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Vancouver Washington Waterfront
Just as Portland has their esplanade that lines the downtown area waterfront, Vancouver has their Waterfront Renaissance Trail. This is a 4 mile paved trail that begins in downtown Vancouver and ends at the Water Resources Education Center.
Begin your journey in downtown Vancouver. Stop at the Vancouver Farmers Market for fresh produce and hand made crafts. You can also visit the numerous shops, antique dealers or restaurants in the downtown area. Or visit Esther Short Park with it’s famous Salmon Run Bell Tower and glockenspiel that rings several times daily. The base of the tower tells a legend of the chinook salmon.
Continue down Columbia Street until you reach the water and the beginning of the waterfront trail. Along the way you can check out the viewing tower at Kaiser Shipyards or statuary along the trail. The statue pictured here was designed to acknowledge the women who have worked in the shipyards. In the backgrounds you can see one of many condo buildings along the way as well as restaurants and office buildings. We stopped in at McMennamins for a tasty lunch.
We spotted birds of a wide variety on land and on the water. At one point, we spotted a large birds nest on top of a pole out in the water. It appeared to have some babies in the nest with the mom flying in and out, we assume to feed the birds. The path meanders along close to the river with numerous spots to sit on a bench and just enjoy the view. You can see Mt. Hood in the distance. Part of the way into our walk, the trail connected with the Land Bridge. This trail connected you to the Fort Vancouver area (more on that later).
This is a beautiful walk. I enjoyed it with one exception: it is right across the river from the Portland International Airport. Now, if you like the sound of planes soaring right overhead, this is the place for you. For me, it was a nice place to visit, but I don’t think I will be going back for that reason.
For more information on Vancouver, Washington, check out the Southwest Washington website.
June 12th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
the next time i am up there i will go on this walk. It seems very peaceful. i can’t wait till i go, only 2 more weeks
June 15th, 2009 at 3:22 am
[...] The home shown here is now a real estate office. 2, Land Bridge – connecting the park to the Vancouver Renaissance Trail. The bridge features native plants an artwork highlighting the Native American’s connection [...]