This is a massive park, and my singular experience is limited to the two boat ramps, since I was…read moreinvited by a friend who wanted to paddleboard down the river, dragging my wife, my son and I behind them on inflatable tubes, so I can only comment on this limited experience. However, based on these two sections alone, this is a fantastic park for any and all water-based activities. For once, the $5 day use fee seems justified, considering all the things that it offers. Additionally, there are miles of hiking and horseback trails, picnic areas, camp sites, and plenty of open green spaces (shaded or otherwise) for parties and other outdoor activities. It's a little far from home for us, but worth the trek!

I really like this park. I used to live nearby and visited a few times, then I moved farther away…read moreand now I find us here again. This visit was a starting point for our river adventure. I saw a bunch of people fishing for crayfish at the launch site. I will be back for that alone. I do have several crayfish traps.

Great relatively flat walking loop, about 20 minutes. Lots of shade and different walking grounds.read more

This is a rather small wooded area that dodged at least one proposal to convert it to soccer…read morefields, and has been set aside as a nature park. The trails are basically in a large loop, with a long, medium and short loop possible. Some trails will be quite muddy after rain. Nature buffs (not including naturists in the buff) will enjoy the birds, especially spring and summer. All in all, it's a nice little spot for those in the area -- I'm not sure it's worth the effort to visit if you live on the other side of PDX.

Great little North Clackamas County Public Park on Mt. Scott. Spectacular views of downtown PDX and…read morethe west hills. Awesome sunsets. Not many trees, so if you're a fan of shade, bring an umbrella. Bring your camera and/or binoculars. Stunning view of Mt. St. Helens too!

Nice local park for clear days sunset spot. Designed for local residents due to limited parking…read morespace (only street parking in residential neighborhood), no restrooms, and only a small walking patch of the perimeter of the park, it all wheelchairs accessible.

It's so beautiful here I cannot believe this is in our "backyard"…read more Such an amazing learning opportunity for my kids on respect of nature and what critters call this place home. I did wish that others respected nature as much as my kids and I threw away a bag of trash we found exploring the creek.

Sweet little pocket park in SW Portland that's actually much bigger than it seems - if you're…read morewilling to poke around the edges. I'm a fan of this heavily wooded little gem because it's not that easy to find unless you live in the area, which keeps the few trails relatively uncrowded (except on summer weekends). Tryon Creek runs through the bottom of the shady park, and there's a small clearing with a playground and a couple of picnic tables if you want to enjoy the water view - though be warned the creek becomes just barely a trickle come summertime. There are some pretty good hills throughout and the trails, which include several bridges, are fairly well maintained so you can put together a couple of decent, if short, hikes here. Things do get pretty muddy in winter though. Venture across Boones Ferry road and you can even hook up with the larger trail network at nearby Tryon Creek State Park to string together a more challenging stroll. Parking is pretty limited in the small areas on either side of the park, but that's usually not a problem.

The new Gateway Discovery Park officially opened Saturday, August 4th!…read more You can find the Gateway Discovery Park just past the Gateway Shopping Center near 106th and Halsey. Discovery Park looks really cool. Take a look at my photos, or even better, go there and see the newest park in Portland! The park is designed to be very family friendly, it's a beautiful urban plaza. Gateway Discovery Park is a 3.2-acre park for the community to play, celebrate, meet, and discover! There's a large plaza, lawn, porch, skate dot, accessible play area, outdoor fitness equipment, and a picnic area. It's a great place to meet your neighbors, hold your community event, or to enjoy a picnic! The park will have year-round programming and staff on site, there's even a Portland Loo! Tip: There's not a lot of shade, so be ready for sun, if it's sunny!

The area this park is located in feels pretty sketchy. You park on the street and walk in. There…read morewas trash everywhere when we visited and bags and backpacks just left on the ground. There were trash cans around but it seems like some people who visit don't use them

