Fitton Green

Yesterday I rode on a new trail, Fitton Green. It's a part of the Greenbelt Fund - which is a plan to encircle Corvallis (and Philomath?) with a series of parks where motorized vehicles are not allowed. Nice idea - though they're not very far on it yet. As a part of the greenbelt trust there's a "park" that I think is named after Martin Luther King Jr., and it's just a little strip of grass sandwiched between HW 34 and the Willamette. There's nothing else around.

Anyways, I rode past Bald Hill, as usual, and rode up a dirt road that never ended, to one of the entrances to the park. Fitton Green is a new park - so the trail is really just a road. The road climbs up the northwest side of the hill (if you take a look at the topo map of the previous link) to a little viewpoint. From the highest viewpoint you can ride down a new hiking trail that winds through the field that covers most of the hilltop. Unfortunately, most of the hill (the eastern half and the top) is privately owned, and someone is building a huge house on the top. The view from the house has got to be amazing.

Sidebar: What's the deal with the huge houses? I realize this is America and all, you're free to do what you want with your money, fine. But really, do you neede a 4000-5000 square foot house? Perhaps to park your gas-guzzling SUVs you might need a gargantuan 3 car garage. But what about the house? Unless you've got 9 kids, or your in-laws are living with you and you need a buffer, you can't seriously use that much space.

Right now there really isn't much to the park - just the little loop I rode, and about two more miles of trail that connect to two other road entrances. I wouldn't recommend it for any serious bikers, but it's got a nice little view.