4. Reed College / Eastmoreland Loop
The Reed College/Eastmoreland Golf Course area is one of the most beautiful and enchanting corners of the city. Yet these virtues are generally missed by the auto passenger.
The starting point can be reached by turning south off S.E. Holgate at 28th or, if you’re coming from the south, crossing the Bybee overpass and turning left on 28th.
Park in the Rhododendron Society’s parking lot. The run starts along S.E. 28th. Follow the paved pathway running north from the parking lot. Turn west at the edge of the golf course and cross a small creek before coming out on S.E. 26th Avenue. Turn right on 26th and right again in two blocks at S.E. Steele Street. Go up the hill, crossing S.E. 28th and continue climbing on Steele.
Just past Eastmoreland General Hospital, you’ll come to a large grassy field on the Reed Campus. Run on the grass along Steele another 1/4 mile, turn right at the driveway and follow it to its end at a dormitory complex. At the far end of the parking lot, take one of the asphalt walkways that descends a small hill and meets the dirt road running north/south between the west end of the small lake and the swimming pool. Follow this road south up the hill past the gymnasium on your right. Bear straight ahead across the pavement and the campus to Woodstock Boulevard. Turn left and follow Woodstock up to 36th Avenue. Turn right on 36th into the Eastmoreland neighborhood.
During spring and summer, Eastmoreland streets resemble tunnels, with trees from both sides embracing each other over your head.
Follow 36th through this quiet and charming neighborhood to Crystal Springs Blvd., and turn right. Jog past some of Portland’s loveliest homes down to 29th. Turn right, run 2 blocks, and turn right again on S.E. Rex. Follow Rex for four blocks up to Reed College Place. Turn left, and you now have a choice of running on the street or the grassy boulevard straight north nearly a mile to Woodstock and the Reed campus. Go left on Woodstock and run along the campus down the hill, bearing right at 28th back to your car.
Cool off with a drink at the fountain and wind down by taking a walk through the idyllic beauty of the Rhododendron Gardens.
