Homeless camps in Forest Park

[arlohike]

One of my favorite destinations for a quick hike is the Ridge Trail in Forest Park. It starts at the end of the St. Johns Bridge and intersects several other trails and forest roads, creating some nice loops that can be done in 1-2 hours.

I've been noticing several footpaths leading off the main trail, and decided yesterday to follow some and see where they went. Most of them led to homeless camps, not far off the trail but well hidden from it. These ranged from the familiar blue tarp and scrap lumber with litter strewn about, to tidy sites with a store-bought tent, to a hut constructed of branches and ferns, hidden in plain sight less than 10 feet from the trail (not sure if the latter is actually some kind of art project).

Anyway, this generated some questions:

1) How long does it take just a few people walking the same route every day to create a path? These paths were narrow but distinct, cleanly parting the English Ivy, for example.

2) Or maybe the paths were there first and the campers followed them?

3) Is there a lot of camping in other areas of Forest Park that I've been oblivious to?

4) How do you feel about this kind of activity occurring in the park?

[retired jerry]

I see signs of homeless people occasionally, makes me nervous.

Difficult problem. They do sometimes harass people or damage natural areas. If you just "move them on" they'll just go somewhere else. In our land of abundance there must be some way that everyone can find a place to live and have basic needs met. Too much welfare my motivate some people not to work?

[Don Nelsen]

One of my favorite destinations for a quick hike is the Ridge Trail in Forest Park. It starts at the end of the St. Johns Bridge and intersects several other trails and forest roads, creating some nice loops that can be done in 1-2 hours.

I've been noticing several footpaths leading off the main trail, and decided yesterday to follow some and see where they went. Most of them led to homeless camps, not far off the trail but well hidden from it. These ranged from the familiar blue tarp and scrap lumber with litter strewn about, to tidy sites with a store-bought tent, to a hut constructed of branches and ferns, hidden in plain sight less than 10 feet from the trail (not sure if the latter is actually some kind of art project).

Anyway, this generated some questions:

1) How long does it take just a few people walking the same route every day to create a path? These paths were narrow but distinct, cleanly parting the English Ivy, for example.

2) Or maybe the paths were there first and the campers followed them?

3) Is there a lot of camping in other areas of Forest Park that I've been oblivious to?

4) How do you feel about this kind of activity occurring in the park?

1: I first noticed camps in that area in 2010. It looked like they had been there for quite a while - years, perhaps.

2: Possibly, there was at least one home in the area - now gone - and it appears that homeless/vagrants have camped in the area for many years from the looks of the debris scattered about. Easily accessed level areas are great spots for camps. I'll bet the area has been heavily used since at least the great depression. On a related note: When I was a kid, before I-84 and the Lloyd Center was built, there was a huge "homeless camp" between the 13th Ave bridge and the Grand Ave. bridge over Sullivan's Gulch. In the earlier days, most of those folks were unemployed due to the depression and likely were nothing like what we see today. Their shacks were constructed during the depression and were torn down at the start of WWII but people continued to live in the area for many years after. Those folks went somewhere when the freeway construction started about 1954/55.

3: Most likely, - the only other major camp area I know of is between the power lines and Newton road 2.4 miles farther north off Hwy 30. It's been there since at least 2004 and probably much longer.

4: Very complicated question as the cause is so multifaceted.

dn

[Guy]

Remember this story from back in 2004.
http://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/s ... -509339295

I don't think this Farther and daughter were typical of most homeless folks though.

[arlohike]

1: I first noticed camps in that area in 2010. It looked like they had been there for quite a while - years, perhaps.

Ah ... wow.

3: Most likely, - the only other major camp area I know of is between the power lines and Newton road 2.4 miles farther north off Hwy 30. It's been there since at least 2004 and probably much longer.

I also hike up Newton Road frequently, starting at the Highway 30 trailhead. I'll have to be more observant next time I'm in that area.

[Aimless]

The biggest problems I see with homeless encampments are precisely the same problems any of us would face if we had to pitch a makeshift camp in some nook or cranny of 'waste' land near freeways or in the brushy edges of public parks; we'd generate human waste and garbage, but have no easy way to dispose of it. Add to that the problems of being destitute and often in poor health, and none of us are likely to do much better under the same circumstances.

It is a complex problem, but the nearest approach I've seen recently to something that 'kind of' works, is to designate an area where the homeless are permitted to camp, with access to some basic services, like water, toilets, garbage collection, and police protection (the homeless are more often crime victims than criminals). Of course, this results in a squalid, ugly encampment that few respectable people would want to live near or have next to their businesses, but compared to dispersing the homeless into camps with no services, it is marginally better.

As a society, we seem wholly unwilling to create the sort of socialist state that redirects large amounts of our economic surplus to things like universal health care and housing, rather than spending more on our military than the next nine largest militaries combined. No matter how often this idea is raised, it never seems to get any traction with the public, so instead we grapple with social problems by applying as few resources as possible, then wonder why the solutions never work.

[Don Nelsen]

3: Most likely, - the only other major camp area I know of is between the power lines and Newton road 2.4 miles farther north off Hwy 30. It's been there since at least 2004 and probably much longer.

I also hike up Newton Road frequently, starting at the Highway 30 trailhead. I'll have to be more observant next time I'm in that area.

Shortly after the start of the Newton Road trail there is a junction that heads up the power line road. About 1/10 mile up that road you should see a trail on the left. The camp is about 200 feet off the road. I'd be very careful about checking it out further though. (Then again, it may not still be there and there may be more or different ones in the area.)

I used to hike/run Newton road a lot while waiting for traffic to clear getting back home in Vancouver. There are lots of possible loops in that area (as you probably know).

dn

[walrus]

Portland Monthly interviewed the Forest Park Ranger this summer and he talked about the camps. https://www.pdxmonthly.com/articles/201 ... one-ranger

[xrp]

It is a complex problem, but the nearest approach I've seen recently to something that 'kind of' works, is to designate an area where the homeless are permitted to camp, with access to some basic services, like water, toilets, garbage collection, and police protection (the homeless are more often crime victims than criminals). Of course, this results in a squalid, ugly encampment that few respectable people would want to live near or have next to their businesses, but compared to dispersing the homeless into camps with no services, it is marginally better.

As a society, we seem wholly unwilling to create the sort of socialist state that redirects large amounts of our economic surplus to things like universal health care and housing, rather than spending more on our military than the next nine largest militaries combined. No matter how often this idea is raised, it never seems to get any traction with the public, so instead we grapple with social problems by applying as few resources as possible, then wonder why the solutions never work.

What a load of bullshit.

Many (not all) of the homeless are such because of their life's decisions. Drugs, laziness, etc. Portland and other progressive cities encourage this behaviour, so they get more of it. The politicians then say they need more taxpayer money as the problem that they themselves created keeps growing.

Frankly, for such a "complex problem" I'm surprised the loving progressives of Portland don't offer a simple solution, simply adopt a bum. Take 1 or 2 into their own homes. Surely they have a bed or couch to spare. Heck, even an air mattress on the floor in the living room. Instead, I see loving Portland progressives being greedy and putting spare capacity in their houses up for rent on AirBnB.

[arlohike]

Portland Monthly interviewed the Forest Park Ranger this summer and he talked about the camps. https://www.pdxmonthly.com/articles/201 ... one-ranger

Interesting, thanks!

What a load of bullshit.

To avoid going further in this direction, I'd like to request that this thread be limited to opinions about homeless camps in Forest Park or other popular hiking areas, as opposed to opinions about the homeless issue in general.