SWTrails 3rd Saturday Walk December 21, 2024
Meet at Ida B Wells Parking Lot Near the Food Carts

Name: Train Wrecks, Crossings, and Trails, Oh My! Hillsdale History Loop
Leader: Lee Buhler
Start Location: Ida B. Wells Parking Lot near the Food Cart Court
Start Time: 9 am (arrive 10-15 min. early so we can start promptly at 9am)
Distance: 3.2 Mi
Elevation Change: 250 Ft
Average Pace: 2 mph
Bus Information: Due to schedule changes, check Tri Met for bus information
Special Notes: May be some challenging steps and mud. Bring Walking sticks if you want. Dress for the weather! It could be rainy. It could be cold.

We will start at Wells High School and walk through the campus to Vermont. After walking down Vermont we will cross Bertha. Local Rail Expert, Doug Rogers will show the route of the West Portland Park Motorway train route and talk about the Southern Pacific/Red Electric train wreck and why it happened. The 1920 accident resulted in 8-9 fatalities, including two children, and as many as 102 people were injured.

We will go through the Stephens Creek Nature Park via the Raz-Baack crossing and stop at the yard of Trudy Raz for a little Christmas treat and hear more about SW Portland rail lines. Don Baack will talk about Werner Raz and the history of the Raz-Baack crossing (Trudy Raz’s family provided funding for the crossing built by SW Trails). He will also talk about the signage for the soon-to-be completed Hillsdale to Lake Oswego Trail that SWTrails has been working hard on. He will show an example of one of the interpretative signs (with related web links) that we expect to be installed soon.

We will continue on Nevada Ct to 25th, through the Texas Wetlands, and past the 122-unit Stephens Creek Crossing Housing Authority of Portland Development. We will continue up to Vermont/Capitol Hwy. to cross at 25th, visit the bug hotel, and walk down to Fanno Creek via the steps built by SWTrails. We will then cross Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway and walk behind Robert Gray Middle School up to Sunset to return to our starting point.