S is for Salmon

Blogging through the alphabet, Field trip edition

We discovered this little piece of nature that is the Wildwood Recreation Site a few years ago and decided to go back a few weeks ago to walk around as a family again to see if what we remembered as being a really cool place was still really cool. It is still just a really neat place to walk around and enjoy nature. There are some fish viewing windows, a river, some boardwalks, and much more. My personal favorite is the boardwalks. That's the part I remembered liking the most the first time.

We started out by this fish artwork. A perfect place for taking a picture.

 The Salmon River runs right along with some of the trails.

Some of the boardwalks are part of the paths as well.

We ventured off the trail a very short way to a clearing by the river. The kids, of course, loved this log.

 This is the Salmon River, of course. Another shot of the kids.

Some beautifully carved benches were scattered throughout the trails.

This kid thought he wanted to touch the water from the bridge (this was a smaller stream). I think he would have just jumped in if we'd let him.

A view from the viewing window where you can see the fish swimming by in a stream.

This rock was huge and Alex's favorite thing to climb on.

A really old stump that needed climbing on as well (a little path went behind it too).

We crossed a big bridge over the river.

Crossing the bridge took us over to the boardwalks. There is some amazing nature to see on the boardwalks. They seem to go out into a wetland area. So much wildlife! We spotted birds, salamanders, wildflowers, and a frog. I'm sure we saw more, but I can't remember everything.

Alex was trying to see more critters in the water.

Those purple wildflowers just popped in color. We couldn't get close enough to see what they were, but they looked amazing from a distance.

We read some of the "nature journal" entries in these books at the end of each boardwalk. Actually, Alex read them to all of us. Good reading practice for him!

Aric being silly.

April got some close-up shots of flowers and berries.

The kids really wanted to venture down by the river again on the way back. Dad went up on the bridge to take some pictures of us.

Finally, at the end of our walk, they had to have one more jump on the big rock, and then it was back to the van.

A little bit about this place. We had to drive a little over an hour to get there. It's out toward the Mt. Hood wilderness area. There was a $5 parking fee, and the trails are mostly paved or boardwalk. There were several picnic areas that we noticed. It looks like a great place to bring a picnic and just spend the day exploring.

That wraps up my field trip for the Letter S!