[pct-l] Trail Fest

[waynekraft at verizon.net (Wayne Kraft)]

I live in the PDX area and will be attending Trail Fest. I didn't know about the Ballards' gathering on Thursday and will try to make it over there after my daughter's singing lesson.  Thanks for the tip. I'm not planning to attend the banquet and will not be taking the Sunday bus trips.  I intend to be generally available during the weekend to provide transportation and/or local color commentary to anyone who needs it.  Contact me off list if you need anything. 

Yogi asked about alternative lodging.  So far I haven't come up with a better idea than the Portland Youth Hostel somebody already mentioned.  I am familiar with at least one suburban motel about 30 minutes drive from the Trail Fest venue that would certainly be less expensive than the event hotel but not as cheap as a hostel.  If Yogi or anybody else is charmed by the motel option, let me know off list and I'll do some more checking. Although I could at least shuttle 4 or 5 of you back and forth between a motel in my area and TF, public transportation could be sketchy.

The TF hotel is right on the Max light rail line and that would be your best public transportation option.  Unfortunately, as far as I know, the cheap lodging options on the Max line are limited.  Max does go to the airport and there is the usual collection of dull motels clustered about the airport, some of which would surely be cheaper than $99 per night (although that amount is hardly unreasonable for a convenient location in Portland). If anyone wants me to check out the airport motel options, let me know off list.  

Powell's Book Store is a famous PDX  landmark easily accessible by bus (with at least one transfer I would think) from the TF hotel.  You could also take the Max yellow line, get off at the Old Town/ China Town stop and walk a ways. Hardly a problem for trans-continental hikers.  See http://www.powells.com/.

Portlland's public transit system is called Trimet.  Trimet's website is:  http://www.trimet.org/

A little Portland geography lesson:  Portland is divided into an east side and a west side by the Willamette River which runs south to north through the middle of Portland to its confluence with the Columbia River (the northern border of Portland and Oregon).  Portland is divided into a north side and a south side by Burnside Street which runs west to east through Portland from Beaverton in the west to Gresham in the east. So most of Portland is laid out in a NW, SW, NE, SE grid. (To add a little spice to the mix there is an enclave outside this grid referred to simply as North Porland, but you probably won't wind up there.)  The TF hotel is in close-in SE Portland a block or so from Lloyd Center,  a giant shopping mall.  Powell's Book Store is on the west side right on Burnside, north side of the street.  NW Portland is especially easy to navigate as the streets are numbered in one direction and arrayed in alphabetical order in the other (Burnside, Couch, Davis, Everett, Flanders, Glisan, etc.) The airport is several miles out on the east side of town. The main downtown area is in SW Portland, just across the river from Lloyd Center.  REI's brand new glass and steel PDX store is in close-in NW Portland in a very trendy part of Portland called the Pearl District where rich and formerly powerful politicians retire to luxury "urban renewal" condos exempt from the high property taxes with which they have saddled their fellow Oregonians.  I digress.  My great grandfather once owned a livery stable and boarding house in SW Portland right on the Willamette.  You and your horse could have stayed there for free, but alas the establishment went out of business about 100 years ago.

If you want a good urban wilderness day hike experience, you can take Max to the zoo, follow signs to the Vietnam War Memorial, then pick up the Wildwood trail which runs 30 miles through Forest Park in a setting similar to what I imagine the AT to be.  Think "green tunnel."

Regarding Tasty Beverages.  Porland is the microbrew capital of the universe.  NW Portland abounds with microbrew pubs.  The McMenamin brothers have established a chain of them.  Don't be discouraged by the fact that this is a chain store.  Their beer is excellent and the food's pretty good.  See http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=75&id=413.  The McMenamins formula is to rescue a historic building or complex of buildings (including one entire abandoned public elementary school) and turn it into a sort of microbrew theme park where you can eat, drink and even watch an old movie on the big screen all at the same time.  This is one of the side effects of having a residue of financially successful 60's hippies in town.  The disadvantage is that traffic is apt to be stalled without notice by impromptu marches protesting stuff like the overseas employment practices of Portland based mega corporations started up by 60's hippies.  Again I digress. McMenamin's is certainly not the only option.  So many beers, so little time.

Anyway, come to Portland for Trail Fest and look me up.  You'll have a great time.

Wayne Kraft