Council Crest from 23rd ave

Almost everything I've posted here so far has been about hikes outside of Portland, so I should talk about some things that are in PDX that I frequently do just during slow days. I live up in the Nob Hill/NW 23rd alphabet district of Portland, right under the west hills/tualatin mountains. Council Crest and Pittock Mansion are both up in the hills, and Council Crest is technically the highest point in Portland city limits at 1,073 feet. It's the site of a former amusement park and is now just a quiet round area at the top of the hill with a water tower and cell phone tower. It features some great views, mostly of North PDX towards Mt. St. Helens and Mt Hood, and even a view that manages to make Beaverton look nice. It's a popular destination for workout people as there are many trails leading to the top.

As stated, there are multiple routes to the top via trails or roads. My personal favorite takes me a sort of backway via the Wildwood trail, the 30 mile-long trail that starts at Council Crest and goes all the way to the tip of Forest Park.

I more or less start at the base of Washington Park near West Burnside. Washington Park is wonderful in it's own right, a nice big park with the International Rose Test garden, the famed Portland Japanese Gardens, some tennis courts, a soccer field, lots of meandering trails, and a train to the zoo. It has a mildly good view of downtown and is a great place to come pass some hours away in the sun during lazy summer days.

An old bathroom during SNOWACALYPSE 2014

Entrance to the Rose garden

View of downtown from Washington Park

Lone tree by the reservoir

If you go up to the Japanese Gardens at the top you can look for a small trail leading off from a parking area. This trail switchbacks a bit then hooks up with the trail system of Hoyt Arboretum, a massive park area with every tree labeled and a complete scattering of trails everywhere that are bound to confuse people not yet familiar with the area. The northern end of the park is mostly the tall trees, Redwoods and pines, plus several sections that are just beautiful when it's fall. There is a creek and a road in the middle of the Arboretum, and the southern side is mostly maple and smaller trees, plus an archery range. A visitor center sits in the middle. The trails zigzag and connect all the way through the area. If you need an idea of just how utterly insane it is, this map shows the mess pretty well. It's really convoluted but each area sort of eventually loops around to a few select chokepoints so a few trips into the zone will give you a good sense of how to get around.

ART

Japanese Gardens

roses

Artsy stuff in the Japanese gardens

I normally follow the blue line (Wildwood Trail) past the archery range to the Vietnam memorial and the zoo. The trail walks behind the zoo, goes down a short path to the overpass over highway 26, and walks the sidewalk over the overpass to the opposite side. From there you actually walk down the shoulder of the on-ramp to the highway to where the Wildwood shoots off into the hills and you begin the final ascent to Council Crest. There is a tough section of short switchbacks as you near the road, then the Wildwood trail ends and you end up on the road at an intersection. Cross the street and keep going up, you round a corner and see the northern entrance to the park. Walk up the paved path to the top and you're there. A view to the west shows the Coastal Mountains and Beaverton valley, a view to the East shows Mt Hood, perfectly framed between trees, and a view to the northeast shows Mt Adams, Mt. St. Helens, and on a clear day you can see Mt. Rainer popping up on St. Helen's shoulder.

The Fremont Bridge and Mt. Rainier over the shoulder of St. Helens

View of Mt. Hood and the Wells fargo center from the Japanese gardens

Beaverton under the fog with the coastal Mtns in the distance

Zoom on the Coastal Mountains with the fog

St. Helens and Mt. Rainier

Mt. Adams overlooking Northeast Portland. The river is covered in fog and the buildings seen in the bottom are in the Lloyd district

Mt Hood

Statue in the park on a less clear day

There are multiple ways up, this just happens to by my favorite. I'll describe some other paths and other Portland trails in a follow up blog post.