I-205 Multi Use Path

Walking by the freeway is unsurprisingly a bit stale. The I-​205 Multi Use Path lets you venture by foot, bike or a tad bit by rail along the I-​205. There is lots of nature and houses nearby. It is easy to get to lots of the MAX Green Line stops, and this easily connects much of South Portland with Clackamas Town Center.
I’ve walked along the path several times, though I have only done three miles of it at the most. Last time, I started along the SE Division MAX and worked my way to the Lents Town Center MAX, by foot of course. The bikers I encountered while walking always moved accordingly, but you may want to pay a bit of attention. They did do lots of planting in the construction, and the pollution is moderate.
Of course, of all places, there are better ways to see the state than a freeway. We have forests and other places with less bicyclists. This still is handy, even giving you a nice time through lots of neighborhoods. I am happy this was built, because lots of times it is easy to cross into the other side of the freeway more easily. Still, the scenery leaves more to be desired if I have to use my foot and I observed no drinking fountains.
If you can overlook being near a freeway, the I-​205 Multi Use Path is for you.

Don’t forget your water!!! ;)

The I-​205 multi use path is prolific. Yes, that’s a good word for it. Stretching through something like 5 cities and 15 neighborhoods (according to the good ‘ol ODOT interwebsite), this path is a lifeline for foot, bicycle, skateboard, rollerblade and Razor scooter traffic running from south to north along the corridor. It hugs 205 most of the way from the Columbia on down to wherever it ends and traverses a veritable myriad of environs from industrial to crack-​tacular to residential to freeway frontage road to MAX stops to everything in-​between. The proximity to 205 means you know you’re in for a quality experience on this path.
I bike this path fairly frequently starting around Market and 205, so I have the choice of going north past Eastgate and down through Maywood Park (a separate city surrounded by Portland, in case you didn’t know) to the river, where the path connects up with the Columbia River path heading east-​west. Or I can head south a few miles to Springwater Corridor trail, which offers me many miles of east-​west path riding extending from the Willamette all the way to Boring (I’ve done this whole ride). Further south along the 205 path you run in to Clackamas Town Center. From there… I don’t know, I haven’t ridden past that point yet (although I endeavor to).
The length of the path (at least the section I’ve traversed from Clackamas Town Center to the Columbia) is in good condition, with the only part really in need of repair being in Maywood Park, where the blacktop is creased up from root growth. But there’s a road parallel to the path here that you can ride on if you don’t want root bumps.
Notable landmarks along this trail from north to south are the 205 bridge (or exhaust alley), the hill up from the Columbia to Maywood Park (hobo:30), the hill from Maywood Park to Eastgate (crackhead fiesta), and Eastgate Max Stop (the smoke porch). Once you get on past Eastgate it’s fairly mellow all the way down south. I haven’t seen too much action on the trail. Reading the above you might ask, is it safe? Seems so to me. I am not sure I’d run the section between Eastgate and Maywood Park by myself during the off hours if I were of the fairer sex and not carrying some self defense. Although I’ve never heard of or seen trouble on this trail, there are definitely a few out-​of –the-​way spots and I’ve seen plenty of interesting characters… as I fly by on my road bike.
The exhaust from 205 is only bad on the Glen Jackson bridge — enough so that I turned around about ¾ of the way through. The rest of the time you’re separated by retaining walls or at least 50 – 200 feet, so it’s not intense.
Overall I’m super stoked to be living near this path. It allows me to get on and ride my bike for great lengths with few interruptions from stoplights, traffic, etc, and realistically I could ride all day long on this and connected paths and still not see the same thing twice. I’m very grateful for this public resource.