Lake Oswego - Up to Mt. Sylvania and back - Version 2.0

THERE'S MORE THAN ONE WAY TO CLIMB UP TO LAKE OSWEGO'S ONLY (EXTINCT) VOLCANO!

This alternative route is also an almost 4-mile loop from Lake Oswego's Westlake Park to the top of the Mount Sylvania and back, a 638-foot elevation gain. 

The first half of the walk, like version 1.0, winds through the Mountain Park community. Soon after the community started it received a visit and blessing from none other than Oregon's legendary governor Tom McCall, who lauded Carl Halvorson and his development team for their vision. Mountain Park's 8,500 residents are the beneficiaries of Halvorson's design, and you are too as you walk on the Mountain Park trails and under its busy roadways.

But the other half of this walk takes you down through the Portland Community College Sylvania Campus, also developed in the late 1960's, and through additional wooded areas and some nearby neighborhoods.

Start this walk at Westlake Park, cross Melrose Street, and head up Peters Street. You'll be passing both new large attached townhomes and new large detached single-family homes. At Auburn Lane, turn right.




Once on Auburn Lane, make a quick left, and you will see on the right side of the street a trail heading up the hill. Take it. The large embankment on your right is actually the side of a buried underground water storage facility, courtesy of the City of Lake Oswego, with a nice grassy play area on top of it.

This trail tees into a Mountain Park Homeowners Association pathway. Take the route to the left - on your right are the backs of homes in Mountain Park, while on your left are the backs of homes not in Mountain Park, built in the 1980's. Eventually the houses on the left are replaced by a nice forested area.

Eventually you will get to this bridge. At the fork in the trail beyond the bridge, head to the right. On your left you will see an odd sight - what looks like a small industrial yard in the forest. In fact it's the maintenance yard and RV storage yard for the Mountain Park Homeowners Association.

Follow this trail to Bernini Street (you are once again in Mountain Park's "artist colony"!) Cross the street, and continue up the trail to one of the signature street tunnels throughout the Mountain Park trail system. This one seems particularly superfluous, consisting of twin tunnels taking the trail underneath Jefferson Parkway. They don't have any other purpose, such as conveyance of flood waters, that is apparent.

Once through the tunnel, you will be heading up a steep patch of trail, through the woods of Mountain Park, with a condo development to the right and some apartments to the left. The apartments are "notable" for being the site of the first murder in Lake Oswego, about 10 years ago, that had occurred since 1980. Since then they have been renamed, repainted, and generally upgraded. At the top of this trail, you will come to a paved trail paralleling Kerr Parkway. Take a left and then go through yet another tunnel under Kerr. 

Once through the tunnel, take the path up to the level of Kerr Parkway. You will have to go along a short stretch of the roadway without a sidewalk, but there is a wide shoulder. On your right is a large apartment complex. Suddenly, a short sidewalk begins, ending at a stairway going up to the right. Take it.

After a short distance along this concrete walkway, take the stairway to the left. You will now be walking through a dead-end street with townhomes on both sides.

At the entrance to the townhome development, take a left and then another quick left onto McNary Parkway.

Now you have a bit of overlap with the first Mt. Sylvania hike, as you cross McNary onto Hidalgo, but follow a nice little trail in McNary Park, built on top of a Lake Oswego water reservoir. Leave the park trail and head up Juarez, then turn left onto Garibaldi. Instead of taking the short, steep route up to the summit, follow Garibaldi on its winding route up the hill, enjoying the monumental architecture of some of the huge houses, especially on the uphill side of the street. You will notice a couple of very steep vacant lots, and you can appreciate the amount of geological analysis that (hopefully) went into the design and construction of these houses! Eventually on your left you will see a little calf-burner of a steep walk from Garibaldi up to Nansen Summit Road, marked by a Mountain Park trail sign.

Once you reach the top, go up to the summit and enjoy the views. This picture, taken on a cloudy day, doesn't do the views justice. The best views are of Washington County to the west, since a bunch of darn big trees get in the way (at least partially) in the other directions!

There are some nice-looking houses at the top of Mt. Sylvania, but my favorite is this one, on your left as you head down Nansen Summit, at the corner of Nansen and Bolivar. It might not be to everyone's taste (I know of one critic who loathes the turquoise rockwork mixed in on the facade), but I think it's a great-looking house.

Walk down Nansen Summit to Becket, and take a right. Then take a left on Hidalgo, cross 49th Street at the signal light, and you are now on the Portland Community College campus. Head into the campus, and follow the circumferential road to the left. Our official route will take you around the campus parking lot and buildings, but you can take a detour by going straight toward the buildings and looking around.

Portland Community College has three main campuses, of which this one, the Sylvania Campus, is the first and largest. It serves 26,000 students, and was opened in 1968. As you look down upon the campus from the 49th Street entrance, the first thing you will see is a giant parking lot - most of the students commute to campus by auto, rather than by Trimet bus or via bicycle. Beyond that is a row of newer buildings, including the campus library, that were built in the 1980's and 1990's. And behind the newer buildings are the original campus buildings. These were designed in the institutional style now known as "brutalist;" concrete structures with exposed beams. The brutalist style of architecture has not aged well, and most institutional architecture since this period of construction has been a reaction against the style.

One additional note - if you need to make a bathroom stop, the campus will provide, unless you are taking this hike during a period when the campus is closed (late nights, holidays, weekend evenings, evenings and weekends during class breaks).

As you walk along the perimeter road, look for this scene - a tarp-covered concrete silo of some sort on the left side of the road. Our trail down the hill begins at this structure. Follow the trail down hill, past the PCC athletic field (in the Winter of 2014 there is a construction site with trailers that you will pass by).

Keep on following the trail down the hill, and continue through the forest. Below the athletic field, where the trail forks, keep to the left. You will then reach the end of Haines Street. There is no sidewalk on these streets, but there is very little traffic, until you get to Lesser Road, site of a 4-way stop.

At the 4-way stop, cross the street and go for 

a brief walk along Lesser Road to the left. But be sure to stay straight and go onto 62nd Avenue. Do not stay on Lesser Road; this heavily traveled street has no sidewalks or shoulders along most of its length, and with cars speeding a 35 mph, it is a death trap for pedestrians. While 62nd Avenue also has no sidewalk, it also has much less traffic, moving at 25 mph (hopefully).

Follow 62nd Avenue as it goes down the hill. You are going through a neighborhood that was developed in the 1950's and 1960's with houses that were called "tract" houses at the time, and now with the patina of age are often called "mid-century modern." In the lower half of the street are some of the ubiquitous split-level entry homes that proliferated in suburban neighborhoods at the time. Go to the end of the road, and you will see a trail entrance into a Southwood Park.

Follow the trail and go through the park. The city park has a sign indicating prohibited items, including firearms and paint guns. I'm sure there's an interesting story involving wayward Lake Oswego youthful exuberance behind the prohibition of the latter!



The rest of the walk will take you through the Westlake neighborhood, developed in the late 1980's and 1990's, with the predominant architectural styles switching from the "mid-century modern" on 62nd Avenue to various colonial pastiches, with a heavy dose of English tudor. Suncreek Drive, the road you are on, will end at Fosberg Road, but continue across the street with a slight veer to the right and follow Melrose Street back to Westlake Park and your starting point.