Macleay Park to Pittock Mansion, Forest Park, Portland, Oregon

Since the skies to threatening to pour down rain on us, we decided to stick a little closer to home for our hike this weekend. Forest Park in Portland offers a wide range of hikes from easy to difficult. We chose a hike that is somewhat challenging.  We hiked from Macleay Park up to Pittock mansion. Since we always hike with our children, we look for trails with a reward in the middle of the hike.

Macleay Park is located off of NW Upshur Street. The parking lot is at the end of Upshur near NW 26th. The entrance to the park is under the NW Thurman Street bridge.

If you go underneath the bridge, you will see a bulletin board with a description of the trails. The first part of the hike travels along Balch Creek. The creek has some little waterfalls. The trail is heavily wooded and very picturesque.

Along the trail you’ll run into some stone ruins. I haven’t seen a description of the stone building so I’m unsure what it used to be. The trail splits at the stone ruins, but if you stay on the path that parallels the creek, you will eventually reach NW Cornell road. You will have to cross the road to get onto the trail up to Pittock mansion. Once you cross Cornell continue up to the Pittock Mansion on the Macleay Trail. The trail is quite steep, but the view from the top is well worth the tough journey up.

Pittock mansion is open most days. The hours change depending on the season. If you would like to tour the inside of the mansion, you would be wise to check the schedule before visiting, http://www.pittockmansion.org.

The view of the city from the Pittock Mansion grounds is fantastic. On a clear day you can see many of the Cascade Mountains. We hiked on a cloudy day, so we didn’t get a view of the mountains. The city and river views were still spectacular.

Below are some thumbnails of the lower part of the trail.