9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. departures, 3-4 hours, $50
Portland is not just a good walking city, but a fabulous hiking city; one of the best in the world. No other city in the U.S. has such a large forested park within the city limits, and very few other cities have such magnificent native trees within walking distance of the breweries and coffee shops of the center city.
Note: this is a one-way hike! We can alter the route for groups who want to return to the coffee shop.
Our urban hiking tour starts near the center of the city, in front of a coffee shop in NW Portland, accessible by city bus, with a climb of between 800 to 1,000 feet elevation gain. The tour ends in a different location than it begins, but both ends are within a few steps of transit.
Being in Forest Park is to be immersed in a sense of both vitality and stasis, this fluid place that exists both in and out of time. In the forest — within a minute or two of leaving a city street — you can forget, or ignore, or wonder at the fact that you are still in a city. Signs of civilization drop away, only occasionally encountered (on cloudy weekdays) by runners and dog walkers and the few times the pathways cross busy city streets.
Forest Park experience 9 a.m. (occasionally 1 p.m. or 2:30 p.m. start times — just ask!) We start in front of Haven Coffee NW , a jumping-off point for the 5,000-acre forested area. We’ll start our hike up toward the quixotic Witch’s Castle. While the origins of the building itself are not very magical, it has gathered its magic in the decades since its dismantling in the early 1960s. From here we head up the hill, stopping to see streams cascading into basalt-lined pools, beautiful moss- and fern-covered Western redcedars and big leaf maples, and the stately towering Douglas-firs. We’ll arrive at the Pittock Mansion to view the city laid out before us before descending through the neighborhoods into Washington Park, where we will end at the International Rose Test Garden. Three hours, 4.5 -5.5 miles (7km).
Transit stop for the starting point: #15 Trimet bus, NW 27th and Vaughn
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