Trip Report

The wild flowers and the views from Mary's Peak are always a delight, even on a cool, overcast day. Then on to the new Fort Hoskins Interpretive Park in remote King's Valley. Hoskins was an important military post in the mid-19th Century. In the 20th it was the mid-point of the 40-mile Valley & Siletz R.R. (V&S) between Independence and the logging camps at Valsetz. Forest products were handled by this railroad for some 60 years. Now the Fort, the round house and the people are all gone. The Benton County Parks Department has restored the site to the original oak-savannah. It includes a nice picnic shelter, modem restrooms and a 6/10th-mile interpretive trail. We traveled back road #223 through Dallas to Rickreall to the Polk County Museum; we visited here about four years ago when it first opened and was well worth a repeat. Our Hospitality Committee again provided great refreshments for us for our morning break in Avery Park in Corvallis.

Thirty-three riders (including 11 nonmembers) were: Ethel Allen, Ewart Baldwin, Paul & Barbara Beard, Louise Behnke, Pat Bitner, Shirley Cameron, Ingrid Carmichael, Geri Craver, Nicole Chase, Mary Lee Cheadle, Jeannette Forsman, Virginia Gilbreath, Margaret Fea, Bette Hack, Dora Harris, Mary Hiatt, Evelyn Hike, Margit Hollerud, Ben & Pat Jeffries, Rosella Jones, Ben Kirk, Gloria Layden, John & Lenore McManigal, Cleora Mersdorf, Mary Millman, Paula Sievers, Dorothy Sistrom, Ida Sprague, Ed & Dorothy Sullivan, Jack & Lissie Sullivan, Janet Vaughn, Mary Ellen West and leaders Liz Reanier & Ray Jensen.