Fancy Pants Promenade #2: Engineered Wilderness

This is a hike where you slowly realize that the forest has been playing you for over 100 years.

On this walk, we’ll stroll through Forest Park and the Hoyt Arboretum while learning how landscape architects gently lull you into emotional enlightenment with nothing but paths and ponds.

As we hike, I’ll be pointing out the hidden landscape design tricks everywhere: curves that create suspense, paths that gently manipulate your sense of discovery, viewpoints that arrive exactly when you’re ready to be impressed, and landscapes arranged to feel wild while being aggressively intentional. This is part hike, part history lesson, and part behind-the-scenes tour of how great parks secretly work.

Once you learn this stuff, you will never again say, “Oh, this is a nice trail,” without adding, “…and wow, someone really did some amazing design.”

The Stats:
Well manicured dirt trails with numerous benches, vistas, info placards & observation decks
Meeting Point Location: Pittock Mansion Parking Lot - SW Corner
Meeting Point Address: 3229 NW Pittock Dr, Portland, OR 97210
Google Maps Meeting Point
Meeting Point GPS: 45.52534333459855, -122.71828236519642
Overflow Parking Locations: NW Monte Vista Terrace, NW Hermosa Blvd, NW Valle Vista Terrace, NW Imperial Terrace, NW Beuhla Vista Terrace
Map of our hike. Press “preview route” to see animated trail.
Distance: Approximately 3.8 miles
Elevation gain: 682 feet.
Estimated time on trail: 100 minutes hiking & 60 minutes learning
Difficulty level: Moderate
Trail type: Lollipop Loop
Parking: Paid Parking Kitty lot at Pittock Mansion
Bathrooms at Pittock Mansion Trailhead & Halfway through at Hoyt Arboretum

You will leave with fresh air in your lungs, slightly smarter eyeballs, and a permanent intolerance of badly designed parks.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Walk leaders are volunteers, not professionals. By participating in this event, you and your guests accept full responsibility for your own well-being/health/safety/COVID protocol and completely absolve the event hosts, the Portland Urban Pedestrians group, and Meetup of any responsibility for illness or injury that may occur during the walk.