Three years ago I took the bike down the trail in Albany’s Simpson Park and made a video of the experience. Not many people saw it, but just yesterday somebody left this comment: “This park today is absolutely filthy and infested with homeless encampments.”
You can walk from Bowman Park to Talking Water Gardens and back along a well trodden path. Albany’s plans call for this path to be improved as the South Waterfront Trail, but carrying out that plan will have to wait.
We shouldn’t forget that so many people in Oregon have lost their jobs and income because of the coronavirus panic. But Albany’s forest trails offer at least a chance to get away from the news.
The dry weather of the last few days has made this a great time to visit Albany’s Simpson Park trail, whether on foot or on a fat-tire bike.
September is a great time to venture out on Albany’s two riverside trails, one on each side of the Willamette. I was reminded of this when I rode my bike along the Simpson Park trail last week.
It’s rare that you meet another person on the narrow, winding wooded trail between Albany’s Simpson and Bowman parks. Today, though, I ran into a man who was tacking a missing-person poster to a tree. Here, listen to him explain:
An autumn visit to the Simpson Park Trail
This gloomy November may not be the best time to visit Albany’s Simpson Park Trail. But I went there on the bike a weekend ago on what was still a nice fall day.
Tags: Albany parks, Albany trails, boater access, First Lake, homeless camps, Simpson Park