Forest Park - Portland, OR

As a rule, running in Portland during the rainy season will require that you get muddy. Very very muddy. And since Portland's rainy season is fairly extended, embracing the idea of getting covered in mud every time you hit a trail is the best way to start enjoying Portland's abundant running options.

Our nominee for "Muddiest Place in Portland Where Hot Girls Like to Run" is Forest Park, located in the hills west of downtown. The park is the "largest forested natural area within city limits" in the United States, which translates to a huge variety of running trails and multiple points of access throughout the western edge of Portland's downtown; allowing you to run from Portland's city core, to a quiet, verdant forest in less than 10 minutes. Because of the dense forest, and Portland's abundant rain, the trail system in Forest Park gets muddy and stays muddy for a while, making for rather messy jaunts. Working through the mud is well worth the effort, as the trails here are some of the best and most scenic in Portland. For the most part, nothing in the park becomes too impassable; foot placement and a towel in the car are the keys.

The trails within Forest Park are almost all single track, and wind throughout more than 5,000 acres, making learning the trails a fairly difficult task. We have often started a run only to find ourselves inadvertently looping back to the same spots. The key to figuring out the trails is the Wildwood Trail, a 30 mile trail that runs the entire North to South length of the park. Most trails branch off of the Wildwood, making it a good foundation for extended loops. Another good foundation is Leif Erickson Drive, which is a intermittently paved road that runs north 11.2 miles from the Thurman Street entrance to its terminus at Germantown Road, paralleling the Wildwood Trail for much of its length.


Unfortunately our mapping abilities fail us in the dense forests, so until we are up an running with a more GPS centric method, we leave you with links to maps (bad maps - again, we apologize). We have, however, outlined the general park area and have provided links for maps and various trailhead/park entry points. There are parking lots near the entry points, however, during peak times (morning, late afternoon) they fill up fast, so be prepared to park in the surrounding neighborhoods.

Trail Maps:

Friends of Forest Park Maps (very basic)

Topo Map (giant PDF file)

Trailhead Map


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Mount Sanitas - Boulder, CO

We here at TWW do not often recommend going from 0 to 60 in the first five minutes of a workout, but unfortunately for our legs there are just some routes that are worth destroying them for. We count Mount Sanitas among that group - a route that is completely unforgiving, but worth every second of leg pain.

Almost a Boulder version of the Incline, Mount Sanitas is essentially a steep hike that is variably runnable, winding up the rocky ridge Sanitas where it tops out about 1.4 miles in. The trail is well worn, with some sections cut directly into the rock ridge, making it an adventure in foot placement and pacing. The views along the way and at the top are some of the best you'll find in the Boulder area, making the fact that you can't feel your calves easier to accept.

One drawback; finding the way back down in order to make the run a loop is a bit confusing. The East Ridge trail winds down to the Sanitas Valley trail which we take back to the parking lot. The problem with the East Ridge trail is that it is not clearly marked. Our best advice is to follow the most worn path, and keep your eyes open for the random trail markers. Our map shows the Mount Sinatas trail, the route down via the East Ridge trail, and then the Sanitas Valley trail back to the parking lot. A more label intensive map can be found here.

Distance: 1.4 miles to the summit, 3.0 miles roundtrip.

Directions: From 9th and Pearl Street, take Pearl Street west and take a right on 4th Street, a left on Spruce, and then another right on 4th. Take 4th north to Mapelton and take a left. There are lots on both the north and south sides of the street. Additionally, you can generally park on the road and walk up to the trailhead.


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