A letter from a local
Forest Park is the front yard. The Gorge is the back.
Forest Park is 5,200 acres of fir and fog inside the city line — the Wildwood Trail runs 30 miles of it, ten minutes from downtown. That's the weekday. The weekend argument is which direction: the Gorge's waterfalls and wind forty-five minutes east, Sandy Ridge's purpose-built mtb flow forty minutes toward Hood, or the coast ninety west.
Mt. Hood holds North America's longest ski season — Timberline runs lifts into August — about ninety minutes out. Hood River's world-class wind is an hour. You will not run out. You'll run out of weekends.
It's the biggest city on this list with everything that buys — food, music, flights, salaries. The trade is winter gray you must learn to ride through, literally. Buy the fenders.
— Simone