We had 30 walkers at the walk today, and 19 walkers were from our very own club.  Good show!  We did get bogged down at the Grist Mill.  I found out later, they had the kids grinding the apples and that was the reason for the delay.  Also, after 12:30, people were only able to purchase 1 quart of cider, so we did pretty darned good.  Moulton Falls is by far still one of our favorite walks.  it is so beautiful, in any kind of weather.  Some of us went through the town of Yacolt and saw the train with the Headless Horseman and since we missed the actual trail ride, check it out this video  Mary said we have to make this a for-sure thing next year.  The train rides are 10-12 and 2 with stop for cookies and cider.  Sounds like a real "Merrywalker excurison."  This was the second year the Merrywalkers have made this trip, and it just might become one of those "annual things" and it was fun to get our books stamped for something we were going to do anyway! 

Good job today, 9 people so we did it in record time.
We'll see everyone at the Cedar Creek Grist Mill or at least at Moulton Falls tomorrow.  Don't forget your lunch.

Today we did the 10k Soup Walk/Fall Foliage Walk for 2011 to make sure we get the best of the best for next year.  It was really great.  We had 7 Merrywalkers show up and we decided to stop midway and had lunch at Clancy's.  

Again, not much wildlife, but we did see a beautiful rainbow and the moon at the same time, which was neat, but the picture didn't turn out, so you had to be there.  The wind brought down one big tree limb on our path, so we all had to climb over that and the usually green duck weed that covers the pond, is now turning to it's winter white.  We also took pictures of the beaver damage as well.  Donna (our resident Refuge Trail person) said the beavers can't set up homes in the pond because they need to be near a river that flows.  Now that might not be interesting to most of you, but to a city person, wow, that is interesting!

And Winifred Samson of Portland is the winner of a 1 year membership to the AVA. Congratulations, Winifred!
We also gained 3 new Merrywalkers:  Lynn Pittman, Skoko and William Wise!  Welcome!  
Everyone enjoyed the soups and were able to take advantage of all of the recipes.  We also collected at least seven grocery bags full of non-perishable items and I'm sure the Food Pantry of Sherwood really enjoyed it. A big thank-you to all of the workers and the soup makers for making this walk successful. And another thank-you to all of you who contributed to the Sherwood Food Bank, we delivered 10 bags of food.
Thanks for coming and maybe we'll see you next week at Moulton Falls.
More pictures are under the pictures tab.

These are just a few of the streets that are on our 5k walk.  There's still time, come and join us, it is beautiful out here!

We couldn't make it to the walks today because we were busy getting ready for our walk tomorrow.  The soups on, the leaves are fantastic and the rain has arrived.  Thanks to our roving reporter/photographer, Starr.  Enjoy her pictures and her blog.  See you tomorrow!

Well the rains held off for the brave souls who enjoyed the Harvest Moon walk. Although the clouds were blocking the full moon it didn't stop all of the areas young people. This walk was also the night of the "Zombie March". I've never seen so many bloody gouls in my life. What a spectacular bonus and everyone behaved! We went up to Knob Hill with some beautiful homes to view. Then up to Washington Park for some wonderful fall color and flowers. Then over to and around Stump Town. This walk took in a lot of what makes Portland so liveable and why we love it so much. It was planned and marked with a lot of time and care. Thank you for a very enjoyable "Goulish Evening"!  -- Starr