of room for camping chairs. If it's raining, we'll open umbrellas. The colors are even prettier in the rain.

An added bonus to this location is that, since the road parallels the river, you can watch the ships all over again, even from atop the Sauvie Island Bridge, because you'll pass them again on the way back.

Bring $10 cash, water/hot beverage/snacks, camp chair, blankets, headlamp/light source, binoculars, umbrella, WEATHER appropriate clothing, and your photography/video gear. Wear LOTS of layers of warm clothing, way more than you think you'll need, because we'll be standing a while. I'm talking long underwear, woolen socks, fuzzy hat, the works. There's no restroom on site but, you know, darkness and shrubbery. (There is a large, handicapped accessible portapotty at the Sauvie Island Wildlife Area Offices at 18330 NW Sauvie Island Rd, Portland, OR 97231 on the way to the carpool meeting spot.) You'll be settin' up the tripod on uneven gravel or squishy dirt. Adults only, please, and no pets, thanks.

***Due to last year's disappointing scheduling glitch with the Christmas Ships organization, I'm extending a free repeat to everyone who attended that event as well as their +1s who came along. You better believe THIS year, I'll be hounding Christmas Ships right up until the start time to make sure they're actually sailing. ***