Good news for Beaverton cyclists and joggers: a new trail connecting Tualatin Hills Nature Park with Schuepbach Park is now open! The 2-mile, mostly flat, paved path will eventually be part of the Westside Trail, a continuous 10-mile route between PCC’s Rock Creek campus and Barrows Road. The rest of the Westside Trail is likely to receive further investments in the future, thanks to the members of the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT) who voted to allocate $14 million to bike/ped projects last month.
Click here for a pdf map of the entire Tualatin Hills Nature Park trail network.
Join the Tualatin Hills Parks & Recreation Department for the opening ceremony on Saturday, May 9 at 8:30 am, and a bike ride led by a park ranger at 9:00 am.
The opening of a new trail just in time for summer is reason to celebrate, and also a good time to reflect on common trail courtesy.
Trails are family-friendly spaces, meant for kids, walkers, joggers, dog walkers, elderly folks, and even horses. If you’re a pedestrian or a slower bike rider, it can be a startling, sometimes frightening experience to have a speeding cyclist (or worse, a group of them) coming from behind yelling “LEFT!” or just zooming past in a rush of wind. There’s nothing wrong with passing slower-moving trail users, but be sure to do so with courtesy: slow down, ring your bell, or alert them with your least-alarming “on your left” voice.
Slower folks, abide your own trail manners by quickly moving over to the right if asked. Riding two abreast is great, but larger groups should travel in columns rather than spreading across the entire trail.
Just love going fast? Most parks are open daily, dawn to dusk, so plan your ride on a weekday or during a time when the trail is less likely to be packed with users.
