Laurelhurst Park - Portland, OR

Laurelhurst, located in Southeast Portland is an incredible green oasis in the middle of Portland's eastside. Within its borders are a pond, horseshoe pits, picnic tables, an off-leash dog area, and a couple of mostly paved trails that are ideal for running.The park is great as a quick and easy escape when running through neighborhoods gets boring. There is a larger paved trail that runs around the entire perimeter of the park. A full loop is about .85 miles.

The loop is ideal for interval running or for just pounding out a few miles after work. Because of its location, its easy to link Laurelhurst with Mt. Tabor, allowing for a longer, more scenic run.
Crowd wise, the park is never completely empty, so be prepared to run around couples, dogs, kids and other runners. As with many city parks, Laurelhurst can get a bit sketchy at night and there are a couple of dark spots that make running alone more of a dicey adventure. However, the park is lit with street lamps, and I've run there at night, and seen other runners doing the same, without any problems. There are numerous entrances around the park, with plenty of parking if you choose to drive up there.

Distance: the paved loop around the park is .85 miles long.

Directions: From downtown Portland, you can take either Burnside St. or Madison/Hawthorne Blvd. For the Burnside route, starting from SW Taylor St and SW Naito Parkway, take Taylor St. west to SW 4th St and take a right. Continue on this until you hit Burnside St and take a right (east). Cross the Burnside Bridge (check out the views!) and continue east. As you come to the intersection of Sandy Blvd and Burnside make sure that you are in the far right lane, otherwise you will be forced onto Sandy (Sandy is the bane of navigating in Portland). Turn right on SE 32nd Ave and then your first left on SE Ankeny St., which will run directly into the park.

For the Madison/Hawthorne route, starting from SW Taylor St. and SW Naito Parkway, head west on Taylor and take a left on SW 3rd St. and then a left onto SW Madison St. This road will take you across the Hawthorne Bridge and will turn into SE Hawthorne Blvd. Take Hawthorne for about 2.5 miles and then take a left on SE 39th St. Take this for about a mile and then take a left at SE Stark St., and then a right onto SE Oak St. The park will be in front of you, and you can park on this road.


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Discovery Park - Seattle, WA

I've been frequenting the Emerald City a lot lately and when not downing liters of coffee to deal with the rain, have been exploring numerous running venues. One of my favorites is Discovery Park, located in the northwest corner of the Queen Ann Peninsula.

The park is built around an old military installation, which means lots of old derelict buildings. Some are eyesores, but some are fairly interesting to look at - old estates for the upper officer ranks. The park is also surrounded by older homes, and some of the trails put you out into the neighborhoods around the park, providing another site seeing venue as most of the homes are pretty cool to look at

Most of the park sits on top of a bluff overlooking the Puget Sound making for some fantastic views. The best feature about the park is the variety of trails. You can run through old growth forests, through coastal grasslands and even along the beach. The views of Puget Sound are absolutely stunning. The only thing to watch out for is that the park is often crowded during the weekends and full of kids, dogs and families. It seems that most of the family oriented use of the park is focused on the beach and on the paved trails, leaving a lot of the running trails to the runners.

The Loop Trail is the main trail through the park; a mix of dirt and concrete that runs along the bluff and into the forested parts of the park. This trail is about 3 miles in length, with various other trails branching off of it. It's worth doing a couple of times to take in all of the views. Trail maps of the park are not very informative. There is a decent one available here (in PDF format).

Directions: the park is located in the northwest corner of the Queen Anne Peninsula, almost directly to the south of the Ballard area (on the other side of the canal), so directions will change depending on where you are coming from. Below is a Google Map of the location. The physical address of the park is: 3801 W Government Way, Seattle, WA 98119.

Distance: anywhere from 1 to 11 miles.


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Tryon Creek State Park

Tryon Creek is an Oregon State Park, located within the city limits of Portland in the Southwest Hills, about 9 miles from downtown Portland. Very similar in topography to Forest Park, Tryon has a variety of trails that loop through a large valley with multiple streams. It is worth checking out and becoming familiar with, as it presents a great alternative to Forest Park when the weekend traffic there gets to be too much.

By far the best feature of the park is the variety of routes that can be taken through it. Two hour runs are possible, as well as quick 30 minute out and backs. As a whole the park is incredibly hilly, so be prepared for runs that are a bit harder. Another thing to watch out for is the mud. The park lacks decent drainage in a lot of spots, so be prepared to splash through some sections. If you do get a little dirty and don't want to hop right back into the car, the Lewis and Clark Law School borders the northern end of the park, and has shower rooms that are usually open during the day. They are located in the Gantenbein student center (campus map here).

My only complaint with the park, and this is rather easily rectified, is that it is confusing to learn how to navigate through it. Initially, trails with seem to end and begin at random, and will pop you out into some random neighborhoods. However, once you run through it a couple of times, or accompany someone who knows the park, you'll find that it begins to make sense.

Directions: From downtown Portland, take I-5 South and take exit 297 for Terwilliger Blvd. Bear right off of the exit onto Barbur Blvd and take the first right onto Terwilliger Blvd. heading South. Continue on Terwilliger Blvd until you hit the traffic circle. Take the second exit off of the circle (the Law School is the first exit) and continue down Terwilliger for about another mile. The parking lot for the park is on the right.

Website with trail maps: http://www.tryonfriends.org/

Below are trail maps of the Upper, Middle and Lower sections of the park.




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