Rock Creek and Tanasbourne

The safest way to cross US26 within the Metro boundary

Pedestrian path under 26 between Tanasbourne and Rock Creek

Highways divide communities. Most of us live in the developments within the Urban Growth Boundary but some of the best riding is north of US 26. Most routes across the Sunset highway require passing through a very busy interchang. For a certain class of rider, uncomfortable with heavy traffic, leaving the suburbs can be a barrier to hopping on a bike at all.

In today's ride, I show the safest way in the county to cross the highway: the pedestrian tunnel between Tanasbourne and Rock Creek. Following this route will get you into the countryside from Hillsboro or Beaverton in no time.

Tanasbourne

Tanasbourne began life as an Insurance Company. In the 1970's the Standard Insurance company began developing some of the land as a shopping center near 185th street. The name was a portmanteau of chinook and middle english to mean "small creek". There are several creeks in the area (and likely more before development) so that checks out.

The style and location of the shopping has changed with the times. The original indoor mall was gradually expanded then replaced with strip malls in the 90s. These live on as the Tanasbourne Town Center. Further west, the Streets of Tanasbourne opened as an outdoor mall, anchored today by various Gap subsidaries (see above).

Beyond the shopping, the Tanasbourne area is filled with apartments and single-family homes. I still think the best part for non-residents is the Rock Creek Trail multipurpose path.

The path follows the creek from Orenco to the north suburbs with pedestrian crossings at every major intersection. This makes it easy for cyclists to safely traverse from baseline road or the light rail to the scenic areas beyond the UGB.

Once under the highway, I'm outside the Hillsboro city limits in another neighborhood entirely.

Rock Creek

Bethany Lake is an artificial reservoir within the Rock Creek CDP. I saw geese, swans, and comorants on my quick pass-through.

Rock Creek can refer to many things, so I want to clarify this region. Rock Creek (the community) is not the actual stream called Rock Creek. The headwaters are high in the Tualatin Mountains near the intersection of Beck Road and Logie Trail and it merges with the Tualatin River at Rood Bridge.

There was also a historic community named Rock Creek. It was small and shared a church congregation with Phillips and Helvetia, other pioneer towns on the lowest portion of the Tualatin Mountains. I don't know its exact location nor what became of it, but it was likely along the creek, probably not too far from McMenamin's Rock Creek Tavern.

But Rock Creek today refers to a census-designated place (CDP), a federal designation for "lots of people, no municipal government." More than 9000 people live in this 2sq miles.

Rock Creek CDP

It's much further downstream than the historic site. Bethany Lake (shown above) is probably the marquee natural attraction in the area but there's an extensive multipurpose path under the powerlines that winds through soccer fields and a golf course before joining up with Rock Creek.

Rock Creek Trail with Bethany Lake in the distance

Most of the CDP is single-family homes in suburbs. It's a nice neighborhood that looks a lot nicer on days when it's not raining.

But for cyclists, the main reason to pass through Rock Creek CDP is the US 26 underpass at the terminus of the Rock Creek trail.

The pedestrian path follows Rock Creek under the highway.

From this underpass, cyclists can head east on Springville Road to the West Hills and Forest Park. Hill climbers can continue north on 185th and Old Corn Pass to Skyline. I headed west toward the flat farmlands and North Plains.

By direct path, it's only 3 miles between our busiest urban centers and the open country.

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