16 May 2021

The Long View West Down Glisan From NE 89th

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There's a wonderful fable about how Portland's geography sports a 'flat' east side, a more level landscape than can be found west of the river.

That's complete bull, of course. There are remarkable hills on the east side of the Willamette offering low-key splendid views (I'm not just talking about Mount Tabor or Rocky Butte). There's the Alameda Ridge, stretches of Stark Street, a long length of Sandy Boulevard. Portland's east side is remarkably bumpy for a flat place, and the person who first started talking about 'Portland's flat east side' is was probably a cyclist with calves of titanium, you know the kind.

NE Glisan east of I-205 is fairly level, but as soon as you get to about 89th to 92nd Avenues, it drops. There's a long lovely slope alongside Multnomah University (actually a modestly-sized bible college) and it offers this long-range view.


In the distance there are, of course, the West Hills ... west of the Willamette. Here, we're approximately four and a half miles east of the Willamette. The stretch of Glisan we can see here is somewhat more than a mile. 

Portland is a city of hills. Many of them hide their light under a bushel though.

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