Story Walk - The Hidden Life of Forest Park with People of Color Outdoors!

We're meeting at the small park and ride lot on NE Pacific and NE 98th (turn west at the four way stop), not the large park and ride with the parking garage on 99th. We're taking the free shuttle to Lower Macleay Park where we will meet at the shelter before we start our walk. The shuttle will leave the park and ride at 12:10PM and arrive at Lower Mcleay Park at 12:45PM. The shuttle will leave the park at 2:30pm and arrive at the park and ride at 3:00pm.

What to expect

The land we know as Forest Park dates was the home of Indigenous people, including the Clackamas, Kathlamet, Multnomah, and Tualatin people, for thousands of years. In the 1890s, this land was platted for residential development. The streets were surveyed; the lots were numbered. But the homes were never built. The hillsides were steep, the soil eroded, and the city eventually acquired the land and let it return to forest. The Olmsted Brothers recommended it as a park in 1903. It took until 1948 to become official. The park you walk through today is, in part, an accident of geography that became an intentional gift.

Using Marcy Houle's book Forest Park as our guide, we'll meet the trees and plants of this forest as characters with their own life histories: the bigleaf maple that shelters the understory, the red alder that heals disturbed soil, the Douglas fir that can live 500 years. Each has a story. So does the ground beneath your feet.

What to bring

• Comfortable walking shoes (trail terrain with some incline)

• Layered clothing (Portland forest mornings can be cool)

• Water bottle

• Optional: your own journal or sketchbook

• Optional: rain jacket