And if you go chasing rabbits

And you know you’re going to fall

Tell ’em a hookah-smoking caterpillar

Has given you the call.

Cool and drizzly on the last day of June it was. A good time to do the 4 1/2 mile loop hike in the Tualatin Hills Nature Park a few miles west of home in the heart of the city of Beaverton. The 222-acre Park surrounds the confluence of Cedar Mill Creek and Beaverton Creek.

It is a remarkably diverse wildlife preserve with wetlands, forests, ponds and streams. The trails’ names tell the story – – – Oak, Creek, Old Wagon, Vine Maple, Big Fir, Cougar, Chickadee, Cedar Grove, Ash, Serviceberry, Big Pond, Trillium Loop and Ponderosa Loop.

The highlights of the hike were spotting a bunny and seeing many cadaver flowers (Indian pipe). Always a pleasant place to visit.

Cadaver flower

Fireweed

Pleasant walkway over a boggy area

Self-heal

Blackberries

Cottontail rabbit