Volcano in the City- Our Mt. Tabor Hike

For memorial weekend I thought it would be nice for the family to get out for a nice day hike. One of my favorite parks to explore is about 45 minutes away, right in Portland, Mt. Tabor Park, which is home to one of only three extinct volcanoes, within a city, in the lower 48 States, the other is in Bend, Oregon, and the other in Jackson, Mississippi. (Of course we also have plenty of potentially active Volcanoes nearby as well, like Mt. St. Helens which erupted when I was in the first grade and covered the ground in ash).  Gary and I used to hike through Mt. Tabor park all the time, we used to live only a few minutes away from this park, and loved bringing the kids and dogs.  The weather turned out absolutely perfect for a hike, no rain, and slightly overcast, not too hot, not too cold.

We enjoyed hiking through all the beautiful trees.

I was really looking forward to hiking up this stairway, this photo doesn't even reach the top I believe there were a couple more flights beyond this, as well as one below.  Quite the workout for sure!

Here are Sarah and Joseph part way up.

Then I decided it would be the perfect place to get a few family photos.

We made it to the top and the view was wonderful!

The sun filtering through the tree canopy was beautiful.

The grass was covered in little English Daisies.

Even with the slightly cloudy sky you could see for quite a distance.

We stopped to check out some of the mossy trees.

There were plaques in the ground with great quotes, I really loved this one.  "Take time to relax and watch the world around you."  I wholeheartedly agree!

We stopped to notice the deep grooves in the Douglas Fir, and remembered the way we used to be taught how to remember the identity of this tree by the bark, back in Outdoor school we were taught that it was the  "grooviest tree in the forest" because of its deep grooved bark.

We came upon this large statue of Harvey Scott, a pioneer, newspaper editor and historian.  The statue's base was under restoration so we couldn't get too close, the statue is pretty tall, so it was neat to see among the fir trees.

This is a view we had of downtown Portland.

The restroom buildings were wonderful old brick buildings, the moss covered roof was very pretty, we all appreciate old buildings.

Here was another pretty staircase, I'm not sure why, but I love stone stairs.  I once saw a local special about a photographer who went around Portland taking pictures of the multitude of public stairways in the city, the pictures were great, what a fun thing that would be to explore!

Had to get a picture of this lamppost- I immediately thought of Narnia!

This tree had a very odd trunk growth.

Here is another knobby trunk.

After quite a bit of a hike, we finally made it the other side of the park to the water reservoirs.  Love the castle type brick buildings around the reservoirs.

After checking out the reservoirs a bit, as well as a few more views of the city, it was time to head on to the Volcano cinder cone.  This sign talks a little bit about the extinct volcano, and is set in volcanic rock.

The caldera is also next to an outdoor amphitheater, and was very pretty to walk around.

Here are some close up pictures of the cinder cone area.

The layers of volcanic rock were interesting, and I loved the green growing around it.

The wall surrounding the amphitheater is made of volcanic rock, and is covered in a pretty moss.

Sarah and Joseph found the perfect branch for a picture by the amphitheater.

We also had to get pictures by the volcano.

And one more picture, for good measure, on the theater stone benches.  We were all being funny at this point and having quite a fun time joking around.

After we were done exploring, it was time to head back to the car, we were parked near the visitors center, and thought this turret like part of the building was pretty neat.

We also spotted this beautiful flower growing along the parking area, it's petals have a crinkly edge, I'm not sure what it is, but it was beautiful, a nice little plant to spot on our way home.

We had a wonderful time exploring this park, and look forward to going back again, it was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon getting some exercise and fresh air.