60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Portland: Including the Coast, Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens, and the Santiam River

by Paul Gerald

Get outdoors with this guide to 60 of the best hiking trails within an hour or so from Portland, Oregon, leading you to scenic beauty. The best way to experience Portland is by hiking it! Get outdoors with local author and hiking expert Paul Gerald. Now in full color, this best-selling guide helps you locate and access the top hikes within 60 miles of Rose City. A perfect blend of popular routes and hidden gems, the selected trails transport you to scenic overlooks, mountain retreats, and beautiful forests that renew your spirit and recharge your body. Hike around Mount Hood on the Timberline Trail. See migrating fish in the Salmon River. Enjoy the wildflowers at Tom McCall Preserve in the Columbia River Gorge. Explore the wildlife sanctuary at Oaks Bottom, right in the heart of the city. Stroll behind waterfalls in Silver Falls State Park. Whale watch from high up on Cape Lookout. With Portland author and outdoors enthusiast Paul Gerald offering advice about where to hike and what to expect when you get there, you’ll learn about the area and experience nature through 60 of Portland’s best hikes! Each hike description features key at-a-glance information on distance, difficulty, scenery, traffic, hiking time, and more, so you can quickly and easily learn about each trail. Detailed directions, GPS-based trail maps, and elevation profiles help to ensure that you know where you are and where you’re going. Tips on nearby activities further enhance your enjoyment of every outing. So whether you’re a local looking for new places to explore or a visitor to the area, 60 Hikes Within 60 Portland provides plenty of options for a couple hours or a full day of adventure, all within about an hour from the city.

328 pages, Paperback

Published July 19, 2022

About the author

Paul Gerald is a professional freelance writer and lover of the outdoors whose work has appeared in newspapers around the country, as well as Northwest Airlines WorldTraveler, Dish Magazine, Weissmann Travel Reports, and Nike's web site."

Reviews

[Mad Hapa · Rating 4 out of 5]

TL;DR review: worth checking out from the library, even if you already have a hiking guide to this area. If you don't have a hiking book for the greater Portland metro area, this is a good one to start with.

Longer review:
This book has many of the same hikes as William L. Sullivan's 100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington, but there are several hikes in this book that aren't in Sullivan's -- in addition to hikes on the coast (Sullivan has a separate book of coast hikes).

This book also has more photos than the other book and includes helpful info about:

Exposure (will it be shady or roastin')
Fees (do you need a NW Forest Pass)
Hiking Time (1 hr, 4 hrs, etc)

Only four stars because (understandably) the author hasn't had time to update all the hikes in this book. Some of the info hasn't been updated since 2019, and (sadly) we've had some severe fires since then. The author notes when a hike is in a burn area and lists resources for up-to-date info.