House on a Pedestal
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Today's ramble (at the 4.5 level) started off with the announcement by the ramble leader, "I'm going to go a little faster today because we need to cover the distance." Behind him, someone quietly quipped, "and this is different how?"
Our destination wasn't as clear as they normally are. Instead of "Pittock Mansion", "Governor's Park", or "Council Crest", today's ramble destination was rather obliquely referred to as "A house on a pedestal."
So off we went. We managed to cover over seven miles in almost exactly 2 hours; no small feat considering there was at least a five-minute break at our destination. Furthermore, we gained nearly 1000 feet of elevation in this ramble. I know that I was working hard for it - and I may even be a little sore in the morning.
View Larger Map
The ramble was fast and fun, and the house we traveled to was impressive to see. It literally looked like an enlarged stereotypical birdhouse, and it was just plain cool to look at.
Rambling back, however, is always the hardest part for me. After an hour of working hard (and I like going uphill), I'm just a little slower - and I don't like going downhill. I have to work a lot harder to keep up with the group on the return trip than I do on the ascent. It's something I have to work on; I'm not sure if it's stamina or just pacing, but I will one day be just as good at the return trip as I am on the adventure out.
Our destination wasn't as clear as they normally are. Instead of "Pittock Mansion", "Governor's Park", or "Council Crest", today's ramble destination was rather obliquely referred to as "A house on a pedestal."
So off we went. We managed to cover over seven miles in almost exactly 2 hours; no small feat considering there was at least a five-minute break at our destination. Furthermore, we gained nearly 1000 feet of elevation in this ramble. I know that I was working hard for it - and I may even be a little sore in the morning.
View Larger Map
The ramble was fast and fun, and the house we traveled to was impressive to see. It literally looked like an enlarged stereotypical birdhouse, and it was just plain cool to look at.
Rambling back, however, is always the hardest part for me. After an hour of working hard (and I like going uphill), I'm just a little slower - and I don't like going downhill. I have to work a lot harder to keep up with the group on the return trip than I do on the ascent. It's something I have to work on; I'm not sure if it's stamina or just pacing, but I will one day be just as good at the return trip as I am on the adventure out.
posted by Burton at 10:22 PM
1 Comments:
Discovering Portland on foot, what a stimulating group activity! I was curious about the birdhouse but unable to discern much from the google map. There's a good photo at http://explorepdx.com/mnp_tr6.html
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