Are you a girl scout who walked the Jenkins Estate walk on October 10th and were promised a Girl Scout Walk Together patch in the mail? Please help. We know there are 6 of you out there but we lost your names and addresses. It seems the clean-up crew was so neat that they accidently tore off the top part of your start cards where we had written "Send patches".....Please respond with a comment to this blog with your name and address and we'll get those in the mail to you right away! Thanks!!!!!
Oct 10th is just around the corner and we've found a great new way to visit Jenkins Estate and the Artist's Showcase Weekend. Instead of the past start point at the Aloha Swim Center we've moved the start to the Ligt of Life Lutheran Church just at the bottom of the hill across the road from the estate grounds (20880 SW Farmington Rd, Aloha, OR 97007). Please note, this is different that the advertised Hazeldale School start point. 5 K of the route is entirely on the Jenkins Estate grounds, the rest of the walk will be a venture along roads to the newly opened Cooper Mountain Nature Park and a bit of the Nature Park. See a full description on the Hosted Events page. Hope to see you there!
ARE YOU TIRED OF THE SAME OLD ROUTE DAY IN AND DAY OUT?
Our next hosted event: Saturday, July 11th: Jones Creek Day Use in the Tillamook forest, between milepost 22 and 23 on Hwy 6 towards Tillamook, a self-paced walk along part trails and forest roads includes opportunity to visit the Tillamook Forest Center facilities. Start anytime between 9 AM and 2 PM, as long as you can finish by 5 PM
We're going back to the Tillamook Forest! It's been 3 years since we've been out there and the place looks great. The hard winter changed some of the foliage and the Wilson River has changed it's route in places. We've also added some extra Ks on as options so you can see two different waterfalls and another bridge. Don't forget the Tillamook Museum is there as well with it's great story about the Tillamook Burn. The trail is a 2+ all on trails and in the quiet of a forest. Don't miss this one. It's is a Tillamook County event! Hope to see you on July 11th...a 9AM to 2PM
We're coming up shorthanded with our PCC-Rock Creek walk on the 21st so would appreciate any and all offers of help. In particular we could use some help with the afternoon shifts at the finish table. Just leave a comment to this blog entry and we'll get in touch with you. Thanks!
Next month, May 23rd, is our next walk. We'll be at the Portland Community College Rock Creek campus. This walk will include campus areas including the Washington County Musuem, greenway paved pathways, area parks, Bethany Lake, and the Rock Creek golf course. Given that the campus is on the edge of the urban growth boundry there is a wonderful mixture of open country and suburban neighborhoods. Come and join us! Unfortunately you'll have to leave the family pet at home...no dogs are allowed on the PCC Rock Creek campus!
A special invite to all area Girl Scouts as we have designated this walk as a Girl Scout Walk Together event. Scouts can earn the 2008-2009 Girl Scout Walk Together patch or, having done that already, get a subsequent award! Scouts and other youth participating in the AVA Master Program are also welcome.
PCC-Rock Creek volkswalking class students can fulfill their course requirement with our walk.
We also welcome new walkers at this and all of our walks and will take the time with you to explain what all of this is about...in the meantime, check the blog entry on 3/17 for a brief overview of volkswalking, the events page on this site for more walk details and the FAQ/Links page for detailed volkswalking information Hope to see you on the trails!
ARE YOU, WERE YOU EVER, OR DO YOU THINK YOU MIGHT WANT TO BE A CEDAR MILER VOLKSSPORT CLUB MEMBER?
We have a gathering, reunion, and get acquainted evening planned for all individuals who have been, are now, or who want to be members of the Cedar Miler Volkssports Club. We know there are lots of past, present, and future club members out there given that we have been operating as a club in the Beaverton-Hillsboro area since 1988.
This event will take place on Tuesday, April 14th at the Baja Fresh restaurant at 12286 SW Scholls Ferry Road in Tigard at 6:30PM. Dinner will be individually ordered off the regular menu on individual tickets (Gee nothing is free anymore!) but the club will benefit from your hunger and willingness to participate as Baja Fresh will return 15% of the total purchase to the club.
So come, bring pictures, memories, and spend the evening remembering old walks, talking about this year's walks, and giving us ideas for future walks. This gathering will replace our regular Monday evening meeting at the Cedar Mill library so you won't find us at the library on April 13th.
Just so we can get an idea of how many folks will be there, please RSVP to any current Cedar Miler by April 10th. Thanks and hope to see you there!
As today is St Patrick's Day, now is a good time to remind readers that the Cedar Milers first hosted walk of the 2009 season is just days way on March 21st. The start point, directions, and details of the walk can be found on the events page under hosted walks. Our green colored brochures have been placed in several locations around the community and there is basic information posted on various local TV and Radio stations community events web pages.
