When you look west from Portland you see the Tualatin Mountains. A large part of those hills is Forest Park. Forest Park stretch for 8 mile and consists of 1,172 acres. The park has 70 miles of trails (when doing the all trail challenge we find there are 80 miles). It is possibly the largest nature reserve and park within the city limits in the country. There are more then 112 bird species and 62 mammal species and a whole lot of slugs and snails you step on when walking the trails. The park has a wide variety of trees and shade loving plants. It is in the recovering forest stage. All old growth trees were cut down many years ago (you can still find the huge stumps) and the forest is slowly making its way back to being a mature forest. It allows many Portlanders a chance to go from pressured city life to being in nature and the woods in a matter of minutes. There are few special place in the park where all city noise is gone, there is no cell phone coverage and it is like you are hundreds of miles away in a Cascade Mt. Wilderness. It is not weird but it is a special part of Portland.
For a nice short walk in Forest Park check out my Balch Creek walk.
Photos of Forest Park in different seasons, different weather.
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