Urban Hikes

I have a GPS now, and I've been meaning to test itout. So I went for a walk last night looking for the woods, but I never found them.

I live in NW Portland. If you look at a map of where I live you can see that I am at the southern point of Forest Park. I figured that if I went "up" I'd eventually find the forest. So I went uphill.

Any time I came to an intersection I'd choose the route that took me more uphill, and as I went up the houses got bigger and more elaborate. I started to develop a theory about economic class and architecture having to do the size and number of windows as well as how much a structure varies from simple flat walls.

There was no forest. And I was unable to figure out how the GPS worked, so I have little record of my route. I did retrace my steps using Google Maps:

I should have guessed that there wouldn't be any entry points to Forest Park there, but I did get some amazing views and was actually very close to the Pittock Mansion.

And according to Friend of Forest Park there is a trail that passes pretty close to the mansion.

This weekend I'll try heading up there and finding that trail.