Portland: 103 Tranquil Sites in the Rose City and Beyond by Paul Gerald

Author:Paul Gerald
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: eBook ISBN: 9780897329392
Publisher: Menasha Ridge Press
Published: 2012-02-23T16:00:00+00:00

peaceful place 47

MAPLE TRAIL

Forest Park, Northwest Portland (MAP 6)

CATEGORY enchanting walks

If you were looking for a downside to hiking in Forest Park, you could say that it lacks variety. That’s because most of it was logged in the 19th century, so it has nowhere near the variety of trees found at, say, Mount Hood. You could also possibly make the argument that it’s somewhat crowded. It is, after all, in the middle of a major city.

The Maple Trail wanders through some of the prettiest, most serene parts of Forest Park.

Fortunately, neither of those things is true of the Maple Trail.

It constitutes only 4 of the 80 trail miles in the 5,000-acre park, but the Maple Trail is far enough from the neighborhoods of northwest Portland, and just enough of a pain to drive to, that relatively few people go there.

A walk on the Maple Trail includes everything that makes Forest Park a treasure: a nice trail winding in and out of wooded ravines, passing both new and old forest, crossing creeks, and offering shade and sun, as well as being a generally easy hike (the trail gains only 350 feet in elevation over 4 miles).

The Maple is also connected to other trails as well as the less-traveled midsection of Leif Erikson Drive and the 31-mile, park-crossing Wildwood Trail. So you can loop around, explore, and maybe even sit awhile and listen to the birds. If it isn’t a sunny weekend day, you may very well have the trail to yourself.

Get a good map because there are some confusing junctions here and many options. The best maps are in a little cardboard box courtesy of the Forest Park Conservancy; one of those covers the Maple Loop. There’s also a Green Trails map of the entire park.

But do go. Be thankful for the solitude, for a chance to slow down, and for time to look for all the various forms of beauty along the way.

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