Roseburg to Winston walk

The inspiration (if you can call it that!) for this hike came last April during National Walk to Work Week. Walking to work is a little bit problematic for me as I live in Winston but work in Roseburg. It'd be a bit much to do before work unless I want to begin the walk at 2 in the morning, and I don't. But I do want to walk to work but not from home, so the pertinent questions were where to start from and how much time would it take? Data was required and a fact-finding expedition was launched last weekend.

Not feeling the love, here

Dollie was going to the YMCA in Roseburg Saturday morning so she dropped me off at the office where I was greeted by the fattest cat in the world. Fat Cat is our office cat and she meows by croaking like a frog. The other office cat, Blaze, hates Fat Cat and both cats wanted my attention when I showed up. The end result was that this walk began with a whole lot of hissing and spitting, why should this hike be any different from any other hike?

Autumn in Stewart Park

Leaving the feline sworn mortal enemies behind, the route followed city streets before picking up the Stewart Park bike path. Geese populated the nearby duck pond with several flocks taking flight in full goose honking song. The sky had been overcast and it'd been cold. To the west, however, the clouds were dissipating, maybe it would be a nice day for a while.

Bridge over the South Umpqua River

The park is nice and quiet on a chilly morning and the South Umpqua River pooled tranquilly below the bike path. A few intrepid disc golfers were out as the sun suddenly broke out for a glorious morning after all. Unfortunately, the nice weather lasted all of about 30 minutes and ended as I grabbed the path below the freeway overpass.

I so love a wilderness hike!

Interstate 5 would be my friend for the next several miles as the bike path followed the freeway. We used to have to ride our bikes to work on busy Highway 99 so we are most grateful for this relatively new bike path between Winston and Roseburg. From a hiking standpoint, however, this is not your wilderness hike as the whoosh-whoosh sound from speeding cars and trucks was a constant.

On the Winston-Roseburg bike path

The fairgrounds was a busy place this morning as a dog show was going on. I don't think some of those dogs were in their natural state as they were all foo-fooed up with ribbons and mauve colored fur. Actually, the same could be said about some of  the dog owners too. Bypassing the canine hullabaloo, my walk resumed on a bike path situated between the polar opposites of the South Umpqua River and I-5.

Wouldn't be the first time I've gone the Wrong Way

The fairgrounds is where Roseburg sort of ends and it was like a walk in the country where the country has a noisy highway in it. I was passed by a lone cyclist and three joggers on the approach to the I-5 bridge between Green and Roseburg.  By this time, the sun was long gone and dark clouds were approaching with tendrils of rain falling out of them.  Rain would be in my immediate future.

View from underneath the freeway

The bike path is an engineering marvel, hanging underneath the I-5 bridge. The South Umpqua flows lazily underneath the wide and paved path dangling from the span overhead. Best of all, the freeway above kept me dry as the skies opened up. Unfortunately, the bike path ends at the bridge and home was still about 5 miles away. Also unfortunately, my brand new athletic shoes were well into the process of wearing a hole in the bottom of my foot. Perhaps the hiking boots would have been a better choice for this hike.

Well, say hello Dollie

At 8 miles and shortly after leaving the bridge, the feet really became uncomfortable so this hike ended with a cell phone call to Dollie who came to pick me up. That was a first!

Colorful leaf pile

For more pictures of this urban hike, see the Flickr album.

Create Routes or find more routes in Roseburg from millions at MapMyHike