60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Portland: Including the Coast, Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens, and the Santiam River

Get outdoors with this guide to 60 of the best hiking trails within an hour or so from Portland, Oregon, leading you to scenic beauty.

The best way to experience Portland is by hiking it! Get outdoors with local author and hiking expert Paul Gerald. Now in full color, this best-selling guide helps you locate and access the top hikes within 60 miles of Rose City. A perfect blend of popular routes and hidden gems, the selected trails transport you to scenic overlooks, mountain retreats, and beautiful forests that renew your spirit and recharge your body.

Hike around Mount Hood on the Timberline Trail. See migrating fish in the Salmon River. Enjoy the wildflowers at Tom McCall Preserve in the Columbia River Gorge. Explore the wildlife sanctuary at Oaks Bottom, right in the heart of the city. Stroll behind waterfalls in Silver Falls State Park. Whale watch from high up on Cape Lookout. With Portland author and outdoors enthusiast Paul Gerald offering advice about where to hike and what to expect when you get there, you’ll learn about the area and experience nature through 60 of Portland’s best hikes!

Each hike description features key at-a-glance information on distance, difficulty, scenery, traffic, hiking time, and more, so you can quickly and easily learn about each trail. Detailed directions, GPS-based trail maps, and elevation profiles help to ensure that you know where you are and where you’re going. Tips on nearby activities further enhance your enjoyment of every outing. So whether you’re a local looking for new places to explore or a visitor to the area, 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Portland provides plenty of options for a couple hours or a full day of adventure, all within about an hour from the city.

Paul Gerald has written professionally for newspapers, magazines, and websites for more than 30 years. After growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, and graduating from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, he moved to Portland in 1996 to be closer to the mountains and ocean. Since then, he has written hundreds of freelance articles and six books in addition to this one, including Peaceful Places: Portland, Day & Section Hikes: Pacific Crest Trail: Oregon, and Best Tent Camping: Oregon.

Paul’s hiking life started at the age of 12, when he went to a summer camp in the Absaroka Mountains of Wyoming. He’s hiked in the Rocky Mountains from New Mexico to Montana and in Appalachia, Alaska, Argentina, Italy, the UK, and Nepal. He has led hikes, outings, and tours, both domestic and international, for Evergreen Escapes of Portland, Embark Exploration Co. (a Portland-based adventure-travel company), and the Mazamas mountaineering club. He is also on the board of Trailkeepers of Oregon and has worked as a driver for Radio Cab Company.

Paul enjoys meeting people who use his books out on the trails; he’s also grateful that none of them have appeared to be lost or angry. He hopes people will continue to enjoy and benefit from the fruits of his labor―if hiking and writing can truly be called labor.