This story first appeared in the April 2014 issue of Our Big Backyard magazine.
New trails are taking shape across the region, giving you new ways to exercise, play and commute.
Clackamas County
Spring is a great time to explore the eastern reaches of the region’s signature trail, the Springwater Corridor. You can now ride your bike all the way from downtown Portland to Boring Station Trailhead Park, 21 miles away. Clackamas County recently finished the final 2.25 miles of the Springwater, with support from Metro’s voter-approved Natural Areas Program.
Fairview
More than half a mile of new trail traverses Blue Lake Regional Park, making a connection with the region’s 40-Mile Loop network. The addition, at the junction of the Gresham-Fairview and Marine Drive trails, travels along the levee through a scenic part of the park. Come check out the new trail – and, while you’re at it, bring a picnic, learn to play disc golf or, beginning May 1, rent a paddle boat to explore the park’s namesake lake.
Hillsboro
Someday soon, the Rock Creek Trail will have a new wayside: Orenco Woods Nature Park. Metro and the City of Hillsboro teamed up to buy land for the 43-acre park in 2011, and recently approved a blueprint shaped by residents of the historic Orenco neighborhood. A network of trails and viewpoints will lead visitors through Orenco Woods, which will include picnic shelters, a nature play area and restrooms. Metro and the City sold 11 acres in the corner of the site to Polygon Northwest, helping foot the bill for the project and give rise to parkside housing.
North Portland
Chimney and Pier parks are next-door neighbors, but until recently, they might as well have been miles apart. A narrow gully and mainline railroad made it impossible for walkers, runners and bicyclists to safely go back and forth. Thanks to a new pedestrian bridge, visitors can now explore both city parks in a single trip. A partnership between the City of Portland and Metro, this project adds to the North Portland Greenway and fills a key gap in the 40-Mile Loop. The new connector also makes it easier for St. Johns residents to reach Metro’s nearby Smith and Bybee Wetlands Natural Area.
If you have energy left, check out a new section of the Columbia Slough Trail between North Denver and Vancouver avenues. The City of Portland recently completed more than a mile of the emerging pathway, which hugs its namesake: a network of lakes, wetlands and slow-moving channels that stretches from Fairview to North Portland. Along the way you might glimpse mountain views and dozens of bird species against an industrial backdrop, bringing together nature and city life. Regional voters made the new trail possible by approving a 2006 bond measure, allowing Metro to secure the rights to build it.