Prescription: Take a walk at Fort Vancouver

“It’s usually my first prescription for people who come in stressed and feeling blue,” said Dr. Mike Wilmington, a pediatrician at Kaiser’s Salmon Creek medical office.

During a walk, Wilmington noted, “you smile at people and people smile back.”

That can actually give you a boost, he said.

Wilmington and Porter were among the participants when the project had its official launch with Saturday’s Walk with a Doc event at Fort Vancouver.

Acting Chief Ranger Bob Cromwell led the 0.6-mile walk around the Spruce Mill Trail, revealing the history of the site between the reconstructed Fort Vancouver stockade and Pearson Air Museum.

Fort Vancouver has formally designated 10 trails, including many that feature Hudson’s Bay Neighborhood landmarks such as Officers Row, the Pearson Field airport and the Vancouver Land Bridge.

Free copies of the map and trail guide are available at the Visitor Center, 1501 E. Evergreen Blvd.; Pearson Air Museum, 1115 E. Fifth St.; and Fort Vancouver, 1001 E. Fifth St.

But the program is not about scheduled events. Visitors are encouraged to, well, walk at their leisure. And that is one of the reasons behind the map and trail guide.

People often can be seen walking around the Vancouver Barracks-Fort Vancouver campus. But the Fort Vancouver staff wants members of the public to know that they are not merely tolerated, but actually invited, said park ranger Bobby Gutierrez.

On the map, “we have identified benches, exhibits, bus stops and elevation changes,” Gutierrez said.

For decades, the site was off-limits as a U.S. Army base. And now, Gutierrez said, “we’re letting people know what’s here.”

There is an admission charge to enter the replica fort stockade, but all the other features and attractions at the national historic site are free.