Portland Stairs Book

Portland has 196 public staircases, an irresistible asset to this pedestrian-friendly city. In The Portland Stairs Book, Portland's walking guru Laura Foster has gathered the best and most interesting in a handy pocket-sized guide.

From Mount Tabor's epic 282 steps to the glass cupola atop 115 steps in Pioneer Courthouse, The Portland Stairs Book features details on twenty outdoor stairs that have amazing stories and something unique to offer an urban explorer. The stairs include the Willamette River Bridge Stairs, The Westover Terraces Steps, and Rocky Butte's Grand Staircase. The book also features indoor stairs that are perfect for a rainy Portland day and five Stair Trails that lead readers on urban treks that contain hundreds of steps in five different areas of town.

"The book is a feast of Portland stair facts and stories...with Foster’s keen eye for quirky detail." Oregonian

"Thanks to Laura Foster, the author of beloved local guidebooks, Portland Hill Walks and Portland City Walks, the city’s treasure trove of noteworthy staircases are back on display. Foster is known for her firm grasp on Portland’s long forgotten history, much of which we literally step over each day." Portland Monthly

"An ideal guide, full of fun information." NeighborhoodNotes.com

"Perfect for urban flaneurs [or] history buffs."

Laura O. Foster is an author and editor who specializes in writing about one of her great passions: Portland, Oregon. She also writes children's nonfiction books, including the award-winning Boys Who Rocked the World, and works as a freelance book editor. As a teenager, she left the Illinois prairie for the mountains of Wyoming, where she worked in Yellowstone National Park. It was there she discovered the joys of hill walking. After several years hiking and biking in the mountains of Colorado and Tennessee, Laura moved to Portland in 1989, where she found pedestrian nirvana: a city where you can combine a hike, a brewpub, and a bookstore in one afternoon jaunt. As in old European cities, it's possible to do all this in the space of a single afternoon walkabout, and she finds it remarkable to be able to do all three without driving.

When stressed by money, people, or deadlines, I take my feet into a Portland neighborhood and start walking. Søren Kierkegaard wrote, "Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness." So true. I have Portlanders to thank for my relatively good mental health. I live in the forest just beyond the city's limits...

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I've been writing about Portland for years. Without gushing, let's just say Portland is one gorgeous setting in which to wake up each morning. While I give props to volcanic eruptions, the Missoula Floods, and damp marine air for the riches they left behind here...

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Last summer I led two walks for the City of Portland that began in a Northeast Portland neighborhood, climbed through deep woods on trails once used to pasture cattle, entered a mysterious tunnel, and emerged on a stone-lined roadway, which we strolled to the top of Rocky Butte...

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People often ask how I “find” the urban walking routes in my books. The question fascinates me: Doesn’t everyone make a habit of creating inefficient, circuitous routes to get places? Rewards and opportunities abound on a nonlinear walk or bike ride: spotting a distant tree’s crown and zigzagging over to...

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