Kelly Butte is nearly 30 acres of woods on a volcanic cinder cone on the edge of SE/Outer SE…read morePortland. It has a long history of being used to harm the poorest citizens of Portland. After being stolen from the Chinook by the Kelly family who ran a failed farm, the city of Portland opened a prison for the express purpose if imprisoning houseless people using vagrency laws and forced them to break rocks by hand to pave the city's roads. Nothing ever changes besides location. In the 1950's after I don't know, asphalt was invented and many poor Oregonians had been worked to death as slaves the prison was closed to make way for a state of the art, even by today's standards, nuclear bomb shelter. There's a interesting 50s film called "The Day Called X" documenting a drill where the city is evacuated and government whisked away to Kelly Butte in a couple hours. Officially its was just for government but many who were in the loop say slots were sold to the rich and I tent to believe them because 20,000sq ft is more then city counsel needs for a couple months. Within a couple years though those who profit most from war unveiled the ICBM bringing warning times from 6 plus hours to under a half hour making the bunker a expensive useless concrete hole in the ground. During this time on the other side of the hill there was a hospice where those who couldn't afford health care were sent to die. The shelter was turned into a 911 dispatch Startin in the early 1970's where police were told where to go murder minorities. But workers were getting sick for a unexplained reason and it was abandoned in the mid 90's. For about 15 years it was occupied by houseless people with little care from the city. People used it as a bathroom, stripped it of anything of value, lit fire for warmth setting off the sprinklers repeatedly causing a black mold problem . I'm told people repeatedly ODed and were left for weeks. There was no narcain available them and no cell phones so there wasn't much to do when an OD happened a 20min walk from a phone. In the 2000s it was finally buried. Now the city parks bureau called is a "natural area but that's kinda BS, Kelly Butte had been clear cut many times over the last couple hundred years. The city does no matinence, does not cut grass, pick up trash there's no cans, police do not patrol. The PPB doesn't even have keys to the gate. A few neighborhood people walk dogs but for the most part people don't seem to know it's even there. There's a few houseless people camped, if you stick to the established trails you won't see them, and the y won't bother you. There's a collective of activists called PDXHRC who are sort of like a non-profit helping houseless people but they are operating from a more radical standpoint. They travel around town and embed in houseless community's to help improve their lives by providing tents and other supplies The point being that it improves the whole community. They also help defend from sweeps and stuff like that. They are the ones who do trash collection around the park when they are there. It's their home base so if there not helping out somewhere else there at KB. These people don't panhandle or use drugs they are houseless intentionally to better serve others. If you see them, and you'll know, they look like how you'd expect radicals to look. They are really nice people, with a barking dog that won't bite. They said to tell everyone to let them know if there is any maintenance needed in the park and they will take care of it. They said to do the same about other camps in the neighborhood, they have supplies and make meals to give away. Kelly Butte is a amazing place to have here in city limits. Go there enjoy it. It's a rare place. Oh, near dark be careful with pets, there are coyotes.

I like being able to hike around the top of this semi-spooky butte. Evidently it's an old bomb…read moreshelter or a hidden bomb shelter or something crazy. I know people that have supposedly been inside there and I guess it has a big painting up on the ceiling of the whole town. I like that there are stairways that go nowhere. I grew up with it sort of in my backyard so I love to hear old stories about what's really going on up there. It's also fun to rip our dirt bikes up and around there. We don't rip up the natural areas we stick to the trails.

Wait, that was two miles? I didn't even feel the burn!…read more The loveliest view during the first days of sun after the rainy season, with glimpses over the river to Vancouver and St. Helens.

This was a beautiful trail to experience on my last day in Portland. I run early or not at all in…read moreAustin, Texas. Portland has some fabulous trails that can be enjoyed through the day due to the trees and generally cooler weather. You can walk it or run it; I did both. The trail was well maintained and felt safe. Enjoy!

My first ever visit to this park was this last weekend, and my experience here is limited only to…read moreTsuru Island and Ebetsu Plaza. But on the merits of those two sections alone, this park is incredible! Unparalleled, even, as far as public (re: free) parks go! There's a lot going on here, that I have yet to explore: sports fields (baseball and soccer, at the very least), a skatepark, playgrounds, hiking trails, a dog run, public restrooms, and a covered picnic area, perfect for special events: a wedding was setting up and getting underway during our visit. The park's grounds are vast, clean and well-maintained. An incredible green space, and a standout feature of the otherwise drab suburban sprawl that is Gresham (outside of the historic downtown area)!

As far as the main city park goes, this is a nice facility -- well maintained with a good run of…read morelawn in the middle, a pavilion with tables to sit in, basketball courts on the other side ... and a small Japanese garden. We're taking tiny, but that's where I spent most of my time. Unfortunately it was in a pretty major state of disrepair when I visited, with lots of yellow tape everywhere, open trenches in the ground and plants and trees waiting to be planted. The wooden bridge over into the garden was cool though and I feel like it will look 90% better in the spring.