Council Crest, at 1080 feet in elevation, is the highest spot in Portland. It is a 2.5 hike from where I parked my car in Hoyt Arboretum to Council Crest.

Hiking time: 183 minutes and 7.35 seconds, or 3 hours and 3 minutes. SW Fischer Blvd at Hemlock Trail to right on Wildwood Trail to right on Marquam Trail to Council Crest.

But I made a big mistake trying to pick up the Marquam Trail on the other side of U.S. 26, which the Marquam Trail crosses. I saw the way trail from hell where I supposed the Marquam Trail headed up to Council Crest and was angry that the Forest Service would turn the Marquam Trail into this brutally uncivilized track. It was extremely narrow, brushy and ungodly steep and just deteriorated into the brush of hell.

I said, screw this, and turned around intent on going back to the arboretum and doing something different. But when I got back to the highway, I decided to go along its eastbound entrance ramp a ways just to see if the real Marquam Trail was improbably placed further down on the entrance ramp.

Sure enough, it was! It was a fairly steep trail that climbed up and down from 700 feet elevation to 1030 feet elevation in 1.2 miles to Council Crest. It was hazy at the summit and you could barely make out Mt. Hood. But there are nice redwoods up there.

Took a measly 54 photos of which an amazing 38 made the cut.