The Canby Ferry

April 22, 2018

Continuing with our period of celebration for the sale of our home and our upcoming departure, we had another date night last night. After fitting in a good 40 miler out to Boring, we enjoyed our Italian meal at Nostrana before walking across the street to Revolution Hall to hear Cecile Salvant perform.

Cecile is a mesmerizing vocalist - an incredible voice, an engaging actress, she presents a spellbinding performance. I can’t believe we managed to bring her to Portland, a pretty minor stop on the jazz circuit. If you haven’t heard of her before, this New Yorker profile might convince you to seek her out.

The weather has suddenly turned incredible in Portland - beautiful sunny, warm days all week. An odd time to be leaving for Greece, really. With highs in the eighties in the coming days, it will be warmer here than there. We’re leaving for Crete to escape the heat wave.

Today we’re off for a 45 mile loop south to Oregon City and back home by way of the Canby ferry. It’s got a few good climbs in it, so it should be a decent workout. We start out in midmorning after hanging around Amy’s waiting for the day to warm up a bit. We pack sandwiches, looking forward to finding a nice picnic spot somewhere along the route. This is the first day in awhile where eating lunch outside sounds inviting.

In Oregon City, we stop to enjoy the sea lions on the dock and rolling in the river. I feel conflicted about them - I always enjoy seeing them and watching them lumber around and bark at each other, but they constitute a real problem here. They prey on the salmon runs that pile up at the base of Willamette Falls and are threatening the extinction of the steelhead run. They’re a fairly recent development this far upriver, and no one has quite resolved how to cope with them. Their numbers are being controlled a bit by capturing them and releasing them on the coast at Newport, but apparently it just takes a few days for them to swim back to the dining table.

The spring chinook run is on. The river below Willamette Falls is dense with fishing vessels.

And with sea lions. They’re entertaining to watch, but sea lions are becoming a real problem here, threatening the viability of the salmon and steelhead runs.

Enjoying the spectacle of the sea lion colony massed on the pier

From the riverfront we bike to the municipal elevator and catch a ride up the cliff to upper Oregon City. It’s a pretty short lift, but it’s a fun treat and spares us biking up the busy alternative route. From the top, we bike along the clifftop promenade to its endpoint overlooking the falls, and then climb a few hundred feet further before topping out at the crown of the town and then dropping south on Central Point Road.

The rolling slopes south of Oregon City are beautiful. We love biking down Central Point, a route we’ve followed many times. I feel a bit nostalgic this morning - this is the course we woul follow when we biked home to Salem after a weekend in the big city years ago, and we have many good memories associated with this road.

Central Point rolls through a series of small ridges before eventually dropping to the Molalla River. Today though we cut short and turn west, dropping down to Canby on Bremer Road, a small empty connector I think we’ve never ridden before.

The Oregon City Municipal Elevator is Rachael’s favorite free ride in the region. She assures me that it’s not because she’s too lazy to bike up the hill. “It’s a tradition! We have to take the elevator!”

Willamette Falls, the second largest falls by volume in the country.

From Central Point we cut west toward Canby on undulating Bremer Road.

We skirt the northern edge of Canby on the Logging Road Trail, a new discovery for us. It is an old logging right of way that the city has fairly recently acquired, paved, and converted into a delightful cycling and strolling path through the heart of town. It is a very pretty trail, lined in many places by privately owned flower gardens.

We ride it to its end at the Willamette, perhaps a quarter mile from the ferry. The map doesn’t show that there is a connection, but I really can’t quite believe it would come that close without providing access; and if we can’t get through we don’t mind investing a few miles to find out anyway - it’s a nice ride, on a perfect day to be riding. The map is right though - the trail ends at a small cul de sac lined by a wall of dense riverside undergrowth. I’ll bet it’s just a matter of time though - I’m betting that if we come back in few years the city will have punched a route through.

We backtrack to Territorial Road and head for the ferry. A mile later, I get a sinking feeling. I didn’t bring any cash, since we brought our lunches with us. I’d forgotten about the ferry though, which is inexpensive for bikes but not free as I recall. A mile later we come to the turnoff and a sign confirms my fears: bicycles, $2. We can always just turn back the way we came, but it would be a disappointment.

Happily, Rachael saves our bacon again and is the hero of the day. She keeps few bucks for emergencies like this in her small tool bag under her saddle, along with the tire repair kit she never uses.

They’re hollering for us to hurry down, but we’re waiting while Rachael confirms we have enough cash to cover the fare.

Enjoying the view from the designated observation area

It’s all uphill for the next few miles, of course. We’re at the margin of the Tualatin Mountains here, and they rise up steeply from the West Bank of the river. There are a few routing options, but today we’re taking the easternmost one, over Pete’s Mountain. It keeps us close to the river, and gives us great views to the east and distant Mount Hood. At the first good viewpoint we stop for lunch, thinking we’re at the summit. Afterwards we round the bend, find another rise ahead, and keep climbing another few hundred feet to the real summit.

Beginning the steep ascent from the Canby Ferry

Stopping for lunch near the summit of Pete’s Mountain

Actually, we stopped too soon, at a false summit. The real top was a few hundred feet higher.

From the top it’s a sharp, fast drop as we lose it all before bottoming out at Willamette Park, a small green space at the mouth of the Tualatin River. A bit more climbing brings us to the small historical town of Willamette, and then a few miles north along the river on Willamette Falls Drive brings us to West Linn, where we cross the Oregon City bridge and follow our familiar route the rest of the way home.

Surprisingly, Rachael has never accessed West Linn and Oregon City from this direction. I’ve come this way alone a few times but have never brought her here because I don’t like Willamette Falls Drive. No shoulder, narrow, winding, two lane, it has always felt a bit unsafe. Today though, it’s just fine. Thinking back, I realize I’ve probably never come here on the weekend.

This was really a beautiful ride, the nicest one in a month. The great weather helps of course, but it’s just a fine route over all. We’ll have to come back when we’re in the neighborhood.

Which won’t be any time soon. We leave for Greece in just four days now. Yikes!

The confluence of the Tualatin and Willamette Rivers

Looking across Oregon City from Willamette Falls Drive. That’s the municipal elevator on the left. This isn’t the best picture of them, but to the right you can see the impressive cliffs above Willamette Falls.

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	5
Comment on this entry	Comment	0