Aspen Trail
A steep little on-ramp to the Wildwood — a calf-burning shortcut for hill repeats, not for scenery.
On this trailThe Climb
The Climb
From the trailhead the path climbs and doesn’t relent — a narrow, rooty tread under Douglas-fir and bigleaf maple, with a snowberry screen along the way and, on a clear day near the top, a window view out to Mt. St. Helens. It’s over almost before your legs settle into it, and then the Wildwood takes you on a level contour and the real walk begins. From that junction you can turn a Balch Canyon loop or link over to Holman Lane — the neighboring grind up from the Aspen and Raleigh corner — for a longer circuit that comes back down to the same lower streets.
Runner note This is a fitness on-ramp more than a trail — a genuine, honest little hill for repeats, steep enough to matter and short enough to run again. Warm your legs before you start, because there’s no gentle apron at the bottom: it just goes. And skip it entirely if you want a gentle way up to the Wildwood; nothing about the Aspen is gentle, which is exactly why some people love it.
Before you go
Getting to the trailhead is its own small adventure: from NW Thurman Street, the way down is the “Aspen Staircase,” a long public stairway that drops through the neighborhood to Aspen Avenue, where two marked trail entrances sit less than fifty feet apart beside a weathered distance sign. The stairs are an access route, not part of the trail — worth knowing before you go looking for a conventional trailhead. And save the steep tread for drier stretches: like all of the park’s dirt it turns greasy and treacherous in the wet season, and a 20% pitch is no place to test your footing in the mud.
Getting there
StartAspen Trailhead on NW Aspen Ave to EndTops out at the Wildwood Trail
- Start
- Aspen Trailhead on NW Aspen Ave (nearest address 2099 NW Aspen Ave), Portland — two marked entrances less than 50 feet apart, with a weathered distance sign
- Orientation
- Lower east edge of the park, in the NW Thurman St neighborhood above Balch Gulch — the same pocket that feeds Lower Macleay and Holman Lane
- Parking
- No lot — on-street only along NW Aspen Ave and nearby streets, a quiet neighborhood block that tightens on sunny weekends when Macleay and Leif Erikson fill; no ADA parking. Park clear of driveways
- Other access
- From NW Thurman St down the neighborhood 'Aspen Staircase' — a long public stairway to Aspen Ave; it's an access route to the trailhead, not part of the trail
- Ends at
- Tops out at the Wildwood Trail, where a concrete marker and wayfinding map hand you onto a level contour. On foot you can turn and drop back down the way you came, or stay on the Wildwood to close a Balch Canyon or Holman Lane loop
- Transit
- TriMet 15 and 77 reach lower Northwest Portland, then a short neighborhood walk to the Aspen Avenue trailhead. Line 26 has only two weekday school trips and is not practical service to plan around
- Accessibility
- Not accessible — a steep, sustained natural-surface climb reached by street or stairway, with no paved section and no facilities at either end; nearest restroom is at the Holman Lane trailhead, about a quarter mile away
- Dogs
- leashed
- Best
- year-round; drier months (late spring through fall) for the firmest footing — the steep tread turns greasy in the wet season
Keep going
Plan a route from hereAdditional resources
- Portland Parks & Recreation — Aspen TrailOfficial profile: length, grades, foot-only rule, and the NW Aspen Ave trailhead.