Those who like to stay near town have ample opportunity to explore flat valley paths and moderate climbs up the local buttes. There is a wealth of outdoor trails to explore. Eugene, Oregon is home to diverse wetlands, upland prairie, and is nestled between two extraordinary mountain ranges. What was once a dredging operation to provide stones and gravel to construct the nearby Beltline Highway is now peaceful parkland reclaimed by nature.From downtown paths to Cascade mountain tops, Eugene is abound with awesome hikes. An occasional buzz from planes landing at the nearby Eugene Airport interrupts the peaceful pastoral scene. Hawks perch in nearby trees to search for prey in the nearby fields. Fishermen attempt to lure some fish to their bait. Local residents walk around the ponds or take their dogs for some daily exercise. In the late fall and winter the skies are filled with wave upon wave of Canadian geese soaring above and honking as they pass by. Yet it's a peaceful place to traverse the three quarry ponds and observe the pond turtles, ducks, egrets, and blue herons that stop by. Today, the park in the Bethel neighborhood of far west Eugene is little known and infrequently visited outside of the local neighborhoods. The abandoned quarry became Golden Gardens Park and was dedicated exactly four years after Nick and Britton died. Then the work began to transform the land into a welcoming and safe nature area. Eugene voters passed a bond measure in 2006 allocating $2 million to making this place safer and a benefit to the city. The deaths of these children spurred the local community to take action. Seventeen-year-old Johnny Emory in 1994 and 12-year-old Ryan Lambert in 2000 also died in these quarry ponds, although the count may have been greater. It was their last swim, as they both tragically drowned. On J(Father's Day), cousins Nick Davis, 13, and Britton Shepherd-Davis, 15, went swimming in a gravel pond in west Eugene, Oregon where a quarry used to be.
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