August 7, 2012
by David Ryan
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Stair Wandering in Cincinnati

Cincinnati is built on hills, and hills mean two things. The first is a pretty setting. On this front, the city is pretty and Winston Churchill called Cincinnati, “the most beautiful inland city in America.”   The other, and more important thing to the wanderer and stair seeker, is the potential for public stairways. And according to the city’s web site, there are close to 400 hillside stairways.

A year ago, after finishing a bowl of Cincinnati-Style chili, I still had time for a couple of hours of wandering before going to a Cincinnati Reds game at Great American Ballpark in downtown Cincinnati. I chose the Mount Adams neighborhood just east of downtown for some stair wandering.

My adventure started near the end of Celestial Street where I headed down these stairs.

That’s Kentucky on the other side of the Ohio River.

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July 31, 2012
by David Ryan
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Wandering Through SW Portland, Oregon – Part 2

Don and I parted company when we got back to the bus stop. He headed home with his dog, and I caught the next bus headed for downtown Portland. While on the bus, I noticed a small set of stairs on the other side of the road leading to a path. I immediately pulled the chord to signal the driver to stop and got off the bus directly across the street from the path. 

If you’ve read The Gentle Art of Wandering you know that wandering is about seeing and letting what you see determine where to go. Wandering is not a station to station activity; you have permission to go in the direction of whatever catches your attention. Continue Reading →

July 30, 2012
by David Ryan
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Wandering Through SW Portland, Oregon – Part 1

Last week I had the opportunity to do some wandering in Portland, Oregon.

I began the day by taking a bus to SW Portland to go on a short walk with Don Baack. Don chairs SW Trails PDX, an organization that promotes the development of Urban Walking and Bike Routes in SW Portland. Don was also the force behind the development of the popular 4T Trail in Portland. I visited Don to see some of the work being done by SW Trails PDX.

I met Don at a bus stop and we started following one of the urban routes developed by SW Trails PDX. The urban routes take advantage of sidewalks, road shoulders, trails and open space to help people get around town by foot.

SW Trails PDX performs many tasks to make these routes possible. Sometimes it is identifying a city-owned right-of-way that can be used as a trail; other times it is getting a road shoulder widened; or it could be raising the money to install a drinking fountain or providing the citizen volunteers to build a section of trail.

The urban route we were following soon left the road and entered a forest that is actually an undeveloped street right-of-way. The path took us down a volunteer-built stairway:

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