The Hidden Staircase at the Edge of the City

A woman pauses at the top of a concrete staircase she's walked past for three years without noticing. Below her, the steps disappear into a canopy of Douglas fir. Behind her, the hum of traffic. She takes the first step down, and the city goes quiet.

This is Linnton, a neighbourhood tucked into the northern edge of Portland's Forest Park, where sidewalks turn into trails and trails turn into staircases that climb through one of the largest urban forests in the United States. Most Portland residents have never been here. According to Microcosm Publishing's new walking guide, this four-mile ramble through wild nature, ancient mountains, and industrial ports is the real-world inspiration for the book and film Wildwood.

The guide, written by bestselling local walking author Laura O. Foster, arrives on 11 August 2026. But the question it raises isn't about Portland. The question is: what's the hidden neighbourhood in your city that you've stopped noticing?

The Threshold You Walk Past Every Day

Sofia has its own Linntons. They're just harder to see when you're rushing to catch the metro.

Consider Dragalevtsi, where the city's southern edge dissolves into Vitosha's foothills. Or Knyazhevo, where residential streets give way to forest paths climbing toward Boyana. Or the lesser-known trails threading through Borisova Gradina, where the park's interior feels genuinely wild if you wander far enough from the main paths.

These aren't escapes from the city. They're thresholds within it, places where the urban and the forested overlap in ways that reward slow attention.

Foster's Linnton guide includes sidewalks, trails, and staircases, a hybrid composition that matters. Urban forest walking isn't hiking. It's a practice of moving through the layers of a city, noticing where the built environment gives way to something older.

The Ritual of the Guided Walk

Foster's guides sell because they include, as the publisher describes, "impeccable directions, plenty of photos, and fascinating local lore, all in accessible language." This isn't about gatekeeping discovery. It's about democratising it.

The four-mile walk (or eight miles if you return the same way) is deliberately ritual-length. Long enough to shift your attention. Short enough to fit into a Saturday morning. You encounter wild nature, ancient mountains, imperiled watersheds, industrial areas and ports, and charming neighbourhoods. Not pristine wilderness. Complexity.

The walk doesn't pretend the city isn't there. It shows you how the city and the forest have always been entangled, how watersheds run beneath industrial ports, how staircases built a century ago still connect neighbourhoods to trails.

Seasonal Return, Not One-Time Visit

The Linnton walk in August looks different than in February. The light changes. The undergrowth shifts. The sounds alter with the seasons.

Urban forest walking isn't a destination. It's a ritual you return to, noticing what's changed in the landscape and what's changed in yourself.

Водачът не замества погледа - той го насочва към невидимото.

Sofia's green corridors offer the same possibility. The path from Boyana Church toward the waterfall in early spring, when the snowmelt is still audible. The trails above Dragalevtsi in late autumn, when the beech leaves turn and the air smells like decay and renewal. These aren't one-time experiences. They're practices that teach you how to live in a city differently.

The Permission to Wander

The Linnton guide costs €7.50 in zine format, published by Microcosm Publishing, a Portland-based independent press. The price point suggests something important: this knowledge should be shared, not hoarded.

In cities optimised for productivity, forest rituals are acts of resistance. They're how we remember that we live in a place, not just move through it.

What's your Linnton? What hidden neighbourhood, overlooked trail, or forgotten staircase is waiting for you to slow down enough to find it?

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the Linnton walk and how long does it take?

A: The Linnton walk is a four-mile urban forest route (or eight miles out-and-back) in Portland, Oregon, combining sidewalks, trails, and staircases. It typically takes two to three hours at a slow, observational pace.

Q: What makes urban forest walking different from hiking?

A: Urban forest walking is a hybrid practice that moves through the layers of a city, including built infrastructure like staircases and sidewalks alongside natural trails. It's about noticing where the urban and forested overlap, not escaping the city entirely.

Q: Where can I find similar hidden green spaces in Sofia?

A: Sofia's equivalents include Dragalevtsi and Knyazhevo, where residential streets transition into Vitosha's foothills, and the lesser-known interior trails of Borisova Gradina. These areas reward slow, intentional walking rather than rushed transit.