As an assist to readers who may not be familiar with volkswalks, think of this sport this way: non-competitive walks for fun, fitness, and friendship done at your own pace for your own purpose. We welcome runners and meanderers along with fast pace, medium pace, and slow pace walkers. Our routes are usually 10 to 12 kilometers (6.2 miles to 7.4 miles). We offer a window of time for the start time such that you may START this walk ANYTIME after 8:15 AM up through 1:00 PM as long as you can FINISH not later than 4:00 PM thus if you wanted to start walking at 8:15 AM, stop along the way for breakfast and lunch or pause for rest and reflection in the park, that is OKAY with us as long as you return to the start point by 4:00 PM.
Our hosted walk routes are always marked with ribbons and arrows and we give you a set of written directions along with a map of the route. Before we pack up and go home we do review the returned start (registration) cards to make sure everyone is back.
For walkers who don't feel they have 10K of energy, we offer a 5K (3.1 miles) route as well. Using our national trail rating system, we have rated the 10K route as a 1+ (mostly flat, mostly city sidewalks with a few minor hills on woodchip trails in the Noble Woods Park part of the walk) and the 5K as a 1 (flat on sidewalks and neighborhood streets).
You can get more details about volkswalking at the American Volkssports Association (AVA) website at www.ava.org and the Oregon Trails State Volkssport Association website at www.otsva.org .
Our fees are minimal. We charge walkers who are keeping AVA record books $3.00 to do the walk and get their books stamped. We have New Walker packets for $5.00 for individuals who are interested in starting the record keeping process which is a great deal because the packet has $25 worth of books, discounts, and free walk coupons. For those individuals who just want to walk and not do the record keeping part, just walk up to the registration table and say "I want to walk for free".
We welcome new walkers and even have a person designated at the start point as the New Walker Information person to help those folks who are trying our sport out for the first time. We do sometimes forget that not everyone who shows up to walk understands our process so appreciate comments that will help us make our sport jargon-free, better, and more open to everyone. We hope to see you on the trails, whether you are a seasoned walker or just checking us out for the first time.
We've got a great year planned for 2009! Our first event will be on March 21st, our annual St. Patrick's Day walk complete with our Irish contest along the route. We'll also be collecting Teddy Bears for the Washington County Sheriff's Office Buddy Bear program that provides kids in traumatic situations a teddy bear to hang on to for comfort. If you think you'd like to participate by bringing a teddy bear, the preference is for teddy bears that are mid-sized (about 18") though they do accept anything we give them. The March walk qualifies for the AVA America's Historic Churches program that started this year. Our late spring walk will be May 23rd starting at the Portland Community College-Rock Creek Campus...with the new construction, new trails, and a museum, we should have a neat trail to walk. On Jul 11th, we plan to return to the Wilson River and Tillamook State Forest for a walk. It's been 3 years since we've been out there. Finally, on Oct 10th we will put on our Painter's Showcase walk through Jenkins Estate, this time starting at the elementary school on Farmington Road so that we can get more time on the trails within Jenkins Estate.
Don't forget we have 10 Year Round events operating: 2 from the Sunset Athletic Club on Cornell, 2 from the West Hills Racquet and Fitness Center on Cedar Hills Blvd, 2 from the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District Center on 158th and Walker, 1 from the Shoe Mill Store in Tanasbourne Town Center, and 3 from the fire station on Brockman Rd. We do club walks of our Year Rounds on the 2nd Sundays at 1PM (6:30 PM during the summer months) and anyone who would like is welcome to join us. Check our calendar for details.
Our meetings are at 6:30 PM on the second Mondays of the month at the Cedar Mill Library. Our April meeting will be a dinner out together, we'll have a July picnic, and some other fun stuff as well. See you on the trails!
What a beautiful day for walking in the woods! We had 271 walkers, 122 did the Stub Stewart event and 149 walked the state trail. There were several of you who had the energy to do both walks...that's awesome! Also in the number of participants were 47 Girl Scouts and their troop leaders and a few parents who all had a good time. We encourage other clubs to consider making their walks Girl Scout Walk Together events. We'll even help you out with Columbia River Council coordination. The only bummer is that the State Park hit us with a last minute permit fee and want to charge us an additional per person usage fee in addition to the $3 fee you all paid for parking. If that can be resolved, we'll think about going out there again soon!
Just got back from Idaho and the Northwest Regional Conference where I presented a brief discussion of properly stocking first aid kits. Also got in a couple of walks in and around Post Falls.
I also want to alert all readers to the 2010 Northwest Regional Conference in which the planning is well underway. They've already got some great activities on the schedule. There will be a pre-conference trip (July 30-Aug 2, 2010) to Denali National Park via the Alaska Railroad which will include a couple of volkswalk opportunties, bus tour of the park, and a sled dog demonstration. During the conference (Aug 3-8, 2010), there will be a swim, 2 bikes, and 6 walk events including one at the Spencer Glacier via the Alaska Railroad (only way to get there). Contact J Michael Devitt at jmdevitt@alaska.com to be added to the mailing list for costs, details, and other final plans as they emerge!
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