Marquam Nature Park

Saturday was a beautiful, sunny, late fall day. Today was another story. It started cloudy and by noon the rain was falling. It so happens that I began my walk today at noon, and I was rained on steadily for the entire 80 minutes that I walked. This is Oregon, and in the words of Paul McCartney, "you've never felt the rain, my friend, 'til you've felt it running down your back." With the rain running down my back, I had a bit of an adventure on my nature walk today.

Last year I discovered a portion of the Marquam Trail that goes from the Marquam Shelter (near the bottom of SW Sam Jackson Park Road) all the way to the top of Council Crest, the highest elevation within the Portland City Limits. It's a good hill climb, but it's also a simple up-and-back. Today I wanted to try something different. I wanted to find an interesting loop hike.

I grew up in the 1960's and 70's on the shoulder of Council Crest, with the big red-and-white broadcasting tower blinking its aircraft warning lights into my bedroom window. I figured that I know that hill well enough to find my way around without consulting a map. And, for the most part, I was right.

Today I parked right at the summit of Council Crest and started my walk on the neighborhood streets. I walked down to Council Crest Drive and followed it to McDonnell Terrace, which connects to Fairmount Boulevard. At Fairmount, I turned left and walked the short distance to Marquam Hill Road. I started down Marquam Hill, keeping a sharp eye out for any side trails.

Not too far down the hill, eureka! A trail on the right headed into the woods along an old logging road. And, even better, it was marked with stakes. When I returned home, I discovered that this is called "Trail 1" on the Marquam Nature Park new trail plans. You can read more about it here, though you will probably need to register with an e-mail address first.

The trail was a bit muddy, but fortunately I was wearing my sturdy hiking boots. It was, in all honestly, really fun to hike down along this section. It amazes me that I can be this deep in the woods, yet less than two miles from the very heart of downtown Portland. After a short, mostly downhill walk, I came upon a section of the Marquam Trail that I haven't walked previously. You can see the "new" trail behind the trail marker sign (above). This is where the trail to Gaines Street crosses, also.

This was about the halfway point of my walk, and also about the lowest elevation. From here it's just over two miles of up and down (mostly up) to get back to Council Crest along the Marquam Trail. It's a good thing there are trail signs along the way, because it would be easy to take a wrong turn on the network of trails in this section.

The walk, rain or not, is very serene and peaceful. Perhaps because I grew up playing in these woods, I find them welcoming and comforting, and very pretty. But I also think that anybody, from anywhere, would find these trails to be a hidden treasure in the heart of Portland.

You can check out a map and detailed directions for this walk on my map page.