Follow Leif Erikson as far as you wish to go.

You probably know the history: ambitious speculators wanted a string of housing developments along the west hills. The city assessed taxes for plats along what we now know as Forest Park, and with all sorts of revenue-garnering development in mind, built a road. But Nature had other ideas, and the city fathers soon realized that keeping the road open to the automobile-hungry public would take far more effort than they bargained for. The Sons of Norway made a bid for the name, the city of Portland made a park, and Leif Erikson Drive was born to the delight of many future hikers, bikers, and daydreamers.

Leif Erikson runs through Forest Park like a spine: the internet is littered with trail reviews and warnings of mud. But a little searching will take you to some of the older history of the area, like the old timer who recalls boyhood days of exploring a mercury mine nearby until a prank inspired the city to blast the mine shut. Even better than that is the original park system proposal put together for the city by the Olmsted brothers. What follows are a few excerpts revealing their understanding of how parklands function in the public sphere. I think that if they saw the many ways Portland loves Forest Park today, they might be pleased.

"The backwardness of municipal park systems is not so much due to lack of intelligence and lack of public spirit, as to a defective development of the love of beauty, as compared with a well-developed appreciation of practical, utilitarian progress."

"Parks, like public libraries and art museums, must meet the public needs in the main, else they will lose their power for educating the public to better things, but they should be managed by wise and public-spirited men who will strive to gradually and considerately improve the public taste. The people can be led toward higher ideals, but they must in the main be led unconsciously and by force of example rather than scolding."

"It is true that some people look upon such woods merely as a troublesome encumbrance standing in the way of more profitable use of the land, but future generations will not feel so and will bless the men who were wise enough to get such woods preserved. Future generations, however, will be likely to appreciate the wild beauty and the grandeur of the tall fir trees in this forest park or reservation, as it would perhaps better be called, its deep, shady ravines and bold, view-commanding spurs far more than do the majority of the citizens of today, many of who are familiar with similar original woods. But such primeval woods will become as rare about Portland as they are about Boston. If these woods are preserved, they will surely come to be regarded as marvelously beautiful."