Lilly K Johnson/ Hyland Forest FAILSAUCE hike day

Let me start things off by saying... I FORGOT THE DOG LEASH... :( We were already at our first park by the time I realized and we figured Sasha is a good dog and she's off leash most of my hikes so it wouldn't matter. I was wrong... But I'll get to that later.

My kiddos: Jon on left, Cole on right

Lilly K Johnson (153rd ave and Division in Beaverton, Or) is a new hike for me. I don't actually think you could call it a hike though... From one end to the other, it's .18 miles. I found this path while delivering on Scotty's mail route on Saturday. I saw the sign and thought I would explore it with my kids today. The sad part about this path is that I'm sure it used to be longer, but was not kept up and the path goes to about 6 inches wide and covered in fallen trees and vines at the .18 in. I really do feel bad about this one because it's a beautiful area. Even at 89 degrees outside, it was shaded and felt wonderful. It does follow along between backyards, but there are enough trees to make you forget how close you are to the actual neighborhood. 

Easy terrain- very few light hills, no hard hills, super short

Path: Dirt

Not really a hike. Probably used to be. If you want a hike and don't mind having no trees around you, take the power line trail just west of here.

Dog friendly

Quiet- No road noise

Note: This is not a hike... Not recomended

Lilly K- beginning

So that little "hike" was fail enough that I told my kids we'd go to another park. We had been to Lowami Hart Woods park (Hart Rd and just west of 152nd ave) and it was acres of fun. Unfortunately the entrances I know of are closed for reconstruction for the rest of the summer. (Insert sad panda face here.)

There's a path somewhere under there (Lilly K where we turned back)

Sasha knew where to go even without the leash

That made me come to the final decision to take the kids to Hyland Forest. I love this park. I think it's great. But you know what ruins parks? People like me and people unlike me. We all have our downsides and upsides, never agreeing on which is which because we just see it all differently. But here's where I feel that 99% of the human population is on my side: WOMEN WHO FREAK OUT ABOUT NOTHING ARE IDIOTS. We started off the trail with both of my sons up front, Sasha in the middle, and then me. When we would come up to a split in the path, whoever was first in line would pick which direction we were going and then move to the back of the line. Jon went, Cole went, I went, and then we let Sasha choose. I blame myself for letting her get a little too far ahead of us.  I could still see her, but I was letting her go whichever way she wanted because it was her turn to choose. I heard the shriek of horror before I saw the woman. There's trees everywhere, so Sasha knew she was there way before I would have. Did Sasha rush at her? No. Did Sasha bare her teeth at her? No. She literally sauntered (not running) up to where the woman was and sat there. But before she was even to the woman, the women let out this shriek that I'm sure attracted every serial killer in the area. It was a Hollywood worthy shriek. She then turned to me and said "God! ****ing dog scared the **** out of me. Dammit, lady, put your dog on a leash!" To which I apologized. I did. There are leash laws here. While I find them stupid for well behaved dogs, laws are laws. But I really wanted to chase the woman out of the park with a sharp pointy stick and show her what a person should actually scream about. That pretty much ended our hiking today. We set back in the direction of the car and headed home. Next time I'll remember the leash. It makes me sad that when I was a kid, your dog could explore next to you and be your friend like in the Buddy movies and Old Yeller and Hachi... even Beethoven got to get off leash, and he wasn't a good dog half the time. But some dogs attack and some owners won't admit when their dog could hurt someone, so I honestly do understand the leash laws. It's just sad the good dogs go punished with the bad ones. 

Can we all at least agree the woman is an idiot for shrieking like that?

BUT I STILL LOVE THIS PARK! (Hyland)

Hyland Forest Park

I've wanted to do this hike for a while, so I'm very happy with how it turned out. Hyland Forest Park is located west of Murray and Sexton Mountain Drive in Beaverton. It's right behind the Spyglass Hill Apartments. The loop was a little over a mile long according to Runkeeper, but I also didn't look at a map before taking off and walked up a few of the exit paths. There are also a few paths that are not on the map that look like a regular path but they just lead to someone's backyard. They have "Nature Play" paths here in the middle of the loop, which make this a wonderful place to return to or go longer than the mile. They are all BEAUTIFUL and different. Each one leads right back out to the main path so unless you're directionally challenged like I am, it's hard to get lost here. If you ARE directionally challenged like I am, I finally figured it out so you definitely could. 

Runkeeper GPS map happy: Yes

Easy terrain- very few light hills, no hard hills

Path: Dirt

Main loop is wide enough for 2 people, Nature Play paths vary

Dog friendly

Quiet- No road noise

Note:There are many entrance/exits to this hike. Please make note of where you came in because you can easily pass your exit. Some have a wood board with the name of the exit. 
Total distance for the day: 3.6 miles in 1:20 (508 cal)

Dead tree under tree roots

Peekaboo tree was one of my favorites

Fallen log on Nature play path, now a fungi habitat.

Sasha loved this trail

Small pond covered in greeeeen

Some kids had fun posting about 15 different signs all different from this one about enderman. He's on vacation this year, you're safe.

I thought it looked like an oversized anteater

Ooooh a new picture blog for hikers

Welcome :)

I take so many pictures on my hikes that it should be more considered sight seeing than exercise. But Runkeeper says I'm burning calories so I believe it. And my dog (Sasha) is usually worn out when we get back, which is also a good sign. The problem with medium distance hikes in the most beautiful part of America that I've ever been with a very adorable border collie is that I take too many pictures to keep on my phone. But I like to show people where I've been. So I figured having a blog would be an easy way to say "Hey, I was here, this is what it looked like, AWESOMENESS!" Blogs are portable with smartphones and they require no storage space on my loverly little phone.
So, yet another Laura blog.

 


A little about me:
My name is Laura. I'm a mom of twins and I have a wonderful husband. In July of 2012, we left Texas to move to Beaverton, Oregon. I have always been overweight, but I had lost 100 lbs right before the move. I was down to a size 14 and pretty happy. But with Oregon comes wonderful food. It also came with jobs not working out, school systems not being what I thought they would, living in apartments again, and me getting really depressed. I ended up gaining 50 lbs back. I love hiking and I'm thinking it will be a good way for me to lose a little weight. It's also great for our dog, Sasha, who is really tired of being in an apartment with no back yard.

My goal is to lose 5 lbs a month. My plan to do that is to eat 1400- 1800 cal a day (I'm tall: 5'10), do weights at least once a week (hopefully twice a week but I hate weights) and hike 75-100 miles a month.
 
This week I have lost 5 already... WOOT... so I need to lose another 80 to get to my goal weight.

Apps I use that you can add me on: (I'm always looking for support buddies)

Runkeeper (I'll let you know if a park is runkeeper friendly and if it pops up your map at the end) Muzy (for pictures) MyFitnessPal (kwehdos)
and Fitocracy (the quests usually don't sync like they're supposed to but it still gives me logged exercise points)