Portland; Friday, 29 March, 2024

I slept solidly through until 5am, but it was clear that I wasn’t going to get any more sleep so I read in bed for a couple of hours before heading down to breakfast and then heading out over to Pioneer square to pick up the MAX out to Washington Park. The park occupies a large part of a ridge in the mountains that surround the Western part of the city and contains a number of attractions and museums including the city’s zoo as well as my main targets for the day – the Japanese Gardens and Arboretum.

The MAX trams head into a tunnel that burrows its way deep below Washington Park with express lifts whisking you up the 200ft or so through solid rock to exit out at the main car park by the zoo. This is also the picking up point of the regular free shuttle bus that runs around the park stopping off at all the key points, and I was really lucky with the timing as the second bus of the day was just getting ready to set off as I arrived.

I caught the bus round to the Japanese Gardens, which meant going around about 75% of the park before reaching them – though the walk would have been 40 minutes long. The gardens are, like much of the rest of the park, laid out over the contour of the hill – with the main buildings at the highest point on this bit of hill and the gardens cascading down the hillside from them.

Despite the sheer number of people moving around the site it was still incredibly peaceful and tranquil up there – possibly helped by the weather having improved so much that there were clear blue skies and views right across the 50 miles or so to the volcanic peak of Mount Hood.

After spending a couple of hours wandering around the Japanese Gardens I retraced my steps back to the shuttle bus, again arriving just as it was so I was able to hop straight on and caught it back round to the Zoo where it was going out of service for lunch. I hopped out there to grab a bite to eat myself, before hopping on the next one 20 minutes later and catching it round to the Hoyt Arboretum.

The Arboretum occupies a large part of the Southwestern side of the park, including around 6,000 trees from just over 2,000 species and over 12 miles of trails that weave their way through the different planting zones. The visitors centre has created a number of circular walks that take in the key parts of the site which I chose to follow – though their timings were a little suspect. Their longest walk had a suggested time of 2 hours to cover 1.25 miles – I was round and back in under 40 minutes so not certain if I missed something. Though I did manage to take in the stunning views from this part of the park across the near 60 miles to Mount Saint Helens – the slight more infamous of the local volcanoes.

I spent a good few hours walking through the different parts of the Arboretum, making it back to the bus stop by the visitors centre just as the penultimate bus of the day pulled up – that was clearly a sign that I should perhaps not push my chances and head back round to the MAX station and head back into town.

I had a bit more of a wander around the centre of Portland in the glorious sunshine, before heading back to my hotel room to freshen up and then popping out for a quick dinner before a drink in the bar and then, with my energy levels starting to flag again, an early night.