Waterfront Park and the Eastbank Esplanade

The Waterfront Park and the Eastbank Esplanade form a 2.8-mile loop trail that rings the Willamette River in the very heart of Portland [1], linking two bridges and Waterfront Park [2] with a floating walkway on the river’s eastern bank. The trail can be walked in either direction and accessed at many points; to follow the loop clockwise from downtown, walk the riverfront embankment trail north through Waterfront Park to the Steel Bridge. Cross the lower span of the bridge, a pedestrian- and cyclists-only crossing called the Steel Bridge RiverWalk.

On the east side of the Willamette, the trail heads south, dropping onto the Eastbank Esplanade [3], about half of which is a floating walkway (at 1,200 feet the longest in the country) and the rest a paved path along the riverbank. At the Hawthorne Bridge, climb up the stairs and cross the bridge to downtown, completing the loop.