This may be the most common run I do (87 times so far according to my Strava data) and it's always a good time. 4.3 miles or so of riverside running crossing two bridges (which is fun, bridges are fun) with tons of strava segments to keep up your interest and competitive urge (and because it's Portland where there are tons of elites the KOM will be a real challenge).
There are sections right on the water which means fishermen a fishing:
occasional sea lions
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| after the snowstorm |
boats of all sizes:
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| the end of the USS Oregon |
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| USS Oregon in happier days |
The waterfront offers transient indigents aplenty and for a brief moment in spring dozens of blooming cherry trees
It's mostly flat, fun, and solid stuff.
You can extend it out to 5.5 miles by running from steel to the Broadway bridge along Front avenue, doing the bridge stairs like Rocky, crossing then running past Moda and back to the eastbank esplanade
*a fascinating ship
The Oregon was connected to Presidential history. It was ordered built by then Naval Secretary Teddy Roosevelt, nicknamed “McKinley’s Bulldog,” honored with a valedictory speech by a young Lyndon Johnson and personally ordered scrapped by FDR
- Her 66-day journey from San Francisco to Florida, while being chased by the Spanish fleet, riveted the nation’s attention and provided a strong argument for the necessity of a Panama Canal
- The ship served in Cuba, the Philippines, China and Siberia.
- She “Escaped” harbor while unmanned during a typhoon and was found weeks later over 500 miles away
- Smokestacks have been stored at the Zidell Yards in Portland out of view since 2013
