On “Black Friday” Kangaroo suggested we hike at Peavy Arboretum, which is part of the Oregon State University Research Forests. There are quite a few trails to choose from, and we can find a good loop that suits our mood depending on the day. We usually #optoutside on the day after Thanksgiving instead of going out shopping (this year many stores had “Black Friday” prices online all of Thanksgiving week, so I’m not sure why anyone would have needed to go out at all on the Friday!)
There was a lot of fall color in the forest, and although rain was expected it didn’t actually rain on us. We are almost always blessed with rain-free day hikes, but we are happy to suit up in our waterproof gear and hike in the rain as well (except Sweet Pea – she refuses to hike in the rain!).
On our hike we saw many dogs (I think 11 or 12). People often walk with their dogs off-leash on these trails and twice I thought there was going to be a dog fight, but thankfully the pups were friendly toward each other and just had a little playtime instead. Whew! We also saw a girl leading a horse with a family trailing along behind her. I think she was trying to get the horse used to different environments and surfaces, as she took it onto the large concrete porch of the OSU Forestry cabin and led it to a little stream to see if it wanted to drink. It didn’t look too enthused about the stream. The family was a dad-type person and a few kids, most of whom acted like they really didn’t want to be on a walk at all. As we passed them a second time the dad person was saying that his back was in pain again because one of the boys had pushed him. We waited for them to go by after using the Porta-Potty and taking photos at the Forestry cabin so we didn’t have to hear them arguing!
Near the Forestry cabin is a small lake along with the OSU logging sports arena. I’m not sure if they hold events here or just use it as a practice area.
Here are some photos from one of our prior trips to Peavy, we didn’t visit the logging sports arena this time.
We did a small loop this time, and probably walked about 4.5 to 5 miles, depending on which gadget you ask (phones, watches, or Garmin InReach devices). They never all say the same thing, so we usually take whatever number is in the middle if we don’t already know the mileage of the trail we’re hiking.
More photos from our hike follow:
As usual our hike at Peavy was nice and we enjoyed it, and would recommend it as a good local hike. Afterwards we went to Dairy Queen in Monmouth and each had a $7 Buck Lunch (3 chicken strips, fries, drink, and small ice cream sundae). Not too long ago it was the $5 Buck Lunch, and we are still a bit miffed that the price has gone up, ha. I did not get a photo of our lunches, oops!
Just keep walking!
~Ninja
every day's just like starting over 