Council Crest

Last week I introduced you to Portland's 40-Mile Loop, and I highlighted some of my favorite walking and biking paths.  For the next few weeks, I'm going to talk about some of the walking/hiking trails this great city of mine has to offer.

A few weeks ago, Jason and I decided we wanted to explore a different part of Portland's walking trail.  I'd heard a lot about Council Crest recently.  But even though I've lived here practically my whole life, I'd never been.  I did some Google research to see if there were any hiking trails to the top, and stumbled upon the Marquam Nature Park.

Courtesy: Friends of Marquam Nature Park

This is a map of the trail system.  We decided to start at the Terwilliger Trail and walk the 3.5 miles to Council Crest.  We parked the car, and walked a half mile to the Marquam Trailhead.

We wound through the wooded trail through several neighborhoods,  and crossed several streets.  It was a beautiful hike, and more challenging than I thought it was going to be.  But the effort was well worth it when we reached the top.

This is a beautiful view of our city!  You can't see it very well, but we got a nice look at Mt. Saint Helens and Mt. Adams from the top of Council Crest.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day for this hike.

We walked around the top of Council Crest, and took in the views to the South and to the East where we got this great view...

That's Mount Hood off in the distance!  It was a bit hazy, so my camera didn't do the view justice.  But it was still amazing.

After our tour of the top, we decided to take a seat, take in the view and try to take a picture of ourselves.

I'd say it took us quite a few tries :)

After a few minutes of rest we decided to head back down the trail to the car.  This was the first seven mile hike we've done in quite a while, so let me just say by the end of it we were dog tired and sore!

But it was well worth it!!!  We've both decided this is something we'll want to do again.  But maybe next time we will park at the top and walk from Council Crest to the Pittock Mansion, because I just learned that the trails connect!  Stay tuned for that adventure... :)