A Walk Down Memory Lane at Tryon Creek

Steve Barton at Tryon Creek State Natural Area, November 2012

In 1966, when Steve Barton was in the 8^th grade, his family moved from Portland Heights to Lake Oswego’s SW Stampher Road, near the confluence of Tryon Creek and the Willamette River. Barton likens his experience growing up along Tryon Creek to that of young Huckleberry Finn: shortly after moving into the house on Stampher Road he became the proud owner of an old wooden rowboat and spent whole days exploring the creek while his parents were at work. A neighbor boy taught Barton how to tie flies and a budding fly fisherman was born. Fishing became a common theme of his expeditions as Barton caught salmon, steelhead, carp and suckers, and once nearly caught a huge sturgeon. He also came across Tryon Creek’s resident lamprey (one of which tried to wrap itself around his arm on their first encounter!).

Steve Barton loved spending time in the wild. Back in the ‘60’s there was no evidence that an urban population was just a few miles down the road from Tryon Creek: the forest was dense and the well maintained trails that wend through the park today were nowhere to be found.

Barton’s early kinship with nature inspired a lifelong ethic of stewardship in him. To this day he lives in a house whose backyard faces the forest, and owls and deer are common visitors. Barton has imparted that same stewardship ethic – a reverence for nature and desire to protect and preserve it – in his children, both grown.

The Friends thank Steve Barton for sharing his wonderful childhood story and the impression Tryon Creek and the forest made upon him.