Large Cities & Geography (Portland, Eugene: home, company, suburbs)

[Dc18]

Which large city is surrounded by the most forests, woods, mountains, etc. and has many hiking trails? I'm thinking its Eugene but I'm not sure.

[Waterlily]

Eugene tends to be flat and surrounded more by farmland. there's not a lot of forest close by.There is a couple of rivers there.
I'd say any of the other Large cities would have more of what you want like forests,mountains and trails.

[OregonAndy]

I would say Portland by a long shot.
Within the city limits there are hiking trails that will make you think you're 100 miles from downtown.
Forrest Park is the best example. Tryon State Park, Sauvie Island, and Hoyt Arboretum are great too!

[zilfondel]

Portland has a 15,000 acre natural forest called - get this! "Forest Park" that stretches for about 30 miles from downtown waaaay out into the countryside. Umm, the ocean is one hour west, and the US Olympic Ski team practices at Mt Hood, one hour east. It's also covered by a forest: "Mt Hood National Forest." Plus, don't forget the Columbia Gorge; you can windsurf during the summer in 90 degree weather!

There are hundreds of miles of mountains & forests on either side of the Willamette Valley that extend all the way to California. Then there's the hotsprings, statewide hiking trails, etc.

[WorkinStiff]

Portland, (metro) also has about 4/5 of the states population, so you'll have plenty of company when using the trails...Forest Park is very popular among the homeless and transients who find it's 15K acres a good place to hide from the police....Eugene is not surrounded by farmland..The Coast Range is to the west, the Cascades east and the heavily forested and very rugged Calapoia Divide is to the south.......I grew up in Portland & now live in Eugene...
Portland has suburbs to the west,suburbs to the south, suburbs to the north, ( Vancouver), and suburbs to the east....During the summer the mountains to the east and the north coast to the west are absolutely packed with people.....Hwy 26 to the coast is a perpetual traffic jam.......as is hwy 26 eastbound up to Mt Hood....When the weathers' good everywhere within 3 hrs drive of Portland is packed.....
I can , and often do, drive 20 mins from Eugene & find a trail up the McKenzie or Willamette drainages where, I can hike for hours while encountering very few people...Having lived in both places, my opinion is the exact opposite of the other responders.....