Mountain biking in Forest Park

Portland’s Forest Park has some excellent mountain biking trails that I’m just starting to explore. Most of the park, including the Wildwood Trail, restricts access to hikers only. However, there are several fire lane entrances and trails that permit bikes. These include:

• Leif Erikson Rd
• Saltzman Rd.
• Firelanes 1, 3, 5, 10, 12, and 15
• Holman Ln

The firelane entrances can be steep, but Leif Erikson is a pretty level road. Most of the firelanes connect to Leif Erikson. The road itself is somewhat rocky. If you have a full-suspension bike, it’s probably not noticeable. But you’d want to at least have front shock absorbers.

Parking

Parking for the firelanes can be limited. There is much more parking at the Leif Erikson entrance, located here. Firelane 3 starts in a neighborhood off of Thunder Crest Dr, and there are signs everywhere saying that any vehicles will be towed if they do not belong to residents, guests, or those here on business. I wasn’t sure if I qualified as a guest, so I parked across Skyline on Devoto lane.