This is part of our 100 Things in 2014 challenge. Here’s the full list.

In the spirit of getting to know our fair city, we decided to take a swing at the 4T Trail – “the ultimate Portland excursion” – so called because you travel by Train, Trail, Tram, and Trolley.

Joining us for this expedition is Becky’s younger brother Andrew, who is usually to be found in South Korea. He had just flown in for a week’s business, and our job was to keep him awake until dark.

We rode MAX to the Washington Park station, and rode the elevator up to the zoo’s front gate.

From here, it’s the trail leg of the journey. We crossed highway 26, carefully stepping around the radar-gun-toting police officer stationed on the bridge, and headed up the Marquam Trail towards Council Crest.

The hike is almost entirely uphill, with 1100 feet of elevation gain. It had been a while since any of us had done any hiking that was strenuous (hiking with kids doesn’t count), so it felt good to be breathing hard again.

We made it to the top!

Becky can never resist a placard.

The trail from the crest to OHSU goes down through a ravine, and back up to the top of the hill.

We reached the top, after 4.5 miles of hiking. The view from here is pretty staggering. Note to others: the ride down the tram is free; you only pay to go up.

We arrived safely at the bottom, and looked around for a streetcar stop.

Caught it!

At this point, we had been at this for 4 hours, and it was waaaaay past lunchtime. We made all possible haste to get the best tacos anywhere.