Marine Drive Multi-Use Path

Safe and easy to access, this is beginning to be one of my favorite walking paths. It stretches for miles, and I appreciate the Columbia /​Mt. Hood views, especially to the east of the 205 bridge.
Fellow walkers and cyclists are friendly and respectful of each other’s space, and there’s lots of space out here.
If I’m driving to this pathway, I like parking at the Brighton Beach area.

How can I not give it five stars? I’ve spent almost every weekend running dogs here for the last three months.
I’m a volunteer dog runner for the Oregon Humane Society. This trail is HEAVEN. I really shouldn’t be advertising for it. Darn darn darn. Oh, well.
I seriously was NOT a regular runner til I found this place. It’s glorious. Ridiculously flat trail and BREATHTAKING views. It’s my favorite place to be. The dogs seriously dig it too. How could they not?
We park at NE 33^rd drive and run east. The miles just sneak up on you. It’s so nice and cool in the early mornings, that before I know it I’ve ran 5 miles and have to turn around and go back to the car. The dogs can’t go that far. So, we really have to discipline ourselves and turn around before we want to. The dogs and I equally hate making ourselves turn around. They like to go go go.
It certainly can heat up fast out there. Gets humid bad. That’s why I only go in the mornings.
All the fellow path users are so nice too. It’s a great community feel. Bikers, runners, and walkers are all quick to greet each of us. Course, I always have a dog with me. Who doesn’t LOVE saying «morning» to a dog??? The dogs love the greetings too.
The view of the Columbia river and the PDX airport are incredibly entertaining. The grass on either side of the trail gets pretty high over time and once in a while some mysterious people come and mow it down. The parking lot and restrooms down on the water front are all well managed as welll.
This is my happy place. So thankful for it.

The Marine Drive multi-​use path is a sweet little section of biking/​hiking/​walking and generally anything-​without-​a-​motor-​ing path that hugs the Columbia River from NE 33^rd out past the I-​205 bridge. It’s mostly flat and set down a bit from Marine Drive in many areas, so while on the path you definitely feel like you’re out on the river. However in some areas, like near the airport, it’s set up above Marine Drive, offering fun views of aircraft landing and taking off, etc.
I’ve biked this path a few times on the section between 205 and the airport. On weekdays during the daytime it’s pretty deserted. As this path connects with the 205 Multi-​Use Path, it offers a lot of miles of fairly un-​interrupted dedicated paved path for riding. The zero inclines along the path add to ease for family outings. There’s pretty much no cover from the sun, however, so anyone planning to go the distance on this path should definitely be rocking the sunscreen, especially with the water right there next to the path.
There are some spots available for parking along the length of the path however I’ve always accessed this path via the 205 connection, which you can take across the river to Washington (exhaust is an issue) or down south all the way to Oregon City. All told, this is part of a much larger system of trails that lets you stay out of traffic and get some serious mileage in.
As an added bonus, once you get east of the 205 bridge, the views of Mt. Hood up the Columbia are stunning.