I was surprised and delighted at the decision that WordCamp US would be held in my hometown of Portland, Oregon this year–and next year too!
Since so many of my teammates and colleagues converge for this yearly event, I really hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy aspects of the city I love. To that end, I’m putting together a list with some of my favorite things to do in Portland which may be helpful for WCUS attendees. I’ll probably update this periodically as things come to mind. This is going to be heavy on the outdoors since it’s the Pacific Northwest.
Aside: If you’re attending WCUS, come visit me at Google’s sponsor booth and let’s talk about web performance!
Mount Tabor
My favorite park by far is Mount Tabor which is a great place to walk/hike/run with great views. I’ve been here many hundreds of times. It’s a perfect place to watch the sunset. Portland is one of the few cities with extinct volcanoes in the city limits. Mount Tabor is one of them. Another is Rocky Butte (specifically Joseph Wood Hill Park) which is an amazing place to watch the sunset, but even more so the sunrise.
Willamette River
The Willamette River is another area I’ve been hundreds of times. I love to run, walk, and bike along the river (although I’ve only boated a couple times). You can do a nice loop walk through Tom McCall Waterfront Park to the Steel Bridge (which is very close to the Oregon Convention Center, the venue for WCUS), then walk on the Eastbank Esplanade until you reach the Hawthorne Bridge to cross back over and make a ~3-mile loop. See route on Strava:
Runners can do this loop or continue south to cross at the Tilikum Crossing bridge instead for a ~5-mile loop; see route on Strava. (This was the first major bridge in the US built exclusively for transit, pedestrians, and cyclists.) Note that this goes past OMSI where the WCUS Social is being held.
Cyclers could go even further down to cross at the Sellwood Bridge, cycling the Springwater Corridor on the east side of the river and the Willamette Greenway Trail on the west side. This is a ~11-mile loop. (I run this when I’m training for marathons.) Portland has an official bike share program called BIKETOWN, and there are stations all over the city. On Strava see running route and cycling route from the WCUS venue.
West Hills
On the west side of the river lie the West Hills which includes so many places to explore (some of which I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t yet visited):
- Washington Park, including the Rose Test Garden
- Pittock Mansion, with an amazing view of the city and Mount Hood
- Forest Park, the largest forested urban park in America with 80 miles of trails (only a few of which I’ve explored)
- Council Crest: take the Portland Streetcar down to South Waterfront and take Portland Aerial Tram up to OHSU for a fun ride with a great view, then hike the rest of the way. This is part of the “4T Trail“: trail, tram, trolley, train! (map)
- Oregon Zoo (who doesn’t love animals?)
- Hoyt Arboretum (high on my to do list)
- Japanese Garden (shamefully haven’t visited yet but I commit to doing so this fall! 🍂)
Columbia River Gorge
If you have a full day, I highly recommend spending a day out in the Columbia River Gorge. Go to Vista House at Crown Point, Multnomah Falls and take the Historic Columbia River Highway to explore other beautiful waterfalls. Then continue on to the city of Hood River, explore, and drive south to Mount Hood and visit Timberline Lodge. Then drive back to Portland from there. A great day trip. If you don’t have access to a car, consider taking the Columbia Gorge Express bus for some of those destinations!
Alternatively, if you have a car and the road is open, consider driving up to Larch Mountain and specifically the short hike up to Sherrard Point. From here you have panoramic views of the Cascade Mountains as well as overlooking the Columbia Gorge.
Enjoy your visit!
For some more great tips, check out Welcome to Portland by Cami Kaos. In particular, she highlights how to get around the city, which I woefully neglected!
3 replies on “My Portland Picks”
Any chance you’ve got Strava segments to recommend in/around the WCUS location and hotel?
Great idea! I updated the post to add Strava routes for runs and rides from the venue.
If you want a similar aesthetic to the Japanese garden, but closer to home, try the Lan Su Chinese garden downtown. It’s quite beautiful and has a nice tea house where you can sit on the second floor and look out the window at the garden.