====================================================================== Running Around Portland May, 1994 * Forest Park * Nike Campus * Tryon Creek State Park * Hagg Lake * Duniway Park/Terwilliger Blvd. * Mt. Tabor ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FOREST PARK Location: Located within city limits of Portland (NW section of town), roughly between St. Helens rd and Skyline Blvd. Total Distance: Total length of trails in excess of 50 miles Distance From PD: 5 minutes by car Starting Point: The most popular starting point is the start of Leif Erikson drive. From Hwy. 405 in Ptld, take St. Helens rd and then take Vaughn St. exit. After a few blocks on Vaughn cut left and then take a right on Thurman St. Follow Thurman and it dead ends at Leif Erikson Maps: Excellent, free maps are available at Audobon society on Cornell Rd. Facilities: Drinking fountain at start of Leif Erickson, bathroom and drinking fountain at Cornell. For long runs you probably want to carry water and TP. Dogs: Many people take their dogs off leash Fee: No fee General Comments: Forest Park is probably the best place for long runs in Portland. The park is approximately 12 miles long by 2 miles wide. Two main trails in the park are the wildwood trail (> 25 miles) and Leif Erikson drive (gravel road 11.5 miles long). Each of these have mile markers every 1/4 mile. In addition there are numerous clearly marked connecting trails. It is relatively easy to run more than 20 miles without going on the same trail twice. Most of the park is heavily forested so the running is in the trees. The trails range from relatively flat (Leif Erickson) to very steep fire lanes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TRYON CREEK STATE PARK Location: Located within city limits of Portland and Lake Oswego, between Terwilliger Blvd. and Boones Ferry Rd Total Distance: Most trails are less than 2 miles, sum of all trails is probably under 15 miles Distance From PD: 15 minutes by car Starting Point: Nature center at the park, 11321 SW Terwilliger Blvd. Maps: Free maps are available at the nature center Facilities: Restrooms are at the nature center. Dogs: Most people run with their dogs on leash. Fee: No fee General Comments: Tryon park is heavily wooded and the trails are dirt or bark chips. Most of the trails have quite a few steep up and down sections. There are a myriad of small interconnecting trails. This is a good park to leave your map behind and just explore on some long runs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DUNIWAY PARK TRACK AND TERWILLIGER BLVD Location: Sheridan St. and 4th, Downtown Portland Total Distance: 440 yd track, 4.0 km to Charthouse on Terwilliger Distance From PD: located downtown Starting Point: Most people start running at the track Maps: A course map is posted at the track Facilities: Drinking fountain and portable bathrooms at the track and a couple of fountains on Terwilliger Fee: No fee General Comments: If you want to run on a track, Duniway park track is a nice place to do it. The track is located in the downtown area, but has enough trees around it that you don't feel like you are running in the city. The track is not all that well lighted at night, but there is a large bright digital clock which makes it easy to keep track of your lap times. Many people use the track as a starting off point for runs on the wide bike path alongside Terwilliger Blvd. Terwilliger is mostly a gradual climb up to the charthouse. There are distance markers at 2 km and at the Charthouse, 4km. There are a couple of drinking fountains on Terwilliger. If you want, you can continue running on Terwilliger past the Charthouse. You can run to Tryon Creek State park which is about 5 miles from the start at the track. If you feel like going for a really long run you can hook up with the Marquam trail (which is part of the 70 mile Rose City Relay Course). This trail intersects Terwilliger at about the 3 km point. If you head up hill it is a little over 3 miles to reach forest park and the start of the wildwood trail. You can also take a different route through Himes park and down to Willamette Park. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NIKE CAMPUS Location: Located in Beaverton, west of Murray Rd. between Walker and Jenkins Total Distance: Long Loop 3.2 km, Short Loop 2.2 km Distance From PD: 20 minutes by car Starting Point: I've seen people parking on XX, off of Jenkins Maps: none Facilities: none on the trail Dogs: I've never seen any pets here Fee: none General Comments: Nike has laid out two beautiful wood chip trails encircling their corporate campus. One trail follows the border of the campus and is 3.2 km long with markers every 0.4 km. A shorter trail heads closer to some of the main buildings and is 2.2 km long. Both trails have stretches in the open, stretches in the trees, and go over the road on really neat bridges. The trail was created with thick layers of wood chip, as a result the trail is incredibly soft (almost like running on marshmellows). The Nike campus is private property and you cannot park on the campus. I haven't seen any keep out signs on the trails or on the campus so I don't know what Nike's view on public use of the trail is. At the very least I'd recommend being very considerate. I always stay on the trails, never run on the grass and resist the temptation to explore the rest of the campus. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- HAGG LAKE Location: Located far west of Portland, south of the town of Forest Grove. From town of Forest Grove, take Hwy. 47 south for a few miles and look for the signs for Hagg lake (rt. turn) Total Distance: Loop around lake 10.4 miles Distance From PD: 1 hour by car Starting Point: Anywhere on lake Maps: Rough maps of the park are available at the entrance Facilities: Drinking fountains and bathrooms are available at 3 or 4 picnic areas scattered around the lake. Dogs: Many people take their dogs off leash Fee: $3.00 entrance fee per vehicle General Comments: The road around Hagg lake is a popular run and bicycle ride. There are wide bicycle lanes for the 10.4 miles of this loop. The road is rolling with some long uphills and downhills. There is also a dirt trail which extends around the lake closer to the water. At a few points it is necessary to run along the road. The scenery around the lake is very nice (mostly fir trees) and you can go for a swim in the warm water after running. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MT. TABOR Location: Located in SE Portland, bordering Division and 60th Total Distance: Several miles of hilly interconnecting routes Distance From PD: 15 minutess Starting Point: Entrance off of 60th Maps: ? Facilities: ? Dogs: ? Fee: none General Comments: Actually I haven't been running at Mt. Tabor so there is not a lot I can say. I hear that it is fairly scenic and quite hilly. ====================================================================== If you have corrections or additions to the above list, send me an e- mail and I'll update this for the next version. Scott Diamond scott.k.diamond@tek.com