Ah, Mount Tabor. The extinct volcanic cinder cone almost in my backyard, 636 feet (194 m) in elevation with about 400 feet of prominence over its surroundings. It’s the most famous hill on the east side, and the most prominent one, too.1 Its proximity to my house makes it a no-brainer for visiting, though I don’t do it as often as I should, much to my (and Stasia’s) chagrin. Well, the days of me passing over (a part of) it to get somewhere else is long over, so I have to make a special trip. The last one was in late March. It was a lovely end to Memorial Day weekend, with a high of 75F/24C, so why not a little ride up to Tabor? I needed to go somewhere, might as well go somewhere I haven’t been in a bit.
My typical ride to Tabor is this: Ride from my house to Montavilla and approach Tabor from the “back” (east) side, climb up SE Taylor and Yamhill and enter the park at SE 69th Ave, spend some time at the east side picnic area (best view of Mount Tabor), then climb up to the top, preferably via the dirt path, spend a little time at the top, bomb down the paved road to Reservoir No. 5, cruise back up to by where the pavilion used to be, and then descend from the volcano via the north side using Scott Drive and 62nd Ave. Today was more of the same of that, though I did use a path on the extreme northwest of the park to get out, a path I had not used before (or at least not in a very long time).
There was a decent amount of folks up on Tabor, but not overwhelmingly so, even though it was a summer holiday weekend. It’s nice to live in a place where even in the heart of a city, you can get away for a bit. I love these easy little summertime activities, like making dinner outside or eating a burrito while watching a sun set. I used to do that a lot more. I need to get back in the habit. Thankfully there’s a full summer ahead of me, and Tabor is an easy and quick getaway.
- Technically, Mount Scott is taller, at 1,091 feet (333 m). But its peak is across the town line in Clackamas County, only a bit of the shoulder lies within Portland. ↩︎
Urban Adventure League 