Baxter Woods, Portland
Full disclosure, this was not the trail I had planned for this week. But life happens and I had to make a last minute pivot when I got the call from Lincoln Middle School, letting me know that my son wasn't feeling well and needed to be picked up - ASAP. Luckily, he didn't have "The Rona", as he calls it, just a bad headache, stomach ache and maybe an aversion to math class. None the less, I wanted to stay close to home so we resorted to our old faithful, Baxter Woods. We spend every day here, reveling in the magnificence of the light filtering through its trees, enjoying the walking/running trails and petting all of the friendly dogs that enjoy this forest as much as we do. I could go on and on...and on, because I'm a super fan of this place. I'll spare you though and get on to the directions for finding the little clay guy we left for you here. I should also mention, that one of our KMP Members came up with a name for the clay guys, Seek'ems, and I love it. What name could be more to the point and better explain the entire purpose behind these little dudes. They are meant to be found, by you, every week. Let's get to it.
I've written and posted about these woods many times, but for those of you who may be new to this place, here's some info.
Baxter Woods is a 30-acre nature preserve and the largest undisturbed forest in Portland. Donated to the city by Percival Proctor Baxter, who said that it was his hope “that these woods will be used more and more, especially by our young people and that this park may contribute to their health and happiness”. These woods include a small frog pond close to the Forest Avenue entrance and are a short walk to Deering Center, where you can grab a cup of coffee at Rwanda Bean or shop at Handiwork for locally made goods.
The woods can be accessed off of Forest Avenue and Steven’s Avenue in Portland. There is also street parking and two entrances on Hartley Street. The address to the main entrance is 555 Steven’s Avenue, Portland.
Once you've had your fun meandering through the trails, you can start your search for our Seek'em in the patch of intentionally spaced trees that I like to call the "magical forest". My husband calls them "soldier pines". Tomato, tomahto.
Whatever name you give it, this impressive patch of trees is located near the Steven's Avenue side of things, just inside the main entrance.
Our Seek'em is tucked inside a tree near the center, covered in a pine needle blanket, as much for warmth as for camouflage.
Happy hunting and happy weird Thanksgiving! Hope you all find a way to celebrate that feels good to you.
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