Portland's Mount Tabor Park

Location: Portland, Ore.

Length: Several miles of trails.

Level of difficulty: Level-to-moderate dirt, gravel and paved paths.

Setting: This beautiful city treasure of a park designed by the Olmsted Brothers suddenly rises up from the middle of a nice residential neighborhood in southeast Portland like a little volcano. Actually, that's exactly what Mount Tabor is — a little volcanic cinder cone from the surrounding Boring Lava Field that's been extinct for about 300,000 years. This little feature makes Portland one of only two cities in the continental U.S. (the other is Bend, Ore.) to have an extinct volcano within its boundaries. In fact, its cinders were used to help pave the park's roads.

Stop off at the first parking area on the left and orient yourself at the kiosk with the trail map and the aerial photo. You can print out a trail map beforehand from the park's Web site, but basically, trails lace all around and up and down the park amid shady forests and open lawns. Below this first parking lot is an amphitheater, where you can see some of the cinder cone's rough black- and rust-colored outcrops.

Highlights: The 196-acre park was named for a mountain in Israel, and houses three water reservoirs for Portland, built in 1894 and 1911. Depending on where you are in the park, you can see views of the city through the trees, as well as Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens. A bronze statue of a former editor of The Oregonian newspaper at the top of the park was sculpted by Gutzon Borglum in the early 1930s, about the same time he was working on his sculpture of the four presidents at South Dakota's Mount Rushmore.

Facilities: Restrooms, water and playground. Extensive off-leash area on east side of the park.

Restrictions: Leash and scoop laws in effect; park closed to cars Wednesdays.

Directions: From Interstate 5 in Portland, take I-84 east and get off at Exit 3 (58th Avenue). At the end of the exit ramp, turn left, then take the first right on Southeast 60th Avenue. In about a half-mile, the road ends at a T; go left, then right to jog over a half block onto Southeast Stark Street (which turns back into Southeast 60th). In .3 mile, at Southeast Salmon Street, turn left into the park.

For more information: 503-823-7529 or www.portlandonline.com/parks.

— Cathy McDonald, Special to The Seattle Times

Renton-based freelancer Cathy McDonald, a former geologist, has written about science and nature travel for 20 years. She's currently a travel guidebook editor at Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door. Contact her: nwwriter@hotmail.com.