This is a nice little spot to start your ride on a bicycle or go for a run. There is a small area to park and the homeless presence is not as great in this area. If youre a runner, the cyclist are usually pretty considerate and giving you an on your left or a bell warning. There are mile markers every 10th of a mile. This is also a nice place to start from going toward Gresham, as there are not a lot of major streets intersecting with the trail.

Very nice place to enjoy a long bike ride along during the day, it offers beautiful scenery with various different types of landscapes along the way. If you are looking for a new trail to explore, this could be one. It is pretty long as well.When it settles into night I would not recommend it as the safest place. Other than that, its an amazing trail!

Great. Lots of cyclists though. Theres Powell Butte Nature Park along the way which is real convenient.

Great views of hypodermic needle ridge. Come for the views, stay for the stabbings

Great place to go if you just dont care about living anymore. Nothing but opium dens and camps all along the trail. This generations trail of tears ...if you dare go in large groups

I live near the Springwater corridor at Powell Butte, and have used it plenty over the past 5 years. The folks who mistreat it come and go,. Those kind mess up natural spaces no matter how pristine it is, and whether they are homeless campers or visiting for the day. Apart from that bummer, the trail is a gem and I hope more people will venture out to enjoy this year.

Nature is like an art museum. The seasons continually change the gallery of beauty.

Bum central.

Great place for a ny style h robbery experience

Beautiful place to take a walk.

I only rode about 5 miles of the trail, but I really enjoyed it. Its paved and wide enough to allow safe passing. Its a great trail for a weekend bike ride for a little extra exercise. Depending on where you start on the trail the parking can be a little tricky. The biggest downside on the section I rode was the number of times it crossed a road. The crossings all seemed safe (another plus), but having to stop and wait for traffic was definitely a pace-killer.

Its 2 different trails. From 181st east through Gresham to Boring its clean and scenic, 5 stars. From Powell butte to west into Portland its often a sketchy garbage strewn transient camp, one star. Transition area at Powell Butte.

Nice trail. Watch out for the homeless and weirdos.

Great grand fantastic and great

So cool, long nature hike in the city. Only go during the day though. Really spooky and dark even when the sun isnt totally down.

Nice walking or riding trail. Just be careful if you walk off the main trail to explore lots of homeless,trash, and needles.

The trail is great as long as there are not homeless people living in it. They seem to take over sections of the trail especially in the summer and can be aggressive. Other than that the trail is great.

I love to walk or ride my horse on this trail, many bicyclist as well. Great trail to get to Powell Butte and ride those trails too.

I have very mixed feelings about this corridor and I havent gone the full length of the trail to speak to its quality in its entirety. However I believe this should be traveled with due caution and awareness because to the persistent homeless and less that savory sort that linger. With children I would really just avoid it all together. It used to be a great path, unfortunately its a mixed bag anymore. I think it is best for those with bikes.

Nice ride! The negative is that youll run into several homeless people and see several piles of garbage left by them. If you have to pee youll have to do it outside and hope not to get caught, or hold it until the next road crossing where you have to hope theres a public restroom. Nice ride though cant wait to ride the entire trail soon.

Cool day, wet ground but no sprinkles. Good day for a careful ride or run.

Beautiful beautiful world

Such a perfect way to bike Portland. Great job! Another great reason to live in beautiful Oregon!

Could be nice if the homeless werent camping on it so much. Seems more dangerous than it use to be. It does however offer immaculate views.

Watch out for the homeless!!

Good trail just watch out For tweakers

A huge stretch of trail cutting through some picturesque park and wilderness areas. Since they repaved it last year its been even better for cycling!Seriously though, I live near Gresham and people need to pick up after their horses. Besides that, its great.

Terrific views of Mt hood and a view of Mt St Helens.

The springwater trail creates a great thoroughfare for bicycle and pedestrian use. There is an unfortunate amount of free camping by homeless people that results in a lot of trash along the trail. Its more pronounced the farther east you go, but the quality of the road is stellar.

I used to walk and ride here ALL the time. Im told its kind of sketchy in the Gresham Station area... Im not worried about it, just be aware and stick close to the kiddos.

Great path ruined by Portlands ultra tolerance of homeless people. Good intentions bad outcomes etc

This is an amazing ride. I have lived in many cities in Oregon, Portland, in my opinion, has the best bike trails of them all. The pavement is better kept than most public streets in Portland and also of most trails I have traveled in Eugene, Bend and Springfield. The creek, the wildlife preserves and the constant change in incline make for a beautiful, relaxing yet challenging ride. As for all the comments about the homeless camps and trash, every homeless person I see on my treks exchanges smiles with me. Seeing these people, and how they are living, reminds me of how fortunate I am, and at the end of my ride I feel even more fortunate and grateful for all that I have. Ive met homeless people riding these trails that are kinder and friendlier than the people I meet in their name brand clothes driving their BMWs and Mercedez Benz. Perspective.

Depends where youre at. Somethings pretty and tranquil, others its a homeless camp

It used to be wonderful doable bike ride for me but I watched it go from a beautiful sunrise and a view of mount hood in the morning all the way down to an unsafe, trashstrewn, needle littered, shopping cart obstacle strewn, urine smelling unsafe place where women had been attacked, and people ambushed. I dont go there anymore. I am waiting till they clean it up. They need to mow down and plow up all those weeds that people hide behind. Check back sometime in late August. Im going to dust off my bicycle soon and go again!

Beautiful Pathway slicing through the entire city.

I love the grave yard. I felt three spirits walking with me. It was nice. Alarming but completely harmless. Didnt expected that. Lol. So the next time u walk by there. Say hello.

What was once a beautiful biking and walking trail, has now become a haven for homeless campers, drug users to leave their paraphernalia, and crime. People are attacked, native plants are being destroyed, and garbage is everywhere.

Good trail for horses bikes and runners. Its wide and flat with nice scenery but theres homeless people sometimes.

It is a great place to horseback ride, bike, or walk all year as it is never muddy.

Pretty amazing rail trail connects portland to Boring. Great for kids as there are few road crossings. Chipseal surface is a bit annoying on a skinny tire road bike but its a small price to pay.

If you love to ride your bike or run this is great

I like to ride the trail from Tideman Johnson to Gresham city park, but my Christmas day ride was a bummer. There is more trash than I have ever seen along the corridor. It seemed like every inch of Johnson creeks banks were strewn with old clothes, plastic bags, bottles, and oh yes..shopping carts. As well, the number of homeless camps has as least tripled since last spring. 82nd Ave to just past 205 bridge is especially bad. I didnt feel frightened by groups of homeless people but there were a few lone wolves acting creepy, especially one guy at Powell Butte. I was trying to have lunch on the bench by the trail and the guy would quite leave the area. He was looking around and sort of meandering too close to me. So, if you go, especially women, bring some protection. On the bride side..Check out the new Foster Floodplain Natural Area. That is lovely, and no trash.

Highwaymen hang here

The trail has improved remarkably over the past years, with some nice riparian restoration that has been completed. Unfortunately, the City of Portland allows (apparently) unrestricted camping along this route which has resulted in mounds of garbage, excrement, and a definite lack of feeling safety on significant portions of the corridor, especially from Bell Ave eastward. I witnessed two different squatters with unlicensed motorbikes using the trail the afternoon I was last there (you could tell they were campers, believe me): theyve really moved in. I think the city should tear down the signs saying No Camping, because the Mayor wont enforce it anyway. Why have laws that arent enforced? It breeds contempt for the law in those who wont follow the rules, and resentment in those who do. I especially feel sorry for the renters and home-buyers in Lents, who are stuck living a few yards away from all of this mess. But City Hall has long ignored east county, so why should anyone be surprised that they are allowing this to go on?

Beautiful and convenient trail. Only downside is all the homeless, trash and crime that comes with it.

I agree, though its a nice, beautiful ride.... sux that ya godda go thru the riff raff...homelessness

Just completed the trail from Portland to Boring. As others have said there are portions of the trail that have trash and homeless camps, but I would say they only account for maybe 5% of the trail. not bad enough for me to dissuade anyone from taking a family out. Its mid Feb. the weather is a fantastic 55 degrees and the trail is almost completely dead. I saw at most 15 other cyclists. The ride was smooth and consistent. Great views of the willamette river at the start, cuts through a quiet neighborhood on the southern edge of Portland toward gresham. youll see a mix of industrial parks and nature as you pass over several gushing creeks. I will say one negative point were the numerous stops between roads, however, the crosswalks were helpful and most people in and around portland seem to be very slow cautious drivers. I recommend stoping at the cartlandia food truck park for a mid-ride snack. The final portion of the trail is most scenic and well kept. you will pass a few vineyards and the gradient will increase slightly before arriving at boring station/ trailhead.

Was great but is now very scary. Many homeless and drugs, sex, and violence is rampant.

The homeless and the disgusting amounts of garbage by where i live (122nd) on the trail is getting to be a real problem. There is a section of the trail that i believe a PERSON is deliberately defecating onto the trail itself daily....its truly disgusting!9/30/15

Great walking trail.

Get walking n leads to Powell Butte Nature park

Clean

Bum haven

Hundreds of Homeless meth attics along this trail

Too much horse manure on the trail