NE ~ Portland Neighborhoods

Date visited: February 28, 2007
Agency: Public Streets
Path Surface: Sidewalks
Elevation gain/loss: variable
Distance: You decide
Ratings: Setting varies Calorie-burning varies
Directions: Try the Lloyd Center as a jumping off point

Sometimes, the weather acts as a major deterrent to the desire to set foot out of the house, let alone to actually go for a walk. But even if you can only manage to get as far as your neighborhood, or a neighborhood in another part of the city, you still get the fitness part of the equation with surprising variety.

On those gloomy days when any dirt path is likely to be one big mud pit, the trees will be dripping all over you and the sky is gunmetal gray, we have taken to using a map program to print off a street map of any neighborhood. We then look for the through streets, strap on a pedometer and just walk.

Today, we traveled north from the Lloyd Center and wound a 10k walk through the streets of northeast Portland. We had a very nice walk and enjoyed the character and sense of history in the grand old homes. The one shown above just happens to be a house where my grandfather boarded when he was a young man.

Go as long or as little as you like. You can always find a route back to your starting point. And birds who brave the weather may still give you just that little bit of nature.