Marigold Tank

View Larger Map

A few more park photos, this time from Portland's "Marigold HydroPark" [map]. A "HydroPark" (the trendy BiCapitalization is theirs, not mine) is a chunk of land around a city water facility, open to the public as a park. They started doing this a couple of years ago to great, ok, moderate fanfare, around the same time they reopened Reservoir 3 to the public. I was a little curious about this, but none of the HydroParks were close enough for an idle excursion. Then I stumbled across one while on my way back from Marshall Park.

Well, "stumbled across" isn't quite accurate. I saw the big water tower, figured there just might be a park attached, and went to check it out. And sure enough, chance favored the prepared mind for once. Anyway, I took a few photos, and here they are.

It's not that I think water tanks are terribly fascinating, but there were some interesting shapes and angles and such going on, and there's not all that much else there to take pics of. It's a small parcel, sloping grassy lawn, some trees and shrubs, and a gigantic million gallon water tank. The city calls it "Marigold Tank", which incidentally would be a great name for a band.

I realize these things are perfectly safe and all that, but when you count the zeros on the sign and realize you're standing under up to a million gallons of water, you can't help but take a couple of steps back and look nervously upward. Then you go "ok, so that's what a million gallons looks like. Cool." Well, that was my reaction. Your mileage may vary.

Incidentally, the company that build the thing is still around. Here's their corporate history page, with lots of photos, although this particular tank doesn't get a mention.

Ok, I snuck a flower photo in on you there, so sorry. But they were right there, bright yellow and everything. I couldn't help it.

The tank is kind of interesting in B+W; the shapes and shadows are more interesting without all those distracting colors, etc.:

Oh, and I had to try a few infrared pics while I was there. Most didn't turn out that great, but you can at least tell where you are in this one: