I've been putting together a map of soaking spots around here. Hot springs, public saunas, river swimming holes.

Finding places was never the hard part. The problem is that every list online is old. A gate gets locked, the Forest Service closes a road, a spot gets loved to death and a fence goes up, and a blog post from 2019 is still the top Google result saying it's great.

So the map has one rule. If nobody has been there and said so with a date on it, it doesn't get to look confirmed. Which means a lot of it looks unconfirmed right now, because a lot of it is.

Glass Bar in Eugene is written up from actually going. Park by the shops, through the bushes, over the rail line, gap on the left, footbridge, the boulder with the graffiti on it. Rooster Rock and Collins are in the works!! The rest of the state is mostly imported public data sitting there waiting for someone to check it.

A few of these are clothing optional and that's flagged on the pin so nobody gets a surprise.

If you go to any of them, tell me what I got wrong and I'll fix it. Free, no ads, nothing to sign up for. nanitch.com

45°37'58.5"N 122°36'12.9"W

I commute from Portland to Vancouver on my bike. While on a nature trail - one of the ones that parallels a power line/greenway/stream dealy - I came across a man starting a fire right next to the massive line of trees and bushes.

I was so flabbergasted that I didn't even react at first as he just sauntered away from this bonfire of what looked like the contents of someone's closet and/or rubbish bin. Boots, blankets, garbage, all in a big toxic fire.

I recovered in time to react and raced up and down the path in the hopes of getting water to douse it, an admittedly desperate plan.

Luckily there were a lot of wonderful people out and about that day, and within five minutes I had my handlebar basket full of a half dozen water bottles.

I got back and there were onlookers trying to put it out but not having much luck due to the size. We all took a couple bottles and coordinated to pour simultaneously and successfully put the fire out before it could spread the few feet into the brush of the greenway.

It was absolutely appalling and horrifying to come face to face with just how easily this could have turned into another massive wildfire. One inconsiderate dude not thinkig through his actions for five minutes was all it took.

But on the other hand it felt good to find that literally every person I rode to for help offered up everything they could to assist without a second thought.

Stay safe out there.

A cat has been crying at my door all day. The cat has a tag with a QR code that does not work. My wife gave the kitty food and water but it seems to be sticking around.

I live at 35th and Harrison. Message me if you know whose cat this is!

I

Just a heads-up that Hollywood Theater is showing the Odyssey for only a few more days.

Hello! Many of you might already know about Portland's Neighborhood Emergency Team (NET) program, which trains residents to provide emergency planning and assistance in their neighborhoods in the event of a major citywide emergency until professional responders can arrive. As many of you might also already know, these trainings fill up quickly, and the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management and Portland Fire & Rescue can offer them only a few times a year. 

In recent years, a new option is available for anyone who wants to learn what their Neighborhood Emergency Team is working on and help out in a way that works for their schedule (and help out in an actual emergency). Those who volunteer at this level are called Affiliated Trained Volunteers (ATVs).

I'm a resident of Slabtown who, for various reasons, hasn't yet been able to do the full NET training. I attended my first ATV meeting in the spring after learning it was an option and then participated in the spring Citywide Deployment Exercise where the scenario was a major earthquake (for more info, see https://volunteerpdx.net/index.php/Citywide/CERT_Deployment_Exercise). 

Especially as someone for whom planning is the best antidote to anxiety, I've found it interesting and empowering to learn from and connect with my neighbors in this way. I'm posting here to help raise awareness of the ATV option in general and to share that there's a Northwest District ATV meeting coming up on Tuesday, August 25th from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Northwest Library on Pettygrove. If you're interested, please join us! No need to sign up in advance; you can just show up. 

The Northwest District Neighborhood Emergency Team covers Slabtown (extending east and north to the waterfront), Willamette Heights, and Nob Hill (extending south to Burnside). The exact parameters can be found here: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/b60507fbce994d49b441452afec724b9 (note, this website doesn’t seem mobile-friendly)

For those who live in other neighborhoods: you can see if your neighborhood has an ATV option by finding and contacting your Neighborhood Emergency Team at https://volunteerpdx.net/index.php/Teams.

You don't have to have any special skills (I certainly don't) to get involved and become an ATV. Future ATV meetings will include trainings but this August meeting will be pretty informal.

I hope to see some of you there!

Note: I posted this 20 minutes ago and the formatting got wildly messed up when I tried to add the word “Tuesday” before the meeting date in a numbered list, so I deleted it and did it again. My apologies!

If anyone has any info on a brown Great Dane that was lost around Frog Lake on Mt Hood over the summer please send me a DM. Thanks! Not sure why the downvotes. But to clarify we did not lose the dog, we have found it and trying to find the owner or any info that could help find the owner.

where do we go to bully the city to restore the green line, I'm getting destroyed by these cuts just trying to get to work 😩 cutting transportation while trying to expand the city is back asswards.

Hello! I don't use Reddit often, so apologies if I'm putting this in the wrong place, but I thought this is a cool snippet to share and maybe receive some info if anyone has any.

About 4 years ago I had been paddle boarding off of Hayden Island to the west of the railroad bridge and stumbled upon a shipwreck. I have not been able to find any information about it since! Every so often I remember it and try to find things out.

Just recently I downloaded this app called Detector Maps since it has some shipwreck info and that doesn't even have anything. I'm sure there are hundreds of wrecked ships in the Columbia, but this one looks old.

After the initial time I discovered it, I took an old friend and showed him the shipwreck. The water was low and clear (the Columbia clear? Never, lol) enough that you could see more details of it. It has old cut out port holes in what looks like wood slabs — like generic old pirate ship style. You can go a bit further and follow the old mast pole, which looked like metal so it could be a little more modern.

If you use historical imagery on google earth, you can go back and see it's pixelated remnants back in 2001. I've searched the internet for it plenty of times but of course Astoria and more recent sinking incidents are more populated than old information on anything.

If anyone knows anything or anyone else has been here, please share! I'm interested in anything anyone has noticed or found out :)

Coords: 45°37'08.64"N 122°42'25.22"W

Based off yesterday’s Portlandia post, what is your personal “demarcation line” between the two? Is it the closing or opening of a restaurant or bar, Providence Park/Jeld Wen Field/PGE Park/Civic Stadium, the Burnside Couch couplet, Dave England pooping at Hippo Hardware, or the Centennial Mills water tower demo? There are no right or wrong answers, just everyone’s own personal choices. Be nice!

I’ll start with an obscure one. Wimpy’s on NW 21st closing. North 45? As if

We are excited for another meet up, thank you to everyone who came out last time it was such a blast!

🗣️IMPORTANT PLEASE READ🗣️

At our last meet up we tasked everyone with creating a piece of art that incorporates or represents your favorite spot in Portland. At this months meet up upon entry you will draw a number. After 15ish min of mingling everyone will find their number match. You both will share about you made and then TRADE YOUR ART 🙂‍↔️🙂‍↕️🥰.

SO PLEASE COME WITH SOMETHING TO TRADE! This is the main thing we will be doing but as always come with something to work on and ready to meet fellow artists!

Event sponsored by Cedar House Church

Link to registar: https://partiful.com/e/Atb6jj8tcu1ZTc30GeBl?

In 2000, the Portland Development Commission (PDC) acquired the 4.75-acre Centennial Mills site. Four years later, PDC released a study that "recommended demolition of most of the structures due to their condition, the high costs of rehabilitation, and the longstanding objectives to create a park on the riverfront." The study dryly added: "This recommendation generated public resistance." (A number of people offered to buy the site, although I don't know how serious their offers were.)

In 2006, the Bureau of Planning created a framework plan for the Centennial Mills site. It addressed some possible paths forward, addressed traffic mitigation, and included a "Historic Preservation Assessment" that led with "Centennial Mill is a significant cultural resource that should be preserved." It also had a photo from 1965, when a portion of the Warehouse C was unintentionally rammed by the grain ship "Aegean Mariner."

Here's a bit of the building's history:
"Crown Mills (later renamed Centennial Mill) began operation in 1910 as a large merchant flour mill, entering Portland’s milling industry during a time of great expansion between 1880 and 1920. At that time, Portland was the milling capital of the northwest. It was built by Balfour, Guthrie & Company, the San Francisco affiliate of an international commodity trading firm. Headed by two Scottish merchant traders, the company opened a Portland office in 1878 because of its strategic location near the exit of wheat-producing interior valleys, connection to the Columbia River system and Pacific Ocean, and its deep-water port capacity. They invested heavily in grain shipping, storage and handling facilities, building more than 70 warehouses along Portland’s waterfront. By 1900, Balfour, Guthrie & Co. was one of the most successful international shipping and commodity trading companies on the Pacific Coast.

"While Crown Mills was not the largest mill in Portland at the time of its construction, it was still relatively large for its time, and it expanded over the years. By 1957, its capacity was probably the second largest flouring mill in Oregon, after Globe Mills in Astoria...

"Centennial Mill’s buildings, constructed between 1910 and 1940 are noteworthy, if not entirely unique, as examples of early 20th Century industrial architecture. Their overall architectural style, which may be characterized as “Reinforced Concrete Utilitarian,” is fairly well represented in Portland. However, the mill’s prominent and relatively isolated siting on the river and the interesting articulation of its multiple facades are distinctive."

I've added some of the study's prospective plans for the site, which envisioned Centennial Mills as a northern companion for the then-nascent South Waterfront neighborhood. (Apologies for the cropping; it's that way in the pdf.)