A number of assets place Portland near the top of the list of America’s most-livable cities. Among them, public transportation, green spaces, and a walkable downtown area all contribute mightily. If you are in town for one day and want to soak up as much as you can of the good stuff this place has to offer, the 4T Trail should be somewhere near the top of your list.
The T’s of the 4T Trail stand for Trail, Tram, Trolley (Portland streetcar), and Train (MAX). When combined, these T’s create an approximately 9-mile loop and a quintessential Portland experience. The 4T highlights urban parks and trails, stunning views of volcanoes and cityscapes, a tram ride, and our legendary public transportation.
Signage along the route is pretty good, and you might only need to occasionally glance at a map to track your progress. There are four different trailheads, one for each T of the trip: where tram meets trolley at the South Waterfront, where tram meets trail at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), where trail meets train at the Oregon Zoo, and where train meets trolley at the downtown library. This is great, because you can tailor your adventure accordingly. Depending on what time of day you set off, you may want to begin and end downtown for lunch or happy hour.
Distance: 4.1 miles of hiking; 9.0 miles total
Difficulty: Easy
Trail surface: Hard-packed dirt; duffy, rocky
Hiking time: 1.5 to 3 hours
County: Multnomah
Land status: City, city park, hospital
Seasons: All
Fees and permits: Fees for public transit
Restrooms: At OHSU, various locations downtown
Trail contact: The 4T, 4ttrail.wordpress.com
Maps: Oregon Road & Recreation Atlas: Page 106 D4
Finding the trailhead: You can start pretty much anywhere along the route. A recommended start is downtown, one stop west of Pioneer Courthouse Square at the Galleria/SW 10th Avenue stop. GPS: N45° 31.188' / W122° 40.897'
The Hike
Begin downtown at the Central Library with the “Train” segment of the loop. Head to the westbound MAX stop at 10th and Morrison, buy yourself a day pass, and hop on the next train. At 260 feet below the surface, the MAX station at Washington Park is the deepest transit station in North America! Get off here and take the elevator up to the zoo parking area.
Now you get to enjoy a little trail time with a 4.1-mile hike over to OHSU. From the Washington Park MAX station, walk over to the zoo and head downhill along the sidewalk. Keep an eye out for 4T signage. You’ll encounter these helpful little signs all along the route, and always at critical trail junctions. Cross over US 26 and make a left, heading downhill. Be careful crossing here, and don’t take the unmarked bootpath that you’ll encounter first. Look for the marked Marquam Trail. Admittedly, this first section of trail isn’t all that scenic, and it takes awhile to get away from the traffic noise. But it gets you out of the city and into the trees pretty quickly, as a good trail should. After a handful of miles and some road crossings, you’ll arrive at Council Crest, the highest point in Portland proper. Believe it or not, they once crammed an amusement park on this elevated plot of land complete with roller coaster. Soak up the views and take a well-earned breather before descending into the Marquam Nature Park. The hike now becomes decidedly more scenic, with stately Douglas firs and western red cedar lining the path. Now you’re going to lose a lot of the elevation you just gained, only to claim it back with a climb up to OHSU.
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
Part of the “Downtown Plan” that was conceived and implemented in the 1970s and ’80s was a major push for public transportation improvements. As a result, the City of Portland has one of the best and most user-friendly public transportation programs in America. It may not be the gratis “Fareless Square” it was a few years ago, but it’s still relatively inexpensive and gets you pretty much anywhere you want to be.
With a handful of outlying exceptions, you can get to many of the adventure in this book by utilizing public transit. You can take bikes on MAX trains and streetcars, and buses have racks for them. If you’re new to the area or just new to public transportation in Portland, a great way to get your feet wet is Adventure 16, the 4T Trail. In one outing you’ll get a taste of everything except a bus. And you can always take that to get downtown. Trimet.org has all the public transit information you’ll need; a wonderful blog, portlandby bus.com, covers a wide variety of amazing things you can do in this city via public transit, including restaurants on the route and hiking trails.
The next segment is the “Tram” at OHSU. Hours vary, but the ride is free since you’re heading down. The journey is brief but breathtaking. If it’s a clear day, have your camera ready, as you’ll get good views of Mounts Hood and St. Helens. Once you exit the tram, the OHSU Commons Streetcar (trolley) stop is just steps away.
The streetcar signifies the end of hiking or standing, so take a load off. Enjoy the ride, and take in the new construction and the hubbub of the burgeoning South Waterfront. Exit at the Central Library and you’ve completed the 4T Trail.
Thanks to the fact that the 4T Trail makes a giant loop through the heart of downtown Portland, it provides the opportunity to explore along the route. And I would encourage you to do so. Roam around Washington Park while you’re up at the zoo. Get off anywhere during your trolley ride and walk along the South Waterfront. And then, of course, there is downtown. The place where this little adventure begins and ends is home to “Portland’s Living Room”—Pioneer Courthouse Square, the Pioneer Place Mall, food carts, etc. Take your time and enjoy them. Portland’s a great place to live. And the 4T Trail does a bang up job of showing you why.
Miles and Directions
0.0 Start from the Washington Park MAX stop and walk toward the zoo and downhill toward US 26; cross over the highway on a bridge.
0.5 Reach the Marquam Trail. Continue hiking.
1.1 Cross SW Humphrey Boulevard. Follow signage for the 4T Trail.
1.7 Arrive at Council Crest. Walk down the east side of Council Crest to continue on the Marquam Trail.
2.8 At a junction, stay right to continue on the Marquam Trail.
3.0 Come to a junction with the Shelter Loop Trail. Make a hard left onto the Shelter Loop Trail.
3.4 Arrive at the Marquam Shelter and make a right at a junction, heading uphill.
3.5 At the junction, make a left onto the Connor Trail.
3.9 Come to a parking lot. Walk down SW 9th Street to SW Gibbs Street. Make a left onto SW Gibbs. Continue downhill past the Emergency Room entrance. Under the second pedestrian bridge, there is a set of stairs entering the hospital.
4.1 Take these stairs, enter the hospital building, and follow signs to the tram. At the South Waterfront Tram Terminal, walk 100 feet over to the OHSU Commons Streetcar stop. Take this to the Central Library Stop to complete the 4T Trail.
Local Information
Post-hike food and drink: Downtown Portland = lots of options. Solid options include the 9th & Alder Food Cart Pod; The Picnic House, 723 SW Salmon St.; the Imperial, 410 SW Broadway; and Bailey’s Taproom, 213 SW Broadway.