In the woods with wolves and woodpeckers

A brief hiatus from the visit with the grandparents.

Today, Claire and I hiked the Hoyt Arboretum and Forest Park in Portland. It was another spectacular day, the type you'd expect to find in July, not April. Wildwood Trail offered us clear views of Mt. St. Helens as we struck out on our 2.5-mile trek.



Claire enjoyed sampling the crabapple blossoms in the Arboretum.



We had an eventful hike. We spied a pileated woodpecker gouging away at two Douglas firs along the trail. The bird was tall and slender with its staple red cap. I love those birds.



We also came close to spotting Claire's first coyote. Another hiker spotted it first. Her dog barked and scared the coyote off before either of us could catch a peek. It probably had been staring at us, though, just moments earlier when we stopped in the same area to touch the moss on a tree hanging across the trail.

At another point in the trail, we stopped and counted the rings on another downed fir. This one lived at least 68 years before it fell. I told Claire, "That's older than papa. That's old!!!!!"



We got these brushes with wildlife along a trail that courses less than two miles from downtown Portland.