Takena Park, Albany, OR

It's always fun running below this railroad trestle ~ even more so when there is a train rattling by overhead.

Location: Park in the Takena Park parking lot, whose entrance is at the intersection of NW Springhill Drive and Route 20, in North Albany, OR.

Date run:  many times

Distance:  3.5 Miles, out and back

Pros:  Soft trail, intermittently bare, covered with wood chips, or covered with gravel.  During the fall, leaves blanket the trail.  The trail follows the Willamette River, on the opposite side of the river from the Bowman Park Trail.  The trail is mostly shaded.  A highlight includes running beneath a raised railroad trestle.

Cons:  During the rainy (winter) season, the trail can flood and become unpassable.

Yellow (half) mile markers along the trail.

Number of people encountered on run:  Sometimes, I don't see anyone while running, but usually, there are other runners, walkers and dog-walkers out on the trail.

Summary of run:  This is my favorite local run.  Located about a half an hour's drive from my house, if I have the time, I go to Takena.  There aren't as many homeless on the Takena trail, compared to Bowman Park, perhaps because this trail is a bit of a walk from town.  The terrain is somehow more interesting to me compared to Bowman, although I can't exactly pinpoint why.

Each 0.5 mile split is marked with a yellow trail marker, where someone has scratched out the decimal point on each post, and has changed the word 'MILES' to read 'MILFS'.  Many of the  markers have nothing written on them, but it's still nice to know that they mark half mile splits.