Fire Lane 4

The Walk

The trail’s hinge is its midpoint, where it crosses the Maple Trail beneath the transmission lines. That crossing is a quiet piece of geography: it’s the divide between the Doane Creek and Saltzman Creek drainages, the spot where the slope decides which way its water goes. From there it’s about a fifth of a mile up and to the right to Leif Erikson Drive (near Leif’s mile 5), and a quarter mile down and to the left to the Saltzman parking. The Mount Adams window sits just above the Maple crossing — worth the pause on the way up, when you’ll want the excuse to stop anyway.

Runner’s note This is a rare thing in Forest Park — a sustained, even grade with no rhythm-breaking flats, which makes it a legitimate half-mile hill effort up or a controlled quad-punishing descent down. It’s foot-only, so you’ll have it to yourself as a running climb; just yield to hikers braking downhill, because you will meet them on a pitch this steep.

Before you go

Foot only, and worth saying plainly: Fire Lane 4 is on neither the park’s bike list nor its horse list, so keep the wheels and hooves on the sanctioned routes. The tread is dirt and gravel that firms up nicely in the dry months and turns slick from October into spring — a 16% grade is no place to be sliding, so pick your day. If you’re here for the view and the workout, start at the bottom and take it up; if you’re just cutting off the ridge to the car, let gravity do the honest, knee-jarring